Manawatū Conversations

Manawatū Conversations

By MPR - Manawatu People's Radio
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Manawatū Conversations episodes

  • Manawatu Conversations Episode 346 - Grant Smith pt1
    One of twin boys. Mother was very ill so cared for by Plunket in Whanganui and returned to his mother six months later.
    Went to West End School New Plymouth and was told that his interests lay outside the classroom.
    Went to New Plymouth Boys High School. Did history, maths and accounting. Played rugby, Enjoyed school.
    Worked in the magistrates court in New Plymouth for four years then transferred to supreme court in Auckland as a clerk. Became registrar of Feilding magistrates court.
    Two sons born in Feilding.
    Promoted to registrar of the court at Oamaru and was warden of the mining court. Spent four years there and had two more sons.
    Promoted to Hawera where he was responsible for the Hawera and Patea courts.
    Ran a hotel for four months.
    Promoted to Invercargill court as registrar. Responsible for the high court.
    Spent seven years in Invercargill then promoted as registrar in Wellington district court for ten years.
    Was made redundant in 1996 after 35 years in the job.
    Got a job as a bursar in a school in the Hutt Valley for six months.
    Went to Australia initially for six months but got a job with the New Zealand passport and citizenship office in Sydney for six years then worked in legal aid.
    Returned to New Zealand when he was sixty and worked in Work and Income collecting debt for three years.
    29 min
  • Manawatu Conversations Episode 345 - Kate Alpin pt2
    About 480 registered social organisations in the Manawatu and Horowhenua. They need to work more collaboratively.
    Councils need to make decisions about what they will continue to fund.
    Food security is important in Palmerston North but in Horowhenua youth engagement is important. Manawatu has hobby organisations.
    135 ethnicities in the region.
    Volunteering is a good way for migrants or refugees to connect with the community.
    Volunteer Central works with Red Cross to support refugee families.
    Volunteer hospital workers such as ‘friends of the emergency department’ who assist people who are anxious.
    Kathryn has been a volunteer community worker for many years. She went inti nursing in the field of mental health. Involved with public health.
    Volunteer Central provides volunteers only to organisations not individuals.
    Volunteers are not paid. They do it because they want to.
    About 1.4 billion dollars per year is put into the New Zealand economy through volunteering.
    Churches are active with pastoral care.
    It takes a community to grow a community.
    A lot of volunteers are recruited from migrants
    31 min
  • Manawatu Conversations Episode 344 - Kate Alpin pt1
    Manager of Whatunga Tūao, Volunteer Central previously called Manawatu Volunteer Resource Centre.
    It is a charity which covers Tararua, Horowhenua, Manawatu and Palmerston North.
    Improves community connections, safety and vibrancy through volunteering.
    First set up in Auckland about 2002 by Norelle Ward.
    Business communities pay their employees to do community work, usually one day a year but sometimes more or less.
    Has helped families with food parcels and other necessities during Covid lockdown.
    Volunteering New Zealand was set up to be a support service for volunteer centres.
    People register as a volunteer.
    A website lists organisations requiring volunteers for particular tasks and Volunteer Central matches volunteers with available jobs.
    Successful matches currently about 84%.
    There is a problem getting people for the governance committee particularly treasurers.
    Organisations are having problems with less funding available and fewer volunteers.
    Volunteers in Palmerston North tend to be younger than the national average.
    29 min
  • Manawatu Conversations Episode 341 - Micki Tyler pt1
    Medical museum is no longer at Palmerston North Public Hospital because the building had to make way for a new mental health block.
    A lot of memorabilia is in storage.
    Some items on display still on display in hospital corridors.
    The museum originally set up in 1980 by Dr David Warnock, a retired ophthalmologist.
    It was combined with a collection from Dr Neil Little.
    Originally set up in the hospital basement but a disused mental health building was made available in 2007 and the museum opened to the public
    The building was vacated in June 2023
    The museum has an iron lung which was used to save the lives of polio victims.
    Some discussion about polio and Covid.
    The museum contained an orthopedic section and a mock operating theatre.
    Micki Tyler worked as a dental nurse with treadle drills in the 1950s through to high-speed drills.
    The advent of fluoride in drinking water made a difference to dental health.
    There is a problem now with sugar drinks affecting dental health.
    Mobile dental units went to high schools from 1993.
    Dentists became dental hygienists and/or therapists.
    29 min
  • Manawatu Conversations Episode 338 - Ian Boddy pt1
    Ian went to Anglican church until age of 19 when friends started a young adults group at Methodist Church.
    They met in people’s homes.
    Five or six churches joined to become Trinity Church on Cuba Street and St Pauls on Broadway.
    Trinity Church was an earthquake risk so joined with St Pauls to become Wesley Broadway.
    Ian was a schoolteacher, a public servant in the housing corporation for 17 years, owned a comic shop then became a Methodist lay preacher.
    He became a minister in Blenheim, Levin and became a full-time minister for the Manawatu Rangitikei parish at age of 58.
    Achieved a Diploma in Practical Theology. Wrote about the social services in Whanganui.
    Methodist Church has been very active with social services in Palmerston North.
    The Methodist Church building became an earthquake risk and was closed.
    St Pauls was demolished in 2020 and used Terracehaven funeral directors chapel and lounge.
    Generally church congregations have been shrinking since 1950/60s but the Methodist Church has grown because of Pacifica.
    New property is shared with Pacifica and in 2025 there will be a joint ministry.
    Young people not going to church so much these days although the Tonga church is doing better.
    29 min

About Manawatū Conversations

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Local people giving recollections of the past, sometimes opinions of the future. Hear about the lives of people in your local community, where they are from and what they have experienced. Discover…