Manawatū Conversations

Jenny and Neil Monro, Part 4 of 4. Trip to London to form World Association of Flower Arrangers. Night train to Scotland. Conference in Australia. Books on floral art. Origins of floral art. Fundraising diaries. Plant varieties in NZ. Night school and start of the local club. Training to teach floral art. Design principles. Growing suitable plant material. Flower arranging as an art form. Durability. Online demonstrations by Francine Thomas through the Covid-19 pandemic. Grandmother’s artwork.

Jenny and Neil Monro, Part 3 of 4. Overseas experience with floral arts, president of the NZ Floral Art Society in 1981, to London setting up world association. International gatherings every 3 years. Taking plants overseas. Gender mix in floral art. Changing nature of floral art. Description of recent winning design. Teaching floral art. Exhibit durability. Preparation for competition. Home-grown vs bought plant material.

Jenny and Neil Monro, Part 2 of 4. Ballroom dancing – learn at school in 1940s, dances in the 1950s. Debutants. Formal dress. Athletics. Milk bars. Drinking age, pubs. Smoking. Neil getting a pipe. Young people have more opportunities now. Perception of 60s music. Entertaining, arrangements with children. Travel to Nelson for Xmas pre-WWII. Christmas meals

Jenny and Neil Monro, Part 1 of 4. Came to Palmerston North in 1957 after marriage and a year in Dannevirke. Compared to Wellington. Neil’s education, Huntley and Collegiate. Golf, squash, local club activity. How squash has changed. Jenny’s floral art, changing styles. Mothers not working. Activities in the home, compared to today.

Jim Oliver and David Marshall, Part 4. Drinking culture. Driver’s last trip to Hawkes Bay. HB line nicknamed “Disneyland”, union activity. Scheduling. Inspectors. The guard in charge of the train. Drink driving, enforcement. Last train out of the old yards, car accident. New yards at Milson. Long trains now, weight of loaded wagons. Milk trains. The future of rail. Railway gauges. Best aspect of being a driver.

Jim Oliver and David Marshall, Part 3. Railway drivers on accidents and incidents in 1950s and 60s. Cyclist on the cow catcher. School children playing chicken. Sheep in a tunnel. A bull. Mother and children. Man and dog. Bus driver. No counselling for drivers. Other incidents. Fog. Ahead of schedule. Rail lengths.

Jim Oliver and David Marshall, Part 2. Working in the Palmerston North railway yards, 1950s and 60s. Railway through the Square. Safety and speeds. Shunting. Wagon of post holes. Size of PN depot. “Light up” shift, smoke. Cow catchers. Fines for accidents. Pay rates. Move of the yard to Milson. Accident with a cattle wagon about 1962. Cleaning boilers. Anecdotes. Transition to electric, falling asleep in the cab (tablets). Larger trains. Fatal train accident. Near miss.

Jim Oliver and David Marshall - pt 1 of 4

Keith Clark, Part 5. Banding birds for the Dominion Museum. Tuatara for Canadian museums. Country school trip to Christchurch. School reunion, achievements of past pupils. Maori pupils. Trip to England, 6 weeks by ship. Teaching in England, difficult pupils. English tramping. New maths. Curriculum vs textbooks. Social differences.

Keith Clark, Part 4. Principal of school in Blenheim. Pupils’ backgrounds and later lives. Teaching style and activities. School swimming pool. Buying a house. Search and rescue (1960s). Skiing (early days), hut building. Exchange to Victoria (Australia) for a year. Different approach there, available resources, innovations, leisure activities (catching rabbits and snakes), camps for children. School near Featherston, extra activities, gymnastics.