Descendants of Joseph Ward travelled from near and far for a reunion in Whanganui. Photo / Supplied
Descendants of Joseph Ward travelled from near and far for a reunion in Whanganui. Photo / Supplied
Around 35 descendants of the Wanganui Astronomical Society's first president and longtime director of the Ward Observatory, Joseph Ward, came from all over New Zealand and Australia to gather in Whanganui.
One of the descendants, Andy Brown who resides in the New Plymouth hosted his father, Peter, for his 80thbirthday who was coming over from Australia to celebrate.
He then decided to host a reunion in Whanganui after meeting his cousin and one of Ward's descendants, Robyn Davison at his cousin, Wellington arts personality and ceramics collector, Simon Manchester's funeral.
The two got to talking and decided to try and bring as many of Ward's descendants as possible to Whanganui.
Davison said the day began at 12pm on Saturday, February 29 at the Whanganui RSA.
"It was lovely, a number of people trickled in and met people that they hadn't met before."
Then slowly the group started to move over to the Courts Gallery to view Manchester's collection, including his mother Judith.
"Everybody was really touched by that, it was very emotional because it's also a beautiful gallery and so much of what was inside belonged to Simon so there was this lovely personal connection."
The group then went on to visit the observatory where they were given an hour-long history lesson from Mark Lee from the Astronomical Society where they all learned so much more about their great grandfather, Davison said.
They learnt that not only had Ward built the telescope which is currently under maintenance but he also borrowed money from the bank and he and a business partner had put money into the observatory to have it built.
She said that everyone who came to the reunion had a connection to Whanganui through Ward.
"Everyone was very aware of that and it felt like this is where our roots are but they came from all over."
There were a number of people who came from Christchurch who did not know each other but they soon discovered they were related, Davison said.
"Everybody was really impressed with how Whanganui is looking and we all said we've all got these roots here but everybody has left but we all felt a wonderful, nice connection."
They finished off the day with a meal at Spice Guru and the next morning they attended a breakfast at Ash and Junette Ward's, the last Wards to remain in Whanganui.
