Manawatū Conversations

Bob Stewart, Part 4 of 4. Experiencing US and Canada after time at Christ’s College, Christchurch. Approaches to education, incentives, penalties, influence of parents. Changes since then. Dealing with failure. More optimistic can-do attitude in the US. Co-educational schooling. Education for adolescents. Returned to NZ when aged nearly 50. “Retired”, and elected on to city council. Fitzherbert Avenue trees and 4-laning. Journal, Social Behaviour and Personality. Reviewing and editing.

Bob Stewart, Part 3 of 4. Time in Fiji, the Rabuka coup. Student behaviour to soldiers. International Year of Peace. Rotary’s role in UN and UNESCO. Joining the Rotary Club of Suva East, supporting an Indian orphanage there. Bob’s higher roles in Rotary. Rotary Peace Forum, Polio Plus. Rotary Club of Terrace End: Polio Plus dinners; collecting spectacles for the Pacific Islands.

Bob Stewart, Part 2 of 4. Why Bob moved about before settling here. Training for psychology. Job at Massey University in 1967, authoritarian culture. Getting into property. Boarding school experience, continuing aversion to sport (still while nearly 83). Perspective on role of teachers (motivating). Stopping breathing as stress relief. Impact of father’s death. Step-father was quite different. Relationship with step-brother.

Bob Stewart, Part 1 of 4. Early childhood, in Wellington until 12, then Manawatu, boarding school then AFS. To Victoria University studying psychology. To Mid-West and then Harvard, followed by a lectureship in Ottawa. Lecturing and PhD at Massey, then to Ontario, followed by Fiji and the University of the South Pacific. Book, Pacific Profiles. Became Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Rambuka’s coup. After 12 years, came to Palmerston North. Wanted to retire as nearly 50. Became a city councillor.

Tania Kopytko, 2 of 2. Working with the Palmerston North Community Arts Council. Funded by PN Council and QEII Arts Council. Broad definition of arts. Facilitating activities, building community. Initial negativity from the arts establishment. Moved to involvement rather than excellence as a goal, things have opened up. Funding for projects. Eric Brew, Val Bolter, other tutors. Merging of Community Arts and Square Edge Trust Boards. Loss of momentum. World on Stage.

Tania Kopytko, 1 of 2. Grew up in Palmerston North, studied social anthropology at Massey University. Family background. PhD in anthropology of dance with Queen’s University, Belfast, comparing ballet and breakdance. Working in community arts, a new global movement. Art as a means of linking diverse groups. Development stalled with funding cuts in 1990s. Funding sources reemerging now. Crows Feet Dance Collective. Dance exercise project. Mostly for women, but there are other things for men.

Jim and Joy Bain, 3 of 3. 20 acre lifestyle block in Woodville rearing calves, semi-retired. IHC and St John calf schemes. St John Health Shuttle, Pahiatua to Palmerston North. Son had meningitis at 3. From age 20 had 36 years with IHC. Now 61, working and independent living with some assistance. Son’s father a Samoan. No schooling or support. IHC workshop in Nelson. Jim, 80 years old, drives a school shuttle for special needs children.

Jim and Joy Bain, 2 of 3. Joy was adopted at 6 years old by mother’s twin sister. Family connections, long-term impacts. Volunteering with AFS, hosted children. As hosting exchange students, got trips to visit Thailand and have short stays with families. Now get paid to host. Cultural differences with Thailand. Stomach bugs when travelling. Running a motel, work hours, incidents.

Jim and Joy Bain, 1 of 3. Voluntary work, started with Jim’s father, natural to do things for others. Scouts, paper drives, other fundraising. Grew up in Seddonville, moved to Nelson, then Levin in 1978. Paper drives without cellphones. World Vision stands at trade shows, getting people to sponsor children. Actually supporting community projects. Valuing volunteers. Small proportion or revenue going to overheads.

Dave Harding, Part 2 of 2. Worked at Massey from 1973 to 2021 aged 78. Type of research, preference for practical applications of chemistry. Past students. Primarily research work until mid-1990s when increased teaching responsibilities. Nature of chemistry research. Changing focus of chemistry towards applications. Water quality increasingly important. Cross-disciplinary approaches. More accurate measurements, better equipment.