Thanks to a customer who gave us a copy of a 1914 invoice issued to Annie Townend by W.A.M. Musgrove (Wilfred Alfred Masters Musgrove). Wilfred, a bricklayer and builder, was the uncle of our founders, Alf and Dave Musgrove. We are chuffed to have had our very own Antiques Roadshow experience!
The invoice details work done for Mrs Townend at Mona Vale by Wilfred, including concreting, drain clearing, removing old barge boards and replacing with kauri timber, renewing casement fasteners, replacing broken hinges with brass hinges, and many more repairs (it’s interesting to see that maintenance jobs haven’t changed much in over 100 years!).
There is a fascinating backstory about how Annie Townend came to own Mona Vale and become a benefactor to Christchurch City, detailed in this CCC Libraries article.
It’s clear to see that restoration was in Dave and Alf’s DNA long before the creation of Musgroves Ltd, and it’s a privilege to be able to continue to fulfull their vision to reduce industry waste by reusing perfectly-reusable building materials.
