"Our original estimate was that there were about 300 potential interviewees who had worked in the area, and we currently have 174 individuals on our list, some of whom we have already interviewed.

The idea behind the scheme was to record the working lives of the people, for instance how sheep were shorn, wool was twisted, and cloth was manufactured. We have discovered how narrow and dull some people’s working lives were. Unless they had a really strong enquiring mind, they didn’t know what went on to the left or the right of them.

Therefore we expanded our interviews to include the social aspects, what people did in their spare time. It is not what we set out to do in the first instance, but this is where some of the more interesting things have become known. For instance, Fox Bros. Co. Ltd., the large woollen mill, put on a pantomime every year, there was a harmonica band, and James Cagney is supposed to have performed there in 1942, possibly entertaining the American troops who were stationed in the area.

The project is not going as fast as I would have hoped, but I think we were possibly over-ambitious about the amount of time it takes - not necessarily to record the people, but to go through the process. Once you have been given the name of someone worth recording, then you have to arrange an appointment, then go to interview them, and then - this is where the time is taken - transcribing them from the mini-disk on to a CD and taking a picture.

We underestimated the time that would take, and I would have liked to have had a bit more training on how to do the recording, editing and transcribing effectively.

The equipment, which we purchased with the LHI grant, will allow us to transcribe the recordings onto CDs. The final CDs will have a precis of what the interviewee said, a photograph of the person, and a reference number. A filing cabinet in Wellington museum will contain CDs of the entire original interviews.

However, without the LHI support, I would have continued, but in a much smaller way.

Eventually the results of the project will end up in the museum, where they will be available to the general public. We are in the process of setting up a website, but the deadline keeps stretching into the horizon.

We have given various talks and put up various exhibitions, and spoken to local history groups, making people aware of what is possible and how they can contribute, and we’re hoping for a second phase with a printed publication."