Episode Playlist
Manawatu Conversations Episode 350 - Rosalie Hunter Part 1 of 3( 0:27:3)
Episode Information
Rosalie grew up in Brunswick near Whanganui and began to work on the family farm in the late 1940s.
Went to Brunswick school which had 40 pupils.
Milked two cows by hand after school and carried out other farm work while she was young.
Dianne grew up on a dairy farm which also had pigs. Local farmers helped each other with haymaking etc.
Dianne preferred town life rather than rural.
Rosalie eventually moved to Stanway in the Manawatu.
Rosalie once fell in a sheep dip. She went home and had a shower. Her skin peeled off. Later changed to spraying the sheep.
There were 800 Romney sheep.
Farming became unprofitable so husband Brian worked in Feilding and Rosalie worked at Ashhurst school and farming became part time.
Rosalie eventually went teaching. Opted to teach junior children.
Lived in a YWCA hostel and shared a room with three others.
Very soon met Brian who was to be her husband. He was an engineer.
Went to country dances and dances at the Ballroom Astoria with a jazz band and a dance band
Published: 4/02/2025 3:00:00 p.m.
Manawatu Conversations Episode 346 - Grant Smith pt1( 0:28:26)
Episode Information
One of twin boys. Mother was very ill so cared for by Plunket in Whanganui and returned to his mother six months later.
Went to West End School New Plymouth and was told that his interests lay outside the classroom.
Went to New Plymouth Boys High School. Did history, maths and accounting. Played rugby, Enjoyed school.
Worked in the magistrates court in New Plymouth for four years then transferred to supreme court in Auckland as a clerk. Became registrar of Feilding magistrates court.
Two sons born in Feilding.
Promoted to registrar of the court at Oamaru and was warden of the mining court. Spent four years there and had two more sons.
Promoted to Hawera where he was responsible for the Hawera and Patea courts.
Ran a hotel for four months.
Promoted to Invercargill court as registrar. Responsible for the high court.
Spent seven years in Invercargill then promoted as registrar in Wellington district court for ten years.
Was made redundant in 1996 after 35 years in the job.
Got a job as a bursar in a school in the Hutt Valley for six months.
Went to Australia initially for six months but got a job with the New Zealand passport and citizenship office in Sydney for six years then worked in legal aid.
Returned to New Zealand when he was sixty and worked in Work and Income collecting debt for three years.
Published: 7/01/2025 3:00:00 p.m.
Manawatu Conversations Episode 345 - Kate Alpin pt2( 0:30:20)
Episode Information
About 480 registered social organisations in the Manawatu and Horowhenua. They need to work more collaboratively.
Councils need to make decisions about what they will continue to fund.
Food security is important in Palmerston North but in Horowhenua youth engagement is important. Manawatu has hobby organisations.
135 ethnicities in the region.
Volunteering is a good way for migrants or refugees to connect with the community.
Volunteer Central works with Red Cross to support refugee families.
Volunteer hospital workers such as ‘friends of the emergency department’ who assist people who are anxious.
Kathryn has been a volunteer community worker for many years. She went inti nursing in the field of mental health. Involved with public health.
Volunteer Central provides volunteers only to organisations not individuals.
Volunteers are not paid. They do it because they want to.
About 1.4 billion dollars per year is put into the New Zealand economy through volunteering.
Churches are active with pastoral care.
It takes a community to grow a community.
A lot of volunteers are recruited from migrants
Published: 31/12/2024 3:00:00 p.m.
Manawatu Conversations Episode 344 - Kate Alpin pt1( 0:28:21)
Episode Information
Manager of Whatunga Tūao, Volunteer Central previously called Manawatu Volunteer Resource Centre.
It is a charity which covers Tararua, Horowhenua, Manawatu and Palmerston North.
Improves community connections, safety and vibrancy through volunteering.
First set up in Auckland about 2002 by Norelle Ward.
Business communities pay their employees to do community work, usually one day a year but sometimes more or less.
Has helped families with food parcels and other necessities during Covid lockdown.
Volunteering New Zealand was set up to be a support service for volunteer centres.
People register as a volunteer.
A website lists organisations requiring volunteers for particular tasks and Volunteer Central matches volunteers with available jobs.
Successful matches currently about 84%.
There is a problem getting people for the governance committee particularly treasurers.
Organisations are having problems with less funding available and fewer volunteers.
Volunteers in Palmerston North tend to be younger than the national average.
Published: 24/12/2024 3:00:00 p.m.