On Saturday mornings at the Thames Market, shoppers can expect to come across a familiar face.
For 30 years, Olive Hopkins has sat at a table stacked with hand-sewn items like potholders, kitchen towels and oven mitts, many with a Kiwiana theme.
Olive was one of the original stall holders when the markets began, 30 years ago, and has been a regular ever since. But markets have been in her blood far longer.
“My first market I’d ever done was a weekly market at the local primary school,” she told The Profile.
“I did quite a few markets around different places, before we shifted from Taupō to [Thames].”
Olive began with items like potpourri and crochet, before gradually finding her way to a niche in sewing. “I used to be a dressmaker… when I shifted here, I said, ‘I’m never going to make another dress’, and I haven’t,” she said.
“I’m not a business, I’m a hobby person. I only sew to give me the money to be able to carry on sewing, because that’s my thing. So I just do for myself now, and I go to the market, and that gives me money to buy more material.”
The Thames Market hasn’t been Olive’s only outlet, either. Around 1995, she began organising an annual craft fair to benefit Hato Hone St John – the same year the Thames Markets began.
“I didn’t know Peter and Dianne [McKinnon] then. They were arranging to go and get the market started. And at the same time, I decided that it’s time we had [a craft fair],” Olive said.
“Peter and Diane gave me so much support. They used to pay the hall fee for me for the craft fair… it was a real community effort.”
Olive ran the annual craft fair for 13 years, until her husband’s health required her to take a step back. She estimates she raised around $25,000 for St John over the years, a feat she has been recognised for by the organisation.
“My name is on the Honours Award board in the St John building, and I’ve got a certificate, which is lovely,” Olive said.
“It was a lot of work, and I enjoyed doing it, but it was nice to have it acknowledged.”
But Olive has always been a mainstay at Thames Market. Her stall has been a bit of a family affair, she said.
“I wanted some appliance covers, so I went and bought a pattern, and [my niece] guided me to make my own. So then I started making them and selling them on the stall,” Olive said.
“And that gradually grew. I used to do aprons and peg aprons and oven cloths in those days. And my sister used to make casserole carriers and ironing board covers, and mum did a lot of crocheting as well – she made jug covers and things like that.
“Once I came [to Thames], they were still making stuff for me, but I was doing the actual market. We did that until they had to bow out. And so I just carried on.”
Over the years, Olive has sold plenty of wares – and collected many fond memories.
“The main thing is the people you meet, and knowing that your stuff is going all over the world. That’s really the highlight,” she said.
“There was a lady from Canada who used to come over every second year, and she always bought stuff off me to take back. And another time, there was a quite big group of Dutch people here, and one of them bought a kitchen towel and took it back and showed the others.
“I don’t know how many I sold that day – they all came and bought kitchen towels to take back to Holland because they didn’t have those sort of things over there.”
Now in her late 80s, Olive is slowing down a bit – arthritis in her hands makes it difficult to sew – but she intends to keep attending the markets as long as she can. The family link will continue though, as her daughter Christine has begun to take up the mantle.
“She’s unable to work now for health reasons, so she’s doing a lot of sewing at home and gradually taking over,” Olive said.
“She’s learning all the things that I used to make. And so now I’m only doing the oven mitts and potholders and kitchen towels and things, and she’ll gradually take over doing those as well as I slow down until she gets going.
”With Christine and I doing it together, it’s making it so much easier, because she does the heavy work – loading my car and lifting the tables around, which makes it so much easier for me to be able to carry on.”
With Thames Market recently celebrating its 30th birthday this year, Olive is delighted it’s still going strong. The key, she said, is a strong community of people willing to put themselves out there.
It’s an experience she reckons everyone should try.
“A lot of people don’t have enough confidence in stuff that they make… [but] once you’ve done it once or twice, you’ll get into it,” she said.
“It becomes a bit addictive, but it’s good, because the social side of it is wonderful.
“If somebody’s living on their own, it’s something to look forward to, to work towards, and get out and get amongst the people.”
