Wellington's St Peters Anglican church on Willis St, established in 1848, has a long history of providing succour for the poor and under-privileged and taking a strong stand on controversial topics and issues of social justice. Spectrum's Jack Perkins attends a Sunday morning service and climbs the bell tower where he's told about possible bold new plans to restore and strengthen the structure which would allow the 8 bells to peal out like never before.

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Caesar Roose was born in 1886 on an island in the Waikato River, opposite the railway town of Mercer. At the age of eighteen, he launched his first commercial boat and for the next 60-years Roose vessels traded along the big river and its many tributaries. His only child, Jeanette Thomas, has just opened her own museum in Mercer to remember her father and his place in Mercer's history.

Building the Aurora, Caesar Roose's launch.

Caesar Roose was born in 1886 on an island in the Waikato River, opposite the railway town of Mercer. The river was his road, and at the age of 18 he launched his first commercial boat. For the next 60 years Roose vessels traded along the big river and its tributaries, and also trans-shipped goods at Port Waikato. Caesar Roose became known as the Grand Old Man of the River.

His only child, Jeanette Thomas, has just opened her own museum in Mercer dedicated to her father's memory and his place in Mercer's history. These days Mercer is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of a place on the Waikato expressway between Auckland and Hamilton.

Jeanette herself was born in the same house by the river as her father, but that burned down in 1950. Tuoro island on which it stood, is strictly speaking no longer an island as the river on the western side has silted up. But the Caesar Roose bridge was opened in 1972 linking Tuoro to Mercer. The Roose Estate paid £100,000 towards its construction, as promised by Mr Roose before his death in 1967.

David Steemson spent a morning with Jeanette Thomas at the museum, strolling across the bridge to the place where she and her father were born.

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The Battle for Monte Cassino, 70 years ago, has been described as the 'forgotten campaign' of the Second World War. But for mosaic artist, Janice Corbishley, the connection with the small Italian town of Cassino could not be stronger. Because it is there that her uncle Trevor Corbishley fought alongside hundreds of other New Zealand soldiers over a long and bloody five-month period in 1944. His story is being shared as part of a commemorative art exhibition titled Legato. This programme replaces the advertised 'St Peters on Willis' which will now play on June 1st.

'Trigger' (detail) by mosaic artist Janice Corbishley, currently on display at the Legato exhibition in Cassino (courtesy of the artist).

On the 18 May 1944, the Battle of Monte Cassino was finally won when the Polish 2nd Core dislodged the Germans from the mountain and the monastery. Janice Corbishley's uncle Trevor Corbishley and Cheryl Coleman's father Snow Coleman were among the New Zealand force which joined the battle months earlier. Like so many other men returning to New Zealand following active service in the Second World War, Trevor Corbishley talked little with his family about what he had seen and experienced.

'Any conversations we had, he was always jovial, he made jokes about things, he was quite a joker,' says Janice, a mosaic artist based in Napier.

For Cheryl Coleman, whose father Snow Coleman served with the 19th New Zealand Armoured Regiment, the experience was similar.

Snow Coleman (far right) and crew before the battle for Cassino.

The Battle of Monte Cassino, which both men fought in, was actually a series of four battles, in which the Allies tried to break through the German lines to seize Rome in 1944. New Zealand's losses were horrendous, with over 300 killed and a further 1200 wounded.

And while both Trevor Corbishley and Snow Coleman came home, it's not until after their respective deaths that their stories are being told by Janice and Cheryl. And it's those stories that have motivated both women to collaborate on a unique artistic commemoration. Over 100 artworks by 37 New Zealanders, including a piece by Janice, are currently on display at the Legato exhibition in Cassino.

'Trigger' by mosaic artist Janice Corbishley, currently on display at the Legato exhibition in Cassino. (courtesy Janice Corbishley)

Spectrum marks the 70th anniversary of the battle.

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Working with temperatures in excess of 1000 °C, blacksmith Kim Nielsen says on a cold winter's day there's no better place to be than next to his forge. Kim and his father Ian run one of the last production blacksmith workshops in the country, based in Auckland's industrial heartland of Penrose. Join Spectrum's Lisa Thompson as the Nielsens fire up their coke forge.

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Paul Charman captures the sound of places seldom trod and talks to passengers with a life-long passion for birds and an enduring love of plants.

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Researcher Margaret Tate shows Spectrums Jack Perkins around Palmerston North's Savage Crescent state housing precinct and they also meet long-time residents. Savage Crescent dates from 1937 and was designed as a garden suburb with curved streets, a variety of housing styles and a central common reserve. Named after the Prime Minister of the first Labour Government, It was the first of its kind outside the 4 main centres and has changed little in over 70 years.

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Spectrum's Alwyn Owen pays tribute to some of our worst - and funniest - New Zealand verse.

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This week on Spectrum, 'The V Team'. Katy Gosset is behind the scenes at a lively Christchurch veterinary practice where staff bring their dogs to work and spaying a lioness is just another day at the office.

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John Ewing describes his time training and working as an animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios in one word - magic. After twice serving with the US Navy, including a tour of duty in the Korean War, John decided to return to his first love of drawing and was accepted into the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angles. From there he was handpicked to join Disney and stayed for over a decade working on classics such as The Jungle Book and Sleeping Beauty. While he would have like to have stayed at Disney, chances to rise up the ranks were limited and so in 1967 John and his wife decided to move to New Zealand. Attracted by our fledging television industry, he turned his skills to classic commercials, creating recognisable animations such as Ches'n'Dale and the Marley Duck. Come and meet John Ewing with Spectrum, and find out what it was like for him to work for a time at one of the most magical places on earth.

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In various forms, Parsons Books and Music has been a cultural landmark on Wellington's Lambton Quay since 1948. Russian composer Igor Stravinsky called it 'the most beautiful bookshop in the world'. But now Parsons is closing. Spectrum's Jack Perkins talks with Julian Parsons and his sister Beatrice and to long-time customers saddened by the empty shelves.

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