Murray Turner said he and 10 of his siblings were joined by their children, grandchildren and great-children for the family’s first reunion since 1996.
More than 50 members of the family, some from as far afield as Australia, gathered in Dunedin for the long weekend, punctuated by a function on Saturday night at the Zingari-Richmond Rugby Football Club rooms and a Sunday picnic in Warrington.
"It’s been a most enjoyable weekend," brother Kevin Turner (68) said.
The brothers were two of 16 children.
Three had died and two could not make the weekend, Kevin said.
The family gathered at family graves in Port Chalmers yesterday morning and enlightened the younger generations on what it was like growing up in earlier times.
Warrington was their father’s favourite picnic spot.
"We would come out here, we would have 10 or 11 in a car," Murray said.
"You wouldn’t get away with that now."
Plans for a reunion in 20 years’ time were already in their tentative stages.
"I’ll be 97, so I’ll be there but they will have to bring me in in a bloody wheelchair," Murray said with a laugh.
