Pahiatua

And the property was just a small holding, so it was only four acres, something like that.

And he only had sort of a handful of sheep and a couple of house cows and some chickens and uh but it was what gave what he was what was happening around him i think really gave him the idea to um you know to turn those into a few funnies and uh yeah it sort of snowballed from there he invited up his cousin from which is a he's a he's a farmer my uncle arthur down in um in Pahiatua, which is a little way down the island from here.

And this was the guy that Wal was sort of modelled off eventually.

And when my Uncle Arthur saw it, there were bellows came from the table tennis room or the shed where Dad had set up in the back, and everyone knew he was onto something there.

It's now eight minutes past ten.

The new owner of the Pahiatua Medical Centre in North Wairarapa says it's not out to make money but wants to provide a service to the community.

The medical centre was owned by the Tararua Health Group, but it announced today it sold it to the Ngati Kahungunu ki Tamaki Nui Arua Trust.

The sale follows months of turmoil at the centre.

Mr Borich says his client's stepfather, who was called as a key Crown witness, is a self-confessed liar.

The medical centre in Pahiatua that suffered an exodus of staff over patient safety concerns has been sold to the local iwi.

Ngāti Kahungunu ki Tāmaki Nuiarua Trust is to take control of the centre immediately.

In October, seven staff, including a doctor and nurses, left in one day, citing safety concerns.

Now, tell me please about this story.

Uh, this is to do with the Pahiatua camp, where of course a lot of Polish World War II orphans, um, settled in, um, when they came to New Zealand.

Uh, what's happening? What's the event that's happening you want to draw attention to?

That's right.

I think a lot of people know that story about the Polish World War II orphans that, that came here, and, and they were sent to that camp at Pahiatua, which was previously a prisoner of war camp.

But the weekend just gone, some, some other people that were associated with that camp returned to Palmerston North and Pahiatua to mark their association with it, and those are the displaced people that came to New Zealand from Southern, Eastern, and Central Europe, which was really in turmoil at the end of World War II.

So about five thousand of them came to New Zealand from, um, from those parts of the world from nineteen forty-nine to nineteen fifty-two for humanitarian reasons.

But also New Zealand, we were expanding, so we were quite keen to get them over here to help, to help build.

Staff say Omni Health, which owns a network of about 17 practices across the country, had exploited staff goodwill and refused to engage with staff concerns.

Approximately 5,000 patients depend on the Pahiatua Medical Centre in the Tararua District.

One of the registered nurses who resigned, Mark Emerson, said that most of the local community is behind them and hopes there will be a positive solution for the community in the long term.

A postcode lottery still exists for many people with ADHD, despite GPs being allowed to diagnose and prescribe since February.

This led the family to New Zealand, as Canada wouldn't take a child who might not be able to work as a physical laborer.

On arrival, they were sent to the lower North Island town of Pahiatua, where at a camp best known for taking the Polish refugee children during the Second World War, they learned English and how to be good New Zealanders.

The older people will never quite lose their old ways, never speak the New Zealand language as we do, but they will become good citizens.

For the children, though, it will be different.

I had no accent almost immediately.

The l- vocabulary took a while to develop, and so I was able to make my way quite readily.

Jurgis is one of four original displaced people at this weekend's gathering, which includes a trip back to Pahiatua, although the camp there is long gone.

Organizer Tanya Kapica, whose dad was from Belarus, says there needs to be more recognition of this period of New Zealand history.

Some people are like, "I would never, ever go on a rollercoaster."

Rachel from Pahiatua said, "Love them! Love the thrill." Lee said, "Hate them." [laughs]

Yeah.

Diane said, "I did when I was younger, but definitely not now."

And, um, but, uh, it was of a generation where a lot of kids, and I was a city kid, went to the country.

We had uncles and aunties who lived in the country, and I spent a lot of years, a lot of summer holidays and other holidays on farms, both in, uh, one dairy farm in Pahiatua and, um, Mangateri Station in central, uh, Hawke's Bay with my Uncle Percy.

So we all, we all knew country life, even though you're in the cities.

Well, you are sort of world-famous anyhow, Peter Hayden, because you're on East of Eden-