Another month seems to have rapidly disappeared and colder days are ahead. To be honest, it doesn’t feel as though we have really had our quota of summer days.

Here at the Waikouaiti Coast Heritage Centre, we have had a quieter month but we did see quite a number of people take up the option of free entry to the old bank building on Easter Saturday. It was great to see so many interested locals on the day, many of whom said they had been intending to visit but had never got around to it. Everyone was full of praise with what we have achieved and our plans for restoration. It was lovely to get such positive feedback and we encourage those of you who think you must come and have a look, but haven’t yet made it, to do so.

It will be Mother’s Day on Sunday 12 May and we have some great gifts for all the mothers out there. Lovely soaps, scented candles, perfume, scarves, a range of Hogarth Chocolates, cards and much more. Come and see what we have, all at a range of prices that will suit everyone.

Our featured local artist at present is Sue Lean, who has some amazing landscapes, followed by Mia Gorman from 27 May. Mia is a talented young lady from Karitane. All our artists have beautiful work on display and well worth considering if you have a spare wall. 

The photo is of some of our Mother’s Day gifts on offer.

We have had a quieter couple of weeks although several visitors have come in especially to see Jenny Longstaff’s paintings. Jenny is our current featured artist until April 15th, when Sue Lean will be featuring her work. We are so lucky to have such talented people in the area. 

I hope that by the time this is printed that a number of you have taken advantage of the free entry offer to view the old bank building on Easter Saturday. 

I have recently received stock of several different children’s games, which are available for sale. These will help keep younger ones occupied over the winter (and off their devices for a while). I also have new items from the local Men’s Shed and work from a couple of new local artisans. It is always worth calling in from time to time as there are new items frequently being added to our stock, and our volunteers enjoy meeting visitors. 

One of our volunteers has taken over managing our Facebook and website pages and will make sure they are kept up to date. We will include items of interest in relation to our Heritage Centre and the progress of our Bank Restoration Project. 

Here at the WCHC we are settling into another year of visitors, building restoration and a probable change of long-term volunteers. In 2023 we saw 1,500 visitors come through our doors, a first for us, but not unexpected as each year since opening the new building we have  seen a steady increase in numbers. We have particularly enjoyed having groups coming to Waikouaiti to visit the heritage centre and to see and learn about the district. Our recent group was from the Taieri, who were most effusive in their praise of both our premises, wishing they’d had more time to spend with us.

Work continues behind the scenes on the restoration of the old bank building. We recently had an expert in heritage tiling come to appraise our roof as well as a builder to examine our roof timbers and give an estimation on the verandah renovation (or not). There has also been a suggestion for a regular monthly day for cleaning the interior of the building. If this interests you (a couple of hours only) then please contact us or call in to the Heritage Centre. We are also extending an invitation to all locals to undertake a FREE guided tour of the building on Easter Saturday (10am – 3pm). An opportunity for a before and after restoration experience.

Finally, our probable change of long-term volunteers relates to Bill and Kay Lang, who have been hugely influential in our achievements over the past twelve years. All going well, they plan to return to Australia later this year to be closer to family. John Scott has kindly agreed to take over the role of Collections Manager, John is well known for his facebook page illustrating the history of the East Otago area. Other volunteer members of our group have taken on roles that either Kay or Bill have had responsibility for. As always, we would like to encourage more local people to join our group it is a good way to  learn about the area’s history and to meet the interesting people who come to the Heritage Centre. Just get in touch to find out more.

It has been an interesting start to the new year with physical work finally beginning on the old bank building; it feels as though we have talked about this forever. Mike Jackson, who lives in the Catlins, is an expert in plaster and heritage buildings - there is nothing he doesn’t know about the topic. He was here for a week immediately after the new year and made short work removing the old stucco from the front wall to expose the original stonework and to then place a poultice over it to help with the healing of the wall ie remove any remaining water and minerals. The poultice stays in place for about a year before he will return to complete the work. Hopefully we can successfully access more funding to complete work on all the other walls in the meantime. The Alexander McMillan Trust covered the cost for this first part of the work. 

In addition to having Mike undertake his work, the Heritage Centre was busy through December, and we saw over 200 visitors, before closing for the Christmas/New year break. Sales were brisk and our bank balance is looking healthier as a result, something we are pleased about.

A lot of new stock has arrived to replace what was sold prior to Christmas, including the amazing Hogarth chocolates from Nelson and their interesting flavours, such as; kumara, orange & sarsaparilla and much more.  We  hope you will consider paying us a visit sometime over the summer and look at what we have in store.

The Heritage Centre has also received a lot of items from locals for consideration of our curator as to their suitability for adding to our heritage collection. Space for storing items is always a difficulty, so we need to be circumspect as to what we can include. There is no sense in having several of the same item ie a specific book or farm implement for example. But it is aways interesting.

If you have an interest in meeting people and/or history, then maybe you will consider becoming a volunteer. We are happy to meet with you and provide an overview of our activities and answer any queries you may have. Call into the Centre during opening hours and mention your interest.