Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 5th November 2019. Part 1 of 3. Born 1940, father away during the war. Early years in Rewa. Father severely wounded in Italy. Father’s war diary, parcels from home. Treatment after wounded, eventual return to New Zealand. Mothers’ ancestors German, coming to NZ in 1843, Nelson area. Education Board land. Father’s side Scottish, coal miners, came 1926. Father working on farms, but other work after the war due to wounds and losing a leg. 1948 moved to state house in Feilding. 

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio 30 July, 2019. Kevin Burrows and Rod Watt, Part 1 of 2.

Time at school together from 1948. Polio epidemic. Discipline, mischief. Palmerston North Technical College. Burning the teacher’s cane. Palmerston North Boys High, including use of the cane. Nicknames, good teachers. Trick with onions. Army training at school. School band.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 6 August, 2019. Kevin Burrows and Rod Watt, part 2 of 2. School in the 1950s. The cane and notches in belts. Pranks they would do: making bombs, smells from wattle seeds, rubber band guns. Making skeletons in science. Control-line aircraft at Palmerston North Boys High School. Slingshots, fire alarms on lampposts, triggered the alarm in a stone fight. Rod came from Scotland aged 7, impressions of New Zealand, types of fruit not available in Scotland.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio on 15th October 2019. Born in Foxton, on dairy farm, 1950s, 212 cows. Transformed from gorse and lupin. Aorangi Marae, Feilding. Māori roots. Holidays with grandparents. Mother worked in administration at Massey University. Mother looked fair, but understood Māori. Mixed community at school, generally seen as the norm. Enjoyed school, more to play than to work. One teacher was very strict. Māori children picked out. School for her children was different – more choices, punishment different. Social events for the whole family. Musical family. Effects of mother working in 1950s. Working on the farm, ploughing at 11 or 12. Father injured in a car accident, never returned to the farm.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio 23 July, 2019. Jim Esson, part 2 of 2.

Book on history of the Rotary Club of Terrace End, first 40 years. Catherine Hamlin World Understanding Award for the fistula hospital in Addis Ababa. Bringing buffaloes to New Zealand. Qualities for meat and milk, temperament, feed. Swamp buffalo and river buffalo. Valuable hides. Few buffalo in New Zealand. Potential value for New Zealand. Increased popularity of goat. Incident with buffalo bulls on a road. Ability to withstand floods.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 16 July, 2019. Jim Esson, part 1 of 2.

Entomologist in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), 1950s. Structure of DSIR, relationship with Massey Agricultural College. Nationality of staff. Selection of research topics. Cicadas. Change when restructured into Crown Research Institutes. Detail on cicadas. Move towards outside funding for research.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 18 June, 2019.

Moved a bit when young, 10 schools. Remembers parents splitting when 4 years old. Effects of changing schools. Desire to finish school. Maori mother. Social background very mixed. Pregnant at 15, mother at 16, in a teen-parent unit. The child’s father. Financial and other support. Second child in 1917. Mixing with other mothers (age difference). Moved into own (rental) house at 17. Social pressures as young mother. Daughter thought of her as very old at 23. University after school. Finishing degree and working in mental health as social worker.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 14 May, 2019. Bruce Markwell and Malcolm Busch on the history of the Rotary Club of Terrace End, Part 1 of 2. Early membership, age, occupation, criteria. Formal meetings. Sergeant’s sessions. Family involvement. Women’s participation. Community service, establishing the Kidney Foundation. Wildbase, Milson Rotary Club. Broader Rotary structure, districts, international. Polio.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 21 May, 2019. Bruce Markwell and Malcolm Busch on the history of the Rotary Club of Terrace End, part 2 of 2. Rotary Club of Terrace End Memorial Educational Trust. Mike Hansen taking a team to Namibia. International students. Manawatū Enterprises (Sheltered workshop). Fundraising, catering for events. Mini-bikes. Opening the bridge. Crunchie Bar Express. Top Schools.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio 9 July, 2019. Raylee Murphy, Part 2 of 2.

Overcame early effects of polio. Polio support group, on the board, learning about late effects of polio. Doctors now unaware of polio. The Duncan family polio rehabilitation hospital. Post-polio assistance needed. Supporting each other. Case of ongoing pain, although look fine. Mobility and accessibility issues. Impact of polio on families. Isolation, schools closed. Polio sufferer June Opie, book, Over My Dead Body. Iron lungs.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio 2 July, 2019. Raylee Murphy, Part 1 of 2.

Bank work from age 15. Early effects of polio. Hospital experience. When in early 40s, took university papers. Married at 19, 3 children. Divorced about 40. Volunteer and then work at Victim Support, organizing jobs, etc.. Description of Victim Support. Interaction with police. Reduced mobility, need for a stroller.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio 16 April 2019. Cliff Simpson, part 3 of 3. Grandfather coming to New Zealand, coal miner from Australia. Great-great-grandfather a convict on the second fleet. Social life with children. Lost 3 children, effect on wife. Siblings in the South Island, maintained contact. Other social life. Pubs and clubs declining and closing – effect of drink-driving restrictions. Affected social life. Now Probus Clubs for older people, and Lions. Sheep breeds, changes. “Ram alley”. Farmers and farming experts. Twin lambing. Growth of dairying.

Broadcast on Access Manawatū on 9 April, 2019. Cliff Simpson, part 2 of 3. Focused on sport in school, athletics, rugby. Middle distance running, training methods, successes up to 1950 Empire Games. Racing Australian half-mile champion. Rugby for King’s High School, then Feilding Old Boys. Social life – 6 o’clock swill. Rangitikei Club. Alcohol consumption, drink driving. Cars, driving licences. Pat driving from about 11 years old. Traffic cops. Evening activities - working late, phoning clients. Long work hours. Area covered. “Killing space allocations” for incoming stock.

A broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 2 April, 2019. Part 1 of 3. Cliff Simpson. Move to Feilding about 1948. Stock agent in South Island, then stock buyer for Longburn freezing works. Nature of the work and training. Father had dairy farm, 35 cows, brought up family of 5 boys. Grew own vegetables, had pigs. In South Island, North Islanders called “Pig Islanders”. Activities with father, spear fishing. WWII, father in home guard. 30 years as stock buyer, plus sheep farming at Halcombe. Nature of work, clients - old families (Pat’s family came in 1883), rehab farmers (returned soldiers got land on a ballot). Rehab farmers, one ex-pow in Japan, another on Crete who lost both legs from frostbite, another in Colditz. Floods.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio 30 April, 2019. Tom Stoneley, part 2 of 2. With Gwen Stoneley. Gwen left school in 1950. Office work. Tom had identical twin brother. Little social life. Worked long hours. Ewe fairs. Holding paddocks. Size of loads. Gwen’s work dress code. People building own machinery. Farming in 1950s, farm advisors. Community life. New home when married. Feilding Little Theatre. Churches. Schools, limited parent involvement. Ride to school, 6 on a horse. Giving teacher a hard time. Bad behaviour. Holidays. Gwen’s father died when she was 4. Later Gwen to boarding school, strong discipline. School milk. How young couples could buy a house in 1950s. Cost of petrol. Petrol stolen. Description of house in 1954.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio 23 April 2019. Tom Stoneley, part 1 of 2. Stoneley Brothers general carriers 1951-1961. Type of vehicles, roads. Hours worked. Items carried. Stock crates. Loading goods by hand. Customers, orders. Driving plus business management, long hours. Interaction with other drivers. Police. Income. Adopted sons – adoption process. Early life, how ended up as a carrier. Dodging school. Lytton Street School, the Palmerston North Tech. Getting carrier jobs.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 13th May 2025. Part 1 of 2. Nirmala broadcasts a programme, Parichay, on Manawatu Peoples Radio for people who have come from India or Fiji and settled in New Zealand or Palmerston North. She came to Palmerston North in 2003. A lot of immigrants are professional or business people but find it difficult to settle if they haven’t arranged a job beforehand. Hindi is the main language spoken. It is taught in Palmerston North. Diwali celebration in Palmerston North has grown and is now held in The Square, Many immigrants come with good qualifications but have difficulty finding a job because of the lack of New Zealand experience. Fiji business practices translate well to New Zealand. Many are losing hope because of crime against them especially in Auckland Young people growing up in New Zealand are adapting better. Most towns have Indian communities for support.  

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 20th May 2025. Part 2 of 2.   Born and educated in Fiji. Graduated as a dietician in 1973 and worked for Fiji government for 30 years. Moved to New Zealand in 2003 with family because of political unrest in Fiji. Her son studied at Massey University. She worked at Palmerston North hospital then in public health as an advisor for Pacific people in Palmerston North. Retired 2022. Vice President of Manawatu Hindu Society for four years Established a newcomers network in 2009 and received a QSM. Her experience as a dietician helped migrants to eat better food. Some people refer to the internet for dietary and nutrition information but it’s not always true. Now she is retired she would like to spend more time for herself and her family. It was difficult to set up youth groups. Support and funding is provided by the city council and government. Nirmala is an interpreter for the courts.   

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 7 May, 2019. Trish Keiller on the history of Caccia Birch House, interviewed by Alison Mildon. Sound of cicadas in the background. Caccia Birch Trust Board member. House uses, history display. Original purchase and clearing of land, building house and occupants/owners. Polo grounds, rifle range. Governor General living there. House called Woodhey. Billiard room, tennis court, sentry boxes. Army use in WWII. Convalescent home, swimming pool. Then rest home, but fire risk. Victoria University use until about 1976. 1980s bought by city council. Subdivision, Ryder-Cheshire property, etc.. Awhina room.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 10th September 2019. Early life. Airforce cadetship. 1 year initial training at Woodburn. Further year at Wigram, then permanent appointment to Ohakea as instrument fitter. Time serving in UK.

First broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 11 June, 2019.

Working in the education psychology field 1974 to 2003. Scope of work in early years. Requests from schools for assessments of specific pupils and formulating strategies. Special classes and special schools. Blindness and deafness. Initially little assistance for pupils with special needs, no specific instruction for teachers, Teaching reading. Studying special education in Pennsylvania. Career path from education into psychology. Impact of Tomorrow's Schools (1989). Ritalin used since 1970s. Behaviour problems. Discipline, abolition of corporal punishment, alternative strategies. Limited in-service training for teachers. Ritalin and parents. Single parent families.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 28 May 2019. Rosaline Putu, part 1 of 2.

Scandinavian origins, born in Palmerston North 1938, married a Maori in 1960. How they met. Speaking English. Acceptance into the family. Speaking Maori, evolution of the language. Highbury Maori Club. Pakeha reactions. Anglican/Catholic. Separated, but kept Maori links. Differences, Maori and Pakeha. Multicultural environment.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 4 June, 2019. Rosaline Putu, part 2 of 2.

Early life in Kairanga (1940s). Moved onto a farm when very young, stayed until turned 9. Early memories. Deaf brother and sister. Wartime, Home guard. Country school life. Pony to school. How the area has changed. Fancy dress balls. Freedom to roam. Kicked by a cow. Farming with horses. Liking pigs. Army engineers, bull paddock. Longdrop outside toilet. Adjusting to town life. Saving. Changing values. Few clothes, making clothes, smocking.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 19th May 2020.  Part 2 of 2. Palmerston North Defence Heritage Advisory Group activities. Anniversaries and commemorations. Military history presentations. Recordings of talks at https://www.nzsappers.org.nz. Charter partners. 5 year programme looking forward. Service graves. Awapuni Medical Memorial. Linton Camp established 1942. Memorial Park redevelopment. The Showgrounds and Cuba Street (Soldiers’ Club, etc..). Poppy Places Trust. Maori Battalion Hall. Cycleway/walkway to Linton Camp. Evening public lectures. Online resources. 14 books published for the WWI Centenary. Conferences. Engineer Museum at Linton Camp.   

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 12th May 2020.  Part 1 of 2. Defence Heritage work since 2015. Coordinating defence heritage activities, ANZAC Day, Military Tattoo, etc.. Participants in the Heritage group. Attendance on ANZAC Day. Battle of the Bridges. Pre: 2015 organisation. 2019 Dawn Service had at least 10,000 people in the Square. ANZAC Day Civic Service. Military Tattoo planned for 2019, postponed to 2020 (Mosque attack), now cancelled (Covid-19). Future events. Battle of the Bridges details. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 25 June, 2019.

Breanna McQuade and Gayle Moana-Johnson. Structure of Future Leaders programme, objectives. Participants. How they operated. Monthly meetings. Catalysts and a coach. Umbrella organization called Inspiring Stories. Sponsors. “Try it out” expo. Continuity between yearly cycles. Festival for the Future. Participants’ future activities after the programme. Social conscience businesses, “Dignity”, “Eat my lunch”, “Yellow Bird”. Important issues. School strike for climate change.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 27th February 2024. Part 1 of 2. Involved with New Zealand Bird Atlas probably largest citizen science project undertaken in NZ. In conjunction with Cornell University ornithology laboratory. Part of a worldwide project. Running over five years – ending May 2024 – to determine distribution and abundance of every bird species seen. Observations recorded digitally using GPS. New Zealand divided into squares and each observation placed in a square. May be different environments in the same square. Reviewers check observations and may ask for more information. www.ebird.org 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 5th March 2024. Part 2 of 2.   Explains difference between endemic, native, introduced and vagrant birds. Endemic bird population is reducing because of loss of habitat caused by humans. Efforts are being made to develop reserves and eliminate predators. Tuis have adapted to urban environment because of planting of nectar trees. Tuis move out of town to bush areas such as Turitea Valley and lower Ruahines at night. He talks about migratory birds. Manawatu Estuary a world heritage site.  Photography useful to help with identification. New Zealand considered seabird capital of the world. Blue duck (Whio) is rare (endemic) and found nowhere else in the world   

 Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 16th August 2022, Part 2 of 2.  Came to Palmerston North 1969. First impressions compared to Wellington. Working when younger, giving pay to mother. Benefits of Palmerston North’s location. Liking to be active, but not sporty. Being a “Why” child. Banned from the library. Good and bad children. Memories of childhood. Overhearing adults’ conversations. Walking to school. Social life in Palmerston North. Accounting work in the 60s and 70s. Calculating machines, mental arithmetic. Different maths skills now. Dialing phone numbers. Changed ways to learn maths. Memory skills. No electronic banking. Using cash for transactions. Scam phonecalls. Problems for elderly adjusting to changed technology. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 9th August 2022, Part 1 of 2.  Came to New Zealand in 1962, £10 Pom. Work in government Statistics Dept.. First observations of NZ. Casual attitude to work, like in Roger Hall’s “Glide Time”. Going to a Ball. Dance etiquette. A rugby team party. Comparison with English parties. Experience of work in England compared to NZ. Equal pay in 1962. Contact with family in England, letters and aerograms. Friends mainly English and Dutch. Social life. The Kiwi weekend, shops closed.