Manawatū Heritage

Margaret Beere, 1950s childhood in Palmerston North - Manawatu Conversations

Braodcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 30 October 2018. Margaret Beere. Summary: 1951 to State House in Ross Block (now Roslyn), could buy. “Ross Block kids”. Primary schools, zoning. Then Intermediate, long way to go. Get meat from butcher first thing in the morning. Bread delivered (leave basket out). Milk and groceries delivered. Meals. Desserts. Bread going stale. Intermediate School very big. Many green areas, kids playing. Mr Gardner(?)’s pool. Library in old Ross homestead. Radio. Radiogram for music. Had male teachers at intermediate. Behaviour at school. Punishment at Terrace End. Changes in town since 1950s. Regent cinema booked seats. Railway in the Square.

Eric Franklyn, work in courts, part 1 - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 7 August 2018, Eric Franklyn . Part 1 of 2. Summary: Working in courthouses, managing several courts. Career path – moving if wanted promotion. Learning on the job. Salary levels. Choosing a career. Family Court. Whanganui computer system. Memorable cases. Court security. Court culture. Experience moving around for work. Childhood. Basketball. Courts in smaller centres. Changing attitudes to courts.

Relay for Life - Manawatu Conversations

A broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 1 January, 2019. Relay for Life, Rotary Club of Terrace End team participants describe their experience. Part 1: 9th March, 2013. It is nearly midnight and Katrine Imrie and Gaewyn Grant in a tent on the Relay for Life site talk about their experiences. Part 2: 10th March, 2018. Just before midnight at the Relay for Life (noon Saturday to noon Sunday), Sarah Findlay and Emily Brewer describe the event.

John Perrin, early family in New Zealand - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 3 July 2018, John Perrin (b.1934) Part 1 of 2. Family arrived in New Zealand very early and moved to the Palmerston North area at the beginning of settlement. [NB detailed account of family history in Nancy Smith (1971) _And So We Began: A History of the Perrin Family in Palmerston North_. Copies in PN Library.] Big gale in 1930s. Schooling in war years. Willard Home. Ice cream factory. Gas works. Leisure and entertainment. The Regent Theatre. Tech schooling. Memorial Park.

Colin Dyer, Palmerston North Showgrounds part 1 - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 11 December 2018. Colin Dyer Part 1 of 2. Summary: Origins of Showgrounds, A&P Association 1886. Nature of A&P. State of Showgrounds about 1950. 1972 bought by PNCC and redeveloped. 1974, Palmerston North Showgrounds Act. Bernard Forde. Investment resulted in more activity. 1979 stadium built. Concerts, netball tests, etc.. Manager from November 1987 until 2002. Developed for multi-use in that time. Rugby league. Competing uses. Seating. Lighting. Televised games. Acoustics.

Dennis Quinn, architect part 1 - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 20 November 2018. Dennis Quinn. Part 1 of 2. Summary: Architect in Palmerston North from 1979. Earlier life, Wanganui, then university. Why architecture? Bursary scheme. Work in New Zealand, then to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) for 2 years. Situation there. Architecture work, including UK, comparisons. Return to NZ, hiring and employment observations. Earthquake requirements.

Housing styles - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Access Manawatu on 29 May 2018, a group discussion of building styles and materials at various times in New Zealand. Topics include: ceiling heights, heating, ventilation, food safes, design errors, and threats (floods, earthquakes, liquefaction).

Anne Cheer, childhood - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio on 17 July 2018, Anne Cheer Part 1 of 2. Summary: In Palmerston North until 8, then Woodville until 16. Palmerston North Central Normal School. Comparison of her schooling and later teaching. Using slates. Inkwells. Subjects taken. Discipline. Father an engine driver. Masterton earthquake 1942. Physical education. Games, marbles. High school in Woodville, 5th form class of 7, only girl in class. Working as 14 year old, sent to Auckland to Girls Grammar school. Parties. Few cars. Home life, shopping, home crafts, washing. Buying house with cash. Father and fishing.

John Macfarlane, law and amateur dramatics - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 21 August 2018. Summary: John Macfarlane came to Palmerston North 48 years ago. Joining a law practice, timekeeping. Either court work or conveyancing. Other activities, sport and drama. Centrepoint Theatre, George Street, then Church Street, professional theatre only, no amateurs. Meal and play audiences. Subsidies, training ground for professional actors. Playwriters. Theatresports. On the Board of Centrepoint. City Council support. Popularity with actors. Book by Peter Hawes, [_40 Years of Centrepoint Theatre_](https://manawatuheritage.pncc.govt.nz/item/0175d25c-d368-4bf0-a3b9-3f1b310f9fe3).

Abbeyfield residents, school days in World War Two - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Access manawatu, 12 June 2018. Abbeyfield residents Beryl Ludlam, Bev Marsh, Elaine Morse and Peggy Pedersen describe their experiences. Topics include: School in the war years, air raid practice and shelters, power blackouts, fear of invasion, old ladies teaching, poor discipline, news through the radio, country school farewells for boys going to serve overseas, ration books, sending food to England, the effects of war on families, Japanese in Featherstone, ginger nuts recipe story, American servicemen, Elaine in the UK, effects of a bombing raid, school lunches, entertaining Americans on a New Zealand farm, letters to soldiers, end of war celebrations, war casualties.

Paul McRae, early family experience in New Zealand, Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Access Manawatu, 8 May 2018, with Paul McRae (b. 1932). Part 1 of 2. Summary: Great grandmother in NZ in mid-1850s, brought a still to Hokonui and made whisky. ([https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/hokonui-moonshine/](https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/hokonui-moonshine/)). Father in police force. Moved around a lot in childhood. (Hammering noise in background). Schooling in Palmerston North. Boxing. Trawling for flounder.

Colleen Crooks, porcelain doll making part 1 - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 15 January 2019. Colleen Crooks Part 1 of 2. Summary: How got into doll making. History of porcelain dolls. Runs a dolls’ hospital. Can reproduce antiques in her studio, porcelain and clothing. Method of production using molds, porcelain slip, kilns and “paints” (china paints). The painting and firing process. Teaches classes in doll making. Competitions. Popularity as a hobby. Studying, apprenticeship, exams, Masters in Dollmaking. Further levels. Factories in Germany and France. A mechanical accordion-playing doll.

Alison Mildon, Palmerston North childhood 1950s-60s - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 4 December 2018. Alison Mildon. Summary: Family cars. Restrictions on overseas currency. Primary school. Localised communities. World War Two and ages of children. Getting to secondary school (Freyberg). Driving to school at 15. Views on co-educational schooling. Rural community implications. Few restrictions. Teenage pregnancies. Going overseas after lower 6th. Social activities, school pools, guides and scouts. Lamb and calf days. Changing communities.

Ann Behrens, teacher, part 1 - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 28 August 2018. Ann Behrens Part 1 of 2. Summary: Teacher training in Palmerston North, 1957-8. Also taking a degree through Victoria University. Accommodation. Type of training. Funding. Trained for Primary, later worked as Secondary. Tenniquoits. Well trained – approach to teaching. No supervision. School inspectors. St Dominic’s College in Dunedin. Scandinavian grandfather arrived in NZ 1872. Visit to Norway. School management. Strong women. Teaching with 6 month old son in school. Lawyer husband, not from a family of lawyers, so hard to get first job. Later became a judge. In PN from about 1968.

Anne Cheer, adult life - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 24 July 2018. Anne Cheer Part 2 of 2. Summary: Teachers College, Ardmore. April 1st pranks. Accommodation. Activities. Teaching. Rose to Assistant Principal. Pupils changing, less respect later. Changes with Tomorrows Schools. Pay. Working when a mother, child care. Retirement age. Reading recovery teaching. Living in a retirement village.

John Perrin, adult life - Manawatu Conversations

Broqadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 10 July 2018. John Perrin (b.1934) Part 2 of 2. Summary: Apprenticeship – joinery. Radiata pine. Terrace End railway station. Timber truck hit by train. Building inspections, residential then commercial. Liquid concrete falling on a car. “No parking” signs. Clerk of works for Ministry of Works. Seed storage building at Massey University (seed bank).

Abbeyfield residents - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Access Manawatu, 5 June 2018, Abbeyfield residents talk about Abbeyfield, a residence offering “senior flatting”. Summary: Part of a global system, started in England, 13 in New Zealand. Semi-independent living. Comparison to retirement village or rest home. Gardens. Why they came to Abbeyfield. Run by volunteers. National structure, establishment of new centres. Council donated the land, built by the army. New residents’ adjusting.

Colleen Crooks, porcelain dolls part 2 - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 22 January 2019. Colleen Crooks Part 2 of 2. Summary: Porcelain doll making – after the porcelain stage. Traditional fabrics. Colours. Has hundreds of dolls, filled a granny flat. Dolls’ hospital. Still teaching this at 80. Cost of the hobby. Accurate reproductions versus a creative approach. Most prefer antique reproductions. A social environment in the classes, a “sisterhood”. Underwear, historically accurate. Hand sewing. Shoes. Hats. Hair, mohair, straws for curlers, dyes. Importance of eyes, “the soul of the doll”.

Owen Dolan, Catholic childhood - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 2 October 2018. Owen Dolan, Part 1 of 2. Summary: To Hawera after mother died. Thought grandmother was his mother. Catholic community. School experience, at primary all the teachers were nuns. Protestant-Catholic relationships. Visits to Palmerston North in the war. Step-siblings. Highschool, then trained for priesthood. Got rheumatic fever in wartime epidemic. American troops, smoking. Blackouts. Limited impact of war, deaths of ex-pupils. Boarding school food. Teachers.

Paul McRae, Part 2, later life - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Access Radio, 15 May 2018, Paul McRae (b.1932). Part 2 of 2. Summary: Farming with his brother, bulldozing, getting driving licences. Style of policing. To Palmerston North. Driving trucks for the railways. Building a house. Children and sport. Growing vegetables. Pay and prices. Social activities, holidays.

Manawatū Conversations - Oral History

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