00:05Hello and welcome to Kaston Connections, an initiative of Hands Up Kaston, where a group
00:10of enthusiastic locals have come together to capture, preserve and share stories of
00:16people who have a connection to Kaston.
00:22Makeup!
00:25I think it's a town that embraces diversity and embraces people.
00:30It's a town that once you're here, I think you feel like part of a family, I mean a large
00:36family.
00:36The people is what makes Kaston what it is and, hello Paula, it really is about the people,
00:45so trying to explain their stories and help preserve them, I think they're really important
00:50as well.
00:51I had this idea in my head for a long time and it all started with this lady that had
00:57passed away and I'd known her through work, known her through family members and, you know,
01:04just had general conversations with her that was, how are you, how are the kids, blah blah
01:08blah.
01:09When she passed away and they did her eulogy and I could not believe what this woman had
01:14done in her life and I thought, I wish I had known about all that when she was alive that
01:18I could have had some really interesting discussions with her.
01:21So I think it was a combination of both trying to get those stories out there, probably my
01:26own curiosity about people.
01:28Yeah, we've got a little working group that works together to, I guess, capture and record
01:35stories of people in and around Kaston.
01:38I guess I come up with the idea to modernise it in terms of the podcast form, but it was
01:43more about capturing and preserving the stories of people.
01:47And, yeah, Kaston's a great place and it's got amazing people in it and we just thought
01:53it was a good idea to try and share it across a wider platform.
01:57You know, I get really surprised at the people that actually listen and then people come up
02:03and say to you in the street, oh my gosh, you know, I didn't know that about so and so
02:07or thanks for doing that.
02:09I ran into someone, I went to a funeral in Queensland, for goodness sake, and I had someone
02:14come up to me there who I hardly knew anyone at this funeral and this guy came up and said,
02:18oh, you know, you're involved with Kaston Connections and I said, oh, yeah, and he said, I listen
02:22to it every episode, he said, I love it, you know, and I just, wow, you know, so it's been,
02:28yeah, it's been really great, I think.
02:33I think if people feel included, it makes your community prosper.
