Scenes of Strickland family featuring Morrie, Lee, Mike and Jacqui. Scenes at Cheltenham Beach. Views of P-class yacht sailing, boy watching from beach. Yacht comes in and boy goes to meet man on yacht. Boy sails yacht. Man pushing child through surf in small [child sized] boat. Views of Devonport Golf Course. Man taking golf shot. Small girl [Jacqui] making sandcastles at the beach, being assisted by [father], who also digs channels in sand.
Cataloguer’s note: Morris Strickland was a world top 10 heavyweight for several years in the late 1930s. He was born in Wairoa in 1913, and won the Wellington amateur titles in 1930 and 1931, and the national heavyweight crown in 1932. He then turned pro and moved to Australia. After a year he returned to NZ and there won the professional heavyweight title. Then his manager Billy Crawford arranged for him to go to England, and he left with his new wife Eileen. After mixed results, he was bought by manager Bill Daly who organised his US campaign, and also fights at Wembley. Notable opponents in his career include Tommy Loughran and Bob Pastor.Strickland features as himself in the British boxing drama film ‘Excuse My Glove’ (1936). He returned to NZ ca1939 and had a handful more fights, the last in 1942. Strickland took an anti-war stance in the early 1940s, then bought a chicken farm in Hawke’s Bay to escape conscription. He took his family to Canada and returned to Auckland in 1950. He worked as a wharfie and was involved in the 1951 ‘lockout’. He later worked as a taxi driver. He lived in Devonport with his wife Eileen and four sons.