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Story: Methodist Church

Uncle Scrim

Audio file

Colin Scrimgeour, known as 'Uncle Scrim', was a Methodist missioner whose Friendly road radio programme was hugely popular during the economic depression in the early 1930s. This 1931 cartoon by Gordon Minhinnick shows him as a rather cunning angel. Listen to Uncle Scrim talking about the origins of the Friendly road radio church in this clip from a 1979 radio documentary.

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Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Reference: 1823

Cartoon: Alexander Turnbull Library, B-100-027, by Gordon Edward George Minhinnick

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How to cite this page

Tim Shoebridge, Methodist Church – The 20th and 21st centuries, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/speech/27523/uncle-scrim (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Tim Shoebridge, published 30 March 2011.