Ruth, Whangarei.

I have some of the first sets of ‘Oily Rag’ books you published and my daughter in Tasmainia has my mother’s set since she ‘passed away’ and also gets your news letters. Having grown up in Whangarei in a family with 5 brothers, and a very tight budget, my mother was very frugal, and, looking back, it never ceases to amaze me how she always managed to feed us all on Dad’s income. We were never hungry. Always a cooked breakfast after cereal. Fish dish was filled with pasta, mince thickened with porridge oats and flavoured with chicken stock – this was a regular breakfast dish, when potatoes were too expensive we had rice or dumplings, etc.