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ALBUM - The Age Old Barber, Greymouth.
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DescriptionPhoto 1: The Age Old Barber, Greymouth.
Photo 2: A stunning day on the West Coast. Looking south from Karoro towards Mt Cook - 190 kms away.Map[1] ContributorMalcolm Howell
Photo 2: A stunning day on the West Coast. Looking south from Karoro towards Mt Cook - 190 kms away.Map[1] ContributorMalcolm Howell
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Date Created27th May 2022CommentsGav Schist
When I was a kid I was told that they call it the barber because it was a wind so sharp it’d cut right through you… but now it seems to refer mainly to the cloud formation which doesn’t necessarily need an extra cold day to form….
So what do the Grey locals think the Barber is… a cloud formation, cold wind, either depending which is occurring… or both at the same time?
Eg if you got the bloody cold wind on a clear day without the cloud would you still call it the barber?
Wayne Leckie
Going to school in shorts on theDeborah Marley
Biking to highschool was horrible...I hated it
Leone Stewart
Deborah Marley we all did.. ugh
Deborah Marley
Leone Stewart was bloody freezing
Heather Newby
Deborah Marley me too.my legs would be blue and red
Warren Duthie
I operated the tower crane for the king's hotel construction was in the sunshine while the barber went downstream
Linda Hughes
It was bloody cold walking to school at 7.30 in the morning every Wednesday it was so cold going over the swing bridge and past the goods sheds, thank goodness it was only once a week and for three terms! Was very grateful for the school bus on other days!
Wayne Leckie
Linda Hughes us hard up Cobden kids could not afford a bus
Linda Hughes
Wayne Leckie ours dropped us at the school gate. (Although my brothers biked to school!)
Wayne Leckie
Linda Hughes to tell the truth I was in the cycling club and used to bike to Cameron’s after school and back to Cobden for my training lol and still biking now crazy a
Margaret O'Malley
Wayne Leckie
Stephen Lucas
Delivered the Press in Cobden crossing the old bridge in the Barber was a adventure some mornings couldn't see more than a metre
It was painful warming up especially the hands snd nose
Stephen Lucas
That was in the 1960s
Rosemary Matthews
Stephen Lucas
Rob Lunn
Would be a nice morning In Taylorville though
Lesley Oakley
Amazing photo Malcolm. Yes I remember the Barber.
Rosemary Matthews
stunning
Eddie Parsons
Had the pleasure off doing the milkrunfrom Greymouth to Stillwater from 1961 till11965,great times but bloody cold in the winter ,had 2 good bosses,meet a lot off good people.
Linda McTigue
Eddie Parsons how are you?
Eddie Parsons
All good living in CH CH ,great to be back down south after 30 years in Tauranga.
Robert Mathewson
Nothing better to sober one up than a walk across the bridge in the early hours
Deborah Marley
I hated walking across the bridge cause of the boards moving up and down and making creaking noises
Neroli Nolan
I don't think it's as bad as it once was .the fog had iscles
Wayne Leckie
Neroli Nolan a lot of it went out Wingham park way when they cut all the bush down .
Alison Hibbs
That’s why us West Coasters are tuff. I really mean -tuff.
Neroli Nolan
I used to cycle from Cowper Street to work at 4.30am. It was pleasant when I left home but when I got to brewery corner it was like a blast chiller!
Mike Keenan
Jim Lita Gordon
Rose Henham
I walked over Cobden bridge to coal creek for work. Makes me shiver to think about it
Ngaio McKee
We lived in cobden pat and yes it was bloody cold wind
Jo Hendrickson
Lord that Cobden Bridge in a barber!! Bitter….
Rob Absalom
I biked over the bridge, through the barber, to collect the morning papers at the station. Roll them, then bike back over the bridge and around Cobden to deliver them. Home for shower and breakfast then ride to high school before the barber lifted. We also protested for a bus to school. Was definitely a warmer trip to school.
Maria Delury Smith
Rob Absalom gee that’s a long time ago, I was part of that protest. Still have the newspaper article
Les Lindbom
Rob Absalom
I did the same, I may have been a year before you.
It was cold as & no visibility what so ever in the barber on the bridge.… See more
Wjohn Sweney
In my many visits I never experienced it !!
Deborah Marley me too.my legs would be blue and red
Warren Duthie
I operated the tower crane for the king's hotel construction was in the sunshine while the barber went downstream
R
Linda Hughes
It was bloody cold walking to school at 7.30 in the morning every Wednesday it was so cold going over the swing bridge and past the goods sheds, thank goodness it was only once a week and for three terms! Was very grateful for the school bus on other days!
Wayne Leckie
Linda Hughes us hard up Cobden kids could not afford a bus
Arthur Barnett
Great pics Malcolm Howell, I remember the Barber so clearly, we looked down on it from Moss St - at least we weren't in it.
Gazey Colville
The barber at stillwater lifed at 2pm and down again at 3pm.
Wasn't much reprieve.
I also delivered the early morning Argus in Cobden.The easterly wind was bloody cold.
Bidgie Jefferies
Gazey my brother and I delivered the Grey Argus before school also . Lol.
Marie Bryant
Gazey Colville I do remember. 1970.with newborn son.born in July.doing the washing.hanging out on the big old clothes lines.id get one nappy on the line by the time the 3rd was on the line. The 1st would be frozen stiff.stillwater was a cold place to live.i lived there long before the new stilly bridge was built.and the fog or barber.appeared not to ever stop in winter
Gazey Colville
Marie Bryant we can relate to that
Frost on the birch trees across the river was white.on the canopy for days. That was if the weather was fine of course!
Murray Bradley
getting up early for the press papers we had to be at station by 6-6.15 riding out with papers and the barber in winter
Warwick Harrison
Remember the Barber well going down to meet the Railcar and pick up the press for delivery mid 60s. Best part was taking a paper into the pie shop and getting a free hot pie. Cant remember the name but was opposite Hays. May have been Blanchfields.
Kevin Mead
Like I said in Will Savages post. Look at the sky. You always get a great day after a good Barba. Well in Cobden you do Gaze lol
Allan Vincent
STREWTH THAT WAS COLD. picking up papers in Greymouth to deliver them could be harsh
Jeni Waters
yep, I remember biking across the cobden bridge to school and the old high school winter uniform wasn't that warm either
Andrew Hunter
Mm seeing the clouds doing that
Darryl Eason
Cool I used to work at Auto Diesels in Greymouth located near the railway bridge ,I remember those cold mornings and you couldn’t see sh... t
Julie Howe
I love it to watch its amazing
It should be used to promote Greymouth in the winter
Lindsay Forrest
We lived in Collins St - right in the thick of it!!
Lynnette Walford
Wow thats awesome ..
When I was a kid I was told that they call it the barber because it was a wind so sharp it’d cut right through you… but now it seems to refer mainly to the cloud formation which doesn’t necessarily need an extra cold day to form….
So what do the Grey locals think the Barber is… a cloud formation, cold wind, either depending which is occurring… or both at the same time?
Eg if you got the bloody cold wind on a clear day without the cloud would you still call it the barber?
Wayne Leckie
Going to school in shorts on theDeborah Marley
Biking to highschool was horrible...I hated it
Leone Stewart
Deborah Marley we all did.. ugh
Deborah Marley
Leone Stewart was bloody freezing
Heather Newby
Deborah Marley me too.my legs would be blue and red
Warren Duthie
I operated the tower crane for the king's hotel construction was in the sunshine while the barber went downstream
Linda Hughes
It was bloody cold walking to school at 7.30 in the morning every Wednesday it was so cold going over the swing bridge and past the goods sheds, thank goodness it was only once a week and for three terms! Was very grateful for the school bus on other days!
Wayne Leckie
Linda Hughes us hard up Cobden kids could not afford a bus
Linda Hughes
Wayne Leckie ours dropped us at the school gate. (Although my brothers biked to school!)
Wayne Leckie
Linda Hughes to tell the truth I was in the cycling club and used to bike to Cameron’s after school and back to Cobden for my training lol and still biking now crazy a
Margaret O'Malley
Wayne Leckie
Stephen Lucas
Delivered the Press in Cobden crossing the old bridge in the Barber was a adventure some mornings couldn't see more than a metre
It was painful warming up especially the hands snd nose
Stephen Lucas
That was in the 1960s
Rosemary Matthews
Stephen Lucas
Rob Lunn
Would be a nice morning In Taylorville though
Lesley Oakley
Amazing photo Malcolm. Yes I remember the Barber.
Rosemary Matthews
stunning
Eddie Parsons
Had the pleasure off doing the milkrunfrom Greymouth to Stillwater from 1961 till11965,great times but bloody cold in the winter ,had 2 good bosses,meet a lot off good people.
Linda McTigue
Eddie Parsons how are you?
Eddie Parsons
All good living in CH CH ,great to be back down south after 30 years in Tauranga.
Robert Mathewson
Nothing better to sober one up than a walk across the bridge in the early hours
Deborah Marley
I hated walking across the bridge cause of the boards moving up and down and making creaking noises
Neroli Nolan
I don't think it's as bad as it once was .the fog had iscles
Wayne Leckie
Neroli Nolan a lot of it went out Wingham park way when they cut all the bush down .
Alison Hibbs
That’s why us West Coasters are tuff. I really mean -tuff.
Neroli Nolan
I used to cycle from Cowper Street to work at 4.30am. It was pleasant when I left home but when I got to brewery corner it was like a blast chiller!
Mike Keenan
Jim Lita Gordon
Rose Henham
I walked over Cobden bridge to coal creek for work. Makes me shiver to think about it
Ngaio McKee
We lived in cobden pat and yes it was bloody cold wind
Jo Hendrickson
Lord that Cobden Bridge in a barber!! Bitter….
Rob Absalom
I biked over the bridge, through the barber, to collect the morning papers at the station. Roll them, then bike back over the bridge and around Cobden to deliver them. Home for shower and breakfast then ride to high school before the barber lifted. We also protested for a bus to school. Was definitely a warmer trip to school.
Maria Delury Smith
Rob Absalom gee that’s a long time ago, I was part of that protest. Still have the newspaper article
Les Lindbom
Rob Absalom
I did the same, I may have been a year before you.
It was cold as & no visibility what so ever in the barber on the bridge.… See more
Wjohn Sweney
In my many visits I never experienced it !!
Deborah Marley me too.my legs would be blue and red
Warren Duthie
I operated the tower crane for the king's hotel construction was in the sunshine while the barber went downstream
R
Linda Hughes
It was bloody cold walking to school at 7.30 in the morning every Wednesday it was so cold going over the swing bridge and past the goods sheds, thank goodness it was only once a week and for three terms! Was very grateful for the school bus on other days!
Wayne Leckie
Linda Hughes us hard up Cobden kids could not afford a bus
Arthur Barnett
Great pics Malcolm Howell, I remember the Barber so clearly, we looked down on it from Moss St - at least we weren't in it.
Gazey Colville
The barber at stillwater lifed at 2pm and down again at 3pm.
Wasn't much reprieve.
I also delivered the early morning Argus in Cobden.The easterly wind was bloody cold.
Bidgie Jefferies
Gazey my brother and I delivered the Grey Argus before school also . Lol.
Marie Bryant
Gazey Colville I do remember. 1970.with newborn son.born in July.doing the washing.hanging out on the big old clothes lines.id get one nappy on the line by the time the 3rd was on the line. The 1st would be frozen stiff.stillwater was a cold place to live.i lived there long before the new stilly bridge was built.and the fog or barber.appeared not to ever stop in winter
Gazey Colville
Marie Bryant we can relate to that
Frost on the birch trees across the river was white.on the canopy for days. That was if the weather was fine of course!
Murray Bradley
getting up early for the press papers we had to be at station by 6-6.15 riding out with papers and the barber in winter
Warwick Harrison
Remember the Barber well going down to meet the Railcar and pick up the press for delivery mid 60s. Best part was taking a paper into the pie shop and getting a free hot pie. Cant remember the name but was opposite Hays. May have been Blanchfields.
Kevin Mead
Like I said in Will Savages post. Look at the sky. You always get a great day after a good Barba. Well in Cobden you do Gaze lol
Allan Vincent
STREWTH THAT WAS COLD. picking up papers in Greymouth to deliver them could be harsh
Jeni Waters
yep, I remember biking across the cobden bridge to school and the old high school winter uniform wasn't that warm either
Andrew Hunter
Mm seeing the clouds doing that
Darryl Eason
Cool I used to work at Auto Diesels in Greymouth located near the railway bridge ,I remember those cold mornings and you couldn’t see sh... t
Julie Howe
I love it to watch its amazing
It should be used to promote Greymouth in the winter
Lindsay Forrest
We lived in Collins St - right in the thick of it!!
Lynnette Walford
Wow thats awesome ..
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West Coast New Zealand History (30th May 2022). ALBUM - The Age Old Barber, Greymouth.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 4th Apr 2026 22:34, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/31075