Click photo to enlarge
Television personality and frontman for the children's TV
programme What Now Tumehe Rongonui prepares the audience
for the next segment of the show, filmed at Ranfurly
yesterday. Photo By Diane Brown.
It was an early start for the people of Ranfurly and
surrounding districts on Sunday morning as families gathered at
Kieran and Lisa O'Neill's woolshed for a live filming for the
children's TV programme What Now.
The crew had been in the area since Thursday and had gathered
footage from around the region, including ice sports in
Naseby and general shots of the town and the scenery.
Included in the live part of the show was presenter Tumehe
Rongonui shearing a sheep and the usual TV antics, with a
couple of the children getting "grunged" amid squeals of
delight from the onlookers.
About 70 children and an assortment of parents, teachers and
caregivers were on the scene before 8am to take part in the
popular children's show.
Participants braved the cold and mud to play their part, and
the children did not take long to become an integral part of
the proceedings.
While some of the younger children seemed to be overwhelmed
by what was going on, the older ones took it in their stride,
with some saying they were having the show taped so they
could see themselves on TV when they went home.
Maniototo Area School played a big part in the show, with
senior pupils Holly and Bill Heron, Sam and Willy Miller,
Jaffe Santos and Stephanie Millar, assisted by Shannon Tapatu
from Ranfurly, receiving some valuable lessons in working
behind the scenes of a fast-moving and professional TV
production.
