Afternoons for Thursday 1 February 2024

1:15 Riccarton High School's new cultural diversity facilitator 

Most Kiwi schools will mark the likes of Waitangi Day and Anzac Day, but how about the Chinese Moon Festival or Buddha Jayanti?

Riccarton High School in Christchurch covers the gambit, and that's down to Dr Sharnali Tisi, the school's cultural diversity facilitator.

The role was created to support, engage and champion every nationality and ethnic background represented in the hallways.

We wanted to know more about her role and how the benefits for the school. Dr Sharnali Tisi talks to Jesse.

1:25 Julie Woods celebrating 58th birthday and raising awareness around blindness

Julie Woods - perhaps better known as 'That Blind Woman' - is a speaker, author, and global ambassador for Blind Low Vision NZ.

When Julie isn't busy advocating for others, she's busy with her own wild adventures, including visiting 50 countries by the time she turned 50.

Today is her 58th birthday and in true Julie fashion she's celebrating with a big public birthday bash.

It kicks off at 4pm today at the Dunedin Social Club, and the first 58 people to arrive will get a free drink and a specially designed coaster, which tell stories from Julie's travels.

Julie shares her story and celebration plans with Jesse.

1:35 Sharks being fed in Mangonui Harbour, a long tradition

An Afternoons listener has written in with concerns about a fish and chip shop at Mangonui who give the fish remains from their processing plant to customers to feed sharks in the harbour. It attracts a lot of bronze whaler sharks.

Sounds like fun. The problem is - the listener points out - the harbour is a popular swimming spot for local kids who jump off the pontoon and jetty.

Clinton Duffy, a marine scientist at DOC talks to Jesse.

1:45 Link 3 album

Today's link 3 winner will get a copy of Erny Belle's latest album, Not Your Cupid. She's playing at Laneway next week amongst a stellar line up of performers.

2:10 Music Critic: Matthew Crawley 

Today Matthew talks to Jesse about music from Mick Harvey and Calexico.

2:25 NZ Sporting History with Dylan Schmidt

Olympic medalist, Dylan Scmidt, won the first ever medal for New Zealand in gymnastics in 2021, in the men's trampoline category.

He's been trampolining since he was a young boy.

And now he's set his sights on the Paris Olympics. He speaks to Jesse about his sporting successes.

3:10 Link 3

3:15 Solving the World's Problems with Steve Wyn-Harris

Today retired Hawkes Bay farmer Steve Wyn-Harris talks to Jesse about the big drought that was forecast for this summer season and how that's not been the case for many parts of the country.

3:20 History with Dr Grant Morris on golf

Golf has one of the longest histories of modern sports. While we can trace golf-like games back centuries, it is generally accepted that the modern game developed in Scotland during the eighteenth century (the 1700s). This is before many other popular sports such as football and rugby. Dr Grant Morris looks back at its history in Aotearoa.

3:35 Spoken Feature BBC Witness

On 15 December 2013, South Africa held the funeral of Nelson Mandela who led the struggle in defeating apartheid and became the country’s first black president.

His ancestral home in the village of Qunu in South Africa’s Eastern Cape hosted 60 world leaders including four United States presidents and two UN secretary generals.

It was the first state funeral held by the country.

Nelson Mandela’s eldest child Dr Makaziwe Mandela tells Josephine McDermott how it took eight years to plan and why it makes her proud to remember that day.

3:45 The Panel with Sarah Sparks and Mark Knoff-Thomas