Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

27 May 2012 - 5:33 pm NZ time

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Spectrum Episode Library

Sunday, 27 May 2012: Te Kainga Hostel, a Home Away from Home.

Former trade training hostel residents, along with Anglican social worker Bill Cox who ran it, remember the early days of the Maori Trade Training Hostel te Kainga, in Hansens Lane Christchurch. The hostel opened in 1962.

Produced by Deborah Nation.

(The programme was first broadcast in 1992.)

Sunday, 20 May 2012: Where the Heather Meets the Fern

‘Ceud Mille Failte’ – One hundred thousand welcomes to the 148th Turakina Highland Games. Every year since 1864, the tiny settlement of Turakina south of Whanganui has resounded to the skirl of the pipes. The tartans swirl as competitors strut their stuff in the Sword Dance or Half Tulloch, while in the field events, brawny men in singlets toss sheaf and caber. Amelia Nurse and Phillip Collins were on hand for Spectrum.

Sunday, 13 May 2012: A Hard Nut to Crack

The distinctive vomit-like smell of ripe fruit from a Ginkgo tree is enough to put most people off harvesting it. But each Autumn, members of the Asian community can be seen shaking the leaves of trees. For Bay of Plenty couple Graham and Mavis Dyer, who watched nuts being knocked to the ground, curiosity proved too much and they tried growing Ginkgos. Join Spectrum's Lisa Thompson as she meets the Dyers and explores why they might not be so nuts after all.

Sunday, 6 May 2012: Short Back and Sides

Christchurch hairdresser for men and boys, Gordon Kinsett, discusses a lifetime in the business while giving customer Michael a short back and sides.

Sunday, 29 April 2012: Waipawa's Wimbledon

Sharapova and Djokavitch may be missing but the competition is still fierce on court. This is Waipawa’s Wimbledon with well over 100 veteran tennis players, some in their 80s, battling for supremacy in the country’s oldest tournament of its kind. A love of the sport itself along with the enjoyment of meeting and competing with old friends brings vets back year after year.

Sunday, 22 April 2012: Archie Clapham’s Clocks

Archie Clapham trained as an engineer and for years ran the small power station that powered the Wellington tram system. He also collected clocks. By the time he was in his late 70’s he had four hundred of them crammed into his house. After moving to Whangarei he sold his collection to the local Council and today Claphams National Clock Museum has over fourteen hundred time pieces.

Sunday, 15 April 2012: Broken Glass

With half his life work destroyed by earthquakes, Christchurch conservator Graham Stewart is on a mission to save what is left of Canterbury’s remarkable stained glass history.

Sunday, 8 April 2012: Hands On History

Pupils from Christchurch’s Cashmere Primary School explore Wellington’s Old St Paul’s and find that uncovering the secrets and symbols of a wooden gothic cathedral is a fun way of learning.

Sunday, 1 April 2012: From Mongolia to Azerbaijan

Surplus drugs, redundant medical equipment, dental supplies, you name it, if it's in-date and of use, Medical Aid Abroad New Zealand will take it and ship it to wherever it's needed. Founded more than forty years ago, MAANZ is a volunteer organization staffed by former doctors. They stack and pack in a warehouse in Auckland and send help all around the world.

Sunday, 25 March 2012: Master Curlers

Every year, Curlers from throughout the south gather for the Dunedin Masters games. Spectrum meets veteran curlers as they compete on indoor ice rinks and enjoy the warmth and comfort of a bar and facilities which are a far cry from the frozen lakes of Central Otago where curling competitions, or Bonspiels, are normally held.

Sunday, 18 March 2012: Forty Years On - Spectrum's 40th Birthday

Forty years ago to the day, 18 March 1972, the first Spectrum documentary was broadcast. Jack Perkins helped Alwyn Owen launch a human interest series which was designed as a counterbalance to the current affairs content of National Radio.
Owen and Perkins briefly recall Spectrum’s early days and replay ‘Two Wellington Childhoods’, first broadcast in 1972.

Sunday, 11 March 2012: How do your lungs feel today?

Summer 2012 was special for the outdoorsy Moore family of Titirangi. For the first time in years they went tramping together, complete with mother Colleen. After years of deteriorating health, 58 year old Colleen is now the grateful owner of a new set of donated lungs. Four days walking Fiordland’s Kepler Track was a big test.

Sunday, 4 March 2012: Planting the Seeds of Sound

Deborah Nation visits a sound garden workshop in Okuti Valley on Banks Peninsula which inspires participants to free the voice within.

Sunday, 26 February 2012: Pukaha Mt Bruce

Pukaha Mount Bruce reserve is the last remnant of Wairarapa's once-famous 70 Mile Bush which cloaked the countryside from Masterton north to Norsewood. Spectrum’s Jack Perkins looks at the work of Pukaha Mt Bruce rangers. On the way, he meets a wolf-whistling Kokako and checks out a healthy young Kiwi.

Sunday, 19 February 2012: The King of the Tide

Dennis (Rocky) Hall lives for the beach. Nearly 70, he is one of the country's longest serving surf lifesavers, volunteering his time at Gisborne's Midway Surf Life Saving Club for over half a century.
Such is his passion for guarding the beaches, Rocky is now training the third generation of surf lifesavers in the club. Spectrum's Lisa Thompson travelled to Gisborne to meet the man affectionately known as the Godfather of Midway.

Sunday, 12 February 2012: Solutions 2 Access

At least five companies are busy working in and around Christchurch blasting rock on unstable slopes in the hope of reducing danger since the earthquakes. Spectrum’s Deborah Nation joins backcountry construction company Solutions 2 Access, as the team blasts rock on the Port Hills above Lyttelton.

Sunday, 5 February 2012: Living Life to the Full

Writer, film maker and sculptor Frankie Wood is 92 years-old and has been an entertainer since childhood. She still performs with her life-sized puppets, mouth organ or accordion and is always ready to burst into song. But Jack Perkins discovers that Frankie’s talent and energy are also reflected in a life crammed with incident and adventure.

(The second of two programmes)

Sunday, 29 January 2012: Rotoroa, No Longer an Island Apart

Rotoroa Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf is no longer an ‘island apart’. For a hundred years it was off-limits to the public, as the Salvation Army’s alcohol and drug treatment centre. Now, after a 30-million dollar take-over and makeover, the island’s wide open to visitors. All the money’s come from the pockets of a very shy philanthropic couple Neal and Annette Plowman.

Sunday, 22 January 2012: Chez Eelco

Café Chez Eelco was the hub of Nelson’s Bohemian life from the ‘60s through to the ‘90s and one of the very first coffee houses in New Zealand.

Sunday, 15 January 2012: Moa Lager and Whale Ale

The Mussel Inn in Onekaka in Golden Bay has been an iconic place to visit for nearly 20 years.

Sunday, 8 January 2012: Books Behind Bars

On Spectrum this week, Justin Gregory goes behind bars to meet a former bookstore owner who has spent years of her life helping prisoners improve their reading skills and change their lives.

Sunday, 1 January 2012: The Jester House

Judy and Steve Richards have run the Jester House in the hamlet of Tasman for 20 years – it’s a café with a difference.

Sunday, 25 December 2011: Coal Range Day - Spectrum's Christmas Treat

Spectrum brings you a special Christmas treat. Fancy some ginger gems, hot cheese scones, or colonial goose, cooked on a coal range stove? Justin Gregory is on hand when the old Shacklock Coal Range at Cornwall Park’s historic Huia Lodge is fired up. Cooking the way your grandmother, her mother and her mother before her did it.

Sunday, 18 December 2011: What Happened to the Blind Man?

Spectrum discovers what happened to the blind man who busked in front of the Cathedral until the day of the February earthquake.

Sunday, 11 December 2011: Under the Mountain

The commanding landmark of Rangitoto, the largest and youngest of the islands in Auckland's volcanic field, has long attracted day-trippers keen to make the short, sharp hike to its summit. But for a small handful of families, time on the island stands almost still.
These are the descendants of a once thriving bach community during the 1920s and 30s.
Spectrum's Lisa Thompson meets those ensuring the island's slice of Kiwiana lives on.