Neil's sister Elaine remembers him being brought home from Hospital to their home at Clive in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand. She called him Niggie Bobo (too much imagination for a little sister) but he had a normal childhood -falling out of trees, swimming in the creek and playing with his brother and sisters. The family moved to Napier where Neil went to St John's College. He was a bit of a whiz at mathematics from an early age. After he left college he wanted to join the Air Force but his dad put a stop to that, so he went to work in the office at Dalgety & Co. stock firm.

In 1956 aged 18, Neil left New Zealand for Australia where he drove trucks between Alice Springs and Darwin but the pay was very poor, so he had his first "21st birthday" the following year to qualify for an adult wage.

He loved Alice Springs and had a brush with fame, befriending Albert Namatjira. They used to sit together outside the pub drinking lemonade. Did he buy a painting? No, but on a nostalgic revisit to Alice springs he bought a large print of " Heavitree Gap", plus a didgeridoo, a boomerang and tapping sticks. Corroboree anyone?

Neil went back to NZ a couple of times but wanted to see the world so he started out in 1960, coming first to NSW to meet up with Aussie friends in Mudgee with whom he had played rugby in New Zealand. Neil was invited to play with the Rylstone team where Bob Evans was watching the game and was very impressed with his skill. He immediately gave Neil a job, a room and board in his own home and a car that he could drive to the games. So far so good. The Rylstone team played Mitchell College team in Bathurst where he met Maureen Carter who was studying to be a teacher and the rest is history. Neil and Maureen married in 1962 and lived in Rylstone where she was teaching. The vision of seeing the world began to fade.

All went well until a head-on collision in their little Volkswagen almost wiped them out. Maureen was three months pregnant and was lucky not to lose their son, Mark. Neil worked locally until Mudgee abattoir was recruiting and he landed the job as foreman in the boning room. Soon after, when Anderson's Meat Packing Company started up at the abattoir, Neil was appointed manager. The family moved to Mudgee and welcomed a daughter, Joanne. Neil and Maureen built a home and Maureen went back to teaching. Life was full of fun with rugby in the winter and water skiing in the summer. Neil became captain coach of the Mudgee rugby team and played as a representative in the country/city game in the Sydney rugby carnival. Trips to New Zealand were frequent and the children had the opportunity to meet their extended family.

When the Mudgee abattoir closed in 1980 Neil went to Sydney to work in Anderson's state office and travelled around New South Wales and Queensland to saleyards, buying cattle for the company. After a year of hard work and travelling he bought the CRT stock and station agency in Rylstone and the vision returned. Rylstone was a sleepy little town where shops closed for lunch. That now changed in CRT and soon all the shops opened all day. Real Estate was also very low key and that changed as well. Adjoining land was acquired and more storage sheds built.

Every year the CRT held a conference in each of the capital cities of Australia as well as New Zealand and Hawaii. So the dream of seeing the world had opened up again. CRT was a great buying group and the owners of the different stores across NSW became close friends. Recently a reunion was held in Orange with an excellent rollup and great fun was had by all. Thanks Rob and Penny.

The Rylstone CRT store was sold to Bill and Rachel Mann in 2000 and Neil and Maureen bought the building next door. The interior was renovated to house the Westpac bank and their flourishing business, Brodies Real Estate.

Holidays in Australia were to Cairns, Broome and Noosaville with Al and Tina Lance, and Darwin and Kunnanurra with a ride home in the Ghan. Add "cat sitting" in Thora near Bellingen.

Sport was always in the front of mind. Golf and squash in Mudgee and Kandos and touch football in Rylstone. After competition rugby, came Golden Oldies Rugby in which players could join up with teams in the Central West. Neil and Ralph Cover went to America with the Young Rugby Club and Neil went on two tours around the UK and Europe with Central West teams.

A parcel of land between Rylstone and Kandos came on the market. After some time, Neil decided to buy it and created a subdivision called Rathdowney. Rylstone had its history, Kandos had its industry and Rathdowney had small acreage lifestyle properties. It took some time to develop and in the meantime Neil and Maureen built a sandstone home with dutch gables on the iron roof after the style of the original Rylstone homes. Always the sportsman, Neil created a golf course on their property which used floating golf balls and sand "greens" located beside the dams. Lots of fun there. Much of his time was taken up mowing the grass on a high speed mower.

Neil's death was felt very keenly by his many friends. Rylstone hospital staff could not have been more efficient and caring. What would he have wanted as his legacy?: to be known as a New Zealander, a dedicated rugby enthusiast, a sportsman, a loving husband and father, a kind and generous gentleman.

Good onya Brode!!!