RNZ: Spectrum

Any week on a Tuesday night  at an Auckland marae you'll hear members of the kapa haka group Ahakoa te Aha singing for their dead sister Natasha Allen Hohepa.

Christmas tales from Alcoholics Anonymous

The Cook Islands' traditional form of tattoo which was all but wiped out by colonisation but there are some ta tatau artists who are keeping the old ways alive.

This week on Spectrum – she came down with crash six months ago. But, before her much vaunted implosion, the Christchurch Central Police Station had already known plenty of action. Katy Gosset talks to police and prisoners alike as they reflect on the building's four decades of service. [participants] Kieran Kortegast, Dave Harvey, Trent Hiles, Steve Gee, Vox pops Katy Gosset

Some secrets of surviving in a small town

Grand old man of Coromandel looks back on his life.

Earlier this year, Waikeria Prison won a Corrections Leadership award from Arts Access Aotearoa for facilitating activities including kapa haka, whakairo (carving), music, poetry, raranga (weaving) and painting. These pursuits are all integral to the inmates' recovery and reintegration experience at Te Ao Marrama. Amelia Nurse spent a day at the prison. She was welcomed as whanau and learned what the arts have come to mean in the lives of the inmates and the staff.

Roger Lusby's skills define versatility:- mechanic, builder, craftsman, recording engineer, musician, balladeer, performance poet. Based on experience, he's written about fruit picking in Central Otago, the Mckenzie Country, Canterbury's infamous Nor'westerly winds, maintaining machinery in the Antarctic,- the list goes on. Spectrum's Jack Perkins chats with Roger about his colourful life with illustrations from his poetry.

Bill Kerrison is helping save our native longfin eels or tuna. Each year he traps and transfers eels and other native fish species past a series of dams on the Rangitaiki River in the Bay of Plenty, so they can continue maturing or head out to sea to breed. Spectrum's Lisa Thompson meets the man locals have nicknamed 'Mr Tuna'.

They come for the carpentry and the mateship, and along the way they're restoring an Whangarei landmark.

Maverick and visionary, Mother Suzanne Aubert was responsible for New Zealand's first purpose-built child daycare centre behind Wellington's Basin Reserve. Both government and the public were suspicious of the Home of Compassion Crèche, constructed in 1914. Daycare could encourage mothers to neglect their children said the values of the day. Spectrum's Jack Perkins explores the newly renovated building with Heritage architect Alison Dangerfield.

This week on Spectrum - A Night at the Museum. Katy Gosset heads to the Catlins in search of the Lost Gypsy Gallery. In remote Papatowai, Blair Somerville crafts automata, or moving sculptures, from recycled materials and displays them over the summer to appreciative tourists. But on a bleak winter's evening, during Blair's off season, Katy pays a visit after dark and takes a torchlight tour she calls 'Automata Nocturne'.

For over seven years a dedicated group of volunteers have been passing on their quilting and life skills to prisoners at Auckland Region Women's Correctional Facility. The group is led by Mary Ann, who along with the other volunteers, wish to keep their last names anonymous.

Josie Lancaster has converted the basement of her Porirua home into a Koha Shed where people bring all manner of goods - clothes, toys, books, furniture, the list is long - to help those in need in the community. Spectrum's Jack Perkins finds out how it all works and talks to the givers and receivers of koha (Maori for gift).

Every time Auckland couple Sue and Scott Tindale throw their fishing lines over the side, they are trying to hook yet another record. And with over 200 approved and pending world records to their names, the Tindales' have certainly proved their angling prowess. Spectrum's Lisa Thompson meets the Tindales and learns how their passion is now providing crucial scientific information about New Zealand fish species.