Waipā District Council community services manager Brad Ward and Te Awamutu Museum director Anne Blyth with bat mascot ‘Pekapeka’ who welcomed visitors on Sunday. The mascot was on loan for the day from the Waikato Museum in a nod to Project Echo’s presentation on monitoring bat populations in Waikato. ‘Pekepeka’ was brought to life on the day by Tim Bradshaw, husband of the museum administrator Trish Seddon.
Sunday’s official opening of an alternative museum space in Te Awamutu was a triumph in terms of community reconnection.
What is being called the Te Awamutu Museum Education and Research Centre opened at 55 Rickit Street last Sunday, with over 160 visitors coming through in just four hours.
Museum director Anne Blyth said it could not technically be called a museum as the space did not meet stringent museum standards in terms of climate control, pest management and security.
“We simply can’t meet those standards in Rickit Road. But that doesn’t mean we can’t offer something else really valuable to the community, so that’s what we’ll be doing.”
Sunday’s opening ran alongside a range of Children’s Day-oriented family activities presented by various eco-oriented groups, including the Pirongia Restoration Society, Project Echo, Maungatautari Sanctuary Mountain, Pest Free Te Awamutu, Make a Bug Hotel and Waipā District Council Recycling. Youngsters enjoyed some hands-on fun and face-painting while filling in a specially printed ‘activity passport’ that earned them a Tui & Tama Eco Expo badge.
The leased Rickit Street space is a welcome find for the Te Awamutu Museum after a seismic assessment late last year resulted in the closure of its Roche Street building in October.
Despite facing initial concerns around finding suitable alternative accommodation in Te Awamutu, the museum has been able to continue with the delivery of its education programmes, providing learning sessions to around 370 students from five schools since the closure. The education programme is part of the museum’s three-year contract with the Ministry of Education.
Blyth said the configuration of space offered at Rickit Street was ideal for the time being.
“We are able to run our education programmes from here, as well as activities associated with our Tui & Tama Kids Club, which now has more than 500 members,” she said. “We are also able to continue doing research from this site, can take collection enquiries and loan requests, and hope to establish a workshop for adults. We need to see how the space works out first.”
Much of the museum’s collection remains in storage because the Rickit Street site does not have the level of climate control and pest management required to keep the collection safe, she said, but less sensitive display objects have been accommodated in the new space.
Blyth acknowledged that the new building was not as prominent as the original in Roche St, but said every effort was being made to maintain as many museum programmes as possible. They are organising bus parking for school groups.
The building was previously occupied by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, which has moved to Factory Rd.
October’s closure of the Roche Street building left not only the museum with nowhere to go, but also 78 council staff housed in an annex.
All have found space in the Rickit Street building, said Brad Ward, Waipā District Council community services manager.
“Our property team did a brilliant job finding us this space,” he said. “We needed to do only minor work to make it work for us and are making good use of the different spaces.”
See: Te Awamutu Museum bounces back. Waipa District Council media release.
