The Ball is Coming – get out your Tartan and Dancing Shoes

The Waipu Museum Writes:

The “Glamour in the Gloamin’ ” Art n Tartan Ball, is being held:

Saturday 6 July (not the 7th as stated on the Flyer!!)

Please come along and enjoy this awesome occasion, and support the Museum and all its many community activities while you experience a night to remember.  This Ball is about promoting our highly popular Art N Tartan Wearable Art Awards.  We are planning an even better show for 2014, and we will be launching the entry form at the Ball.

This time we have changed the seating plan so everyone can see the stage, and will be using smaller tables.   Platters for supper will be served on each table to ensure everyone gets a “fair share”!

Tickets are $45 per person
(or if you can get 10 tickets sold, it is only $40 per person)
Tickets are available at Waipu Museum.  

There will be a ballroom dancing bracket to begin the evening

Then we have” lavish Celtic abandonment” with music from the Celtic Flyers - a great Celtic rock band who have entertained us at previous balls.

Ticket price includes supper, and there will be a cash bar to purchase your drinks.

 

Open Day at the Old Manse in Waipu – all welcome!

The Waipu Museum is very pleased to invite you to:

Open Day at the Old Manse on Saturday 11 May 10am – 3pm

Continuous Devonshire teas and sausage sizzle at 12 noon

We invite anyone interested to come and pay a visit to view the results so far and find out a little about the history of this fine old house and its role in the life of the community over the years. Read more

2013 ArtnTartan Calendars on special

These make a great gift  and record of this event

Get yours from the Waipu Museum for 50% off

-  just $10

Direct link to the online purchase HERE

Waipu Pageant – doing the numbers

From the latest Bream Bay News – read it on line

Settlers from Nova Scotia travel up the Waipu River and step ashore near the place where the Waipu Grand
Pageant, a reinactiment of their story was staged last weekend.

This photograph of the scene of their arrival
was taken at the second performance of the pageant held in front of an audience of 2,400 people on
Saturday night , 12 January.

Bream Bay News has the Numbers…

• 

  Photo by Peter Davies

  Number of people who appear on stage – at least 300, including the Waipu Pipe Band, the waka team from Kaeo and the kapahaka group.

• Back stage people – at least another 100.
• Number of pipers – 15, drummers – 2 and a drum major.
• Number of Highland dancers – 12
• Number of rugby players – 5 (6 if you count ex All Black Richie Guy, who kicked a rugby ball into the wings in the first act.
• Built pieces of set included a croft, which got set alight three nights in a row (including at the dress rehearsal) so had to be partially rebuilt. A sailing ship built on top of a truck with a mast, which is raised dramatically on stage. Stage wings to hide the actors and props off stage.
• Number of people in the crowd scenes who began rehearsing two nights a week for around two to three hours each time since 20 September – 81. Closer to the production date they have spent whole days on the set going over their parts.
• 

  Tommy Ryan Photo Geoff Spencer

  Total number of rehearsal hours put in by George Mutch who with his native Scottish accent played the part of Murdoch, the narrator of the migration story and filled in for Dame Fiona Kidman who lives in Wellington, for many of the rehearsals
  – 180. This doesn’t include the hours George put in rehearsing the script at home.

• Number of costumes – around 200 said Sue Welford, who was in charge of this department. “Many were supplied by the actors themselves. We sewed a lot of aprons and bonnets. We interchanged bonnets for the different scenes. Black bonnets when they were going through hard times, straw hats when they were out in the fields.”
• Number of props – close to 300 said Sue Mathews, who was in charge of getting all these together. These included: a coffin, spinning wheels, old – fashioned wooden handled agricultural tools, cream cans.
• One waka Te Aukaha brought down with a team of paddlers and a support crew from Kaeo .
• 

  Funeral of Norman McLeod Photo Peter Davies

  Animals involved – Two big Clydesdales named Mark and Glen, two beautiful black Friesian horses, two stunt horses, two highland cattle and one jersey cow. The bullock team, which was to have been part of the show, was cancelled when the big animals got a bit testy at rehearsal frightening actors in the crowd scenes. The decision was taken not to risk them on the night.

• Two horse – drawn carriages
• Four vintage cars.
• Money spent – despite all the voluntary contributions by the actors and background crew, the Grand Pageant cost approximately $240,000 to stage.
• 

  McLeod exhorts his followers Photo Peter Davies

  Costs included the hiring of the professional technical crew – Oceania who provided lighting and projection and the LED screens, the hiring and running of generators, a koha to The Rununga of Whangaroa for the waka and its crew and promotional advertising.

• Ticket sales – the production team was still cleaning up on Monday when the Bream Bay News went to print and final figures were not available but Joy McKay, whose husband Rod as Waipu Museum chairman, oversaw the sales and expenditure was able to tell us that a fairly accurate estimate is 1800 tickets sold for the Friday night show and 2,400 tickets sold for Saturday night.
  “It is pretty close but we don’t think we will have to run to our underwriters. Thank goodness the weather stayed fine.”

Countdown to the Waipu Grand Pageant

Less than a week to go to the Pageant, Rehearsals are happening most days, the Musuem is run off its feet selling tickets, Waipu is gearing up for a big weekend…

HAVE YOU BOUGHT YOUR TICKETS YET??  INFO HERE
Don’t miss out on this fabulous event!

Can you help with baking/fresh vegetables and Produce?

The Museum is hosting 25 people from Kaeo who are bringing down the Waka on Wednesday morning to be in the Pageant. They will be staying at the Waipu Boat Club and Lyn Jones and Pat Couper have kindly offered to look after them and make their stay here as comfortable as possible.

We would love it if you could bring us some baking and/or fresh vegetables and produce from your gardens etc for the group of 25 to help them with meals etc.  If you can help, please drop it into the Museum at 9.00am on Wednesday (we will open at 9.00am) and Lyn will pick it up from here.If you can drop me a line via this email letting me know if you can bring something, it would be much appreciated.

Catherine Jenkins, Production Committee, Grand Pageant Waipu

The Waipu Pageant – you still have a chance to star!

No acting experience necessary – see below for the casting story for Cow, so this could be your chance:

The Pageant needs some extras for crowd scenes.  Be at The Glebe for rehearsal with the rest of the cast on Sunday 6 January at 2pm wearing:

• Ladies:  Black or dark long skirt or dress, blouse, shawl and or dark bonnet and dark shoes phone
• Men: black or dark long trousers, shirt, waistcoast or jacket, dark shoes (not trainers!

phone Catherine to find out more : 09 432 0746

The latest Bream Bay News reports a jersey cow has been selected to join the cast:

Tensions are high among the jersey herd of Waipu Sharemilkers Daniel and Freya Lynch. The Lynches have been asked to participate in The Grand Pageant of Waipu, along with their four children and one of their pedigree jersey cows, to recreate a scene about a family supplying the Waipu Butter Factory. With no acting experience, and even less in their herd, the Lynches broke the news to their 400 cows. Excitement soon spread over the farm as the best bovine hooves were put forward vying for the leading role.

The familiar “don’t call us, we’ll call you” broke many acting dreams, and left a sour taste in many of the cows’ four stomachs. When asked what qualities he was looking for, pageant director Lachie McLean, said he wanted a cow that would share the limelight with the Lynch family and remember its one very important line – “moo”. The scene overlaps with a scene involving the Waipu Pipe Band. This filtered through the audition line and caused all sorts of confusion as some of the cows turned up with their own version of the Highland Fling – called the Lowland Swing.

“This became a bit messy” said Freya “as many of the cows had held their milk that morning due to nerves and on relaxing the full uddered cows let a spray of milk cover themselves, the stage and most of the director.” Daniel added “Lachie voiced his disgust and nearly resorted to hiring one of his own jersey cows instead. He expected more from pedigrees. It’s a family show after all. It was an awkward situation made worse when those next in queue got very nervous and evacuated their bowels.”

Finally they were able to make a shortlist comprising of cows 1 and 259. Both very talented actors. “Cow 259 is our top BW cow” said Freya “We are hoping the experience will add to her traits other than production ranking”. “Cow number 1 is much older but perhaps just too relaxed” worried Daniel “We’d hate for her to decide to have a nap halfway through the scene”

The two cows are currently udder deep in workshopping rehearsals with the Waipu Pipe Band and a final decision on which cow will accompany the family will be made early next year.

When interviewed Cow 1 said “There aren’t many roles out there for middle – aged cows. I auditioned for the Hobbit but they only wanted horses. Robyn Malcolm said they weren’t breaking any laws but I still think it was bigotry towards bovines.” Cow 259 was more frank about her prospects “I really want this part, it’s like it was written for me. I’ve told Lachie I’m willing to go topless, but full nudity is out of the question, well maybe if it was tasteful or I was paid more.”

A final word from Daniel sums up his dilemma “They tell you never to work with animals or children – they told us too late.”

Dame Fiona Kidman describes her life in Waipu

My pick of the stories in the latest Bream Bay News – Thanks to Marilyn Cox who keeps us in the news in Bream Bay. Remember you can get it delivered to your door via email  www.breambaynews.co.nz  

Dame Fiona Kidman was in Waipu last week to rehearse her part in the Waipu pageant and to attend a luncheon at the Waipu RSA with some local newspaper reporters.

Dame Fiona lived in North River, Waipu, with her family for two years in the late 1950s and attended the Waipu District High School. She said her father bought a farm in North River, Waipu after inheriting some money from a relative in Ireland. She remembers how welcoming the Waipu community had been to her family and said the happiest time of her parents married life was spent there. Read more

Bream Bay News Shares the Stories

Love it or hate it, Bream Bay News is part of our community, and I love the way it captures this in its stories particularly about people in the area.  It is part of the fabric of our community.  Like the story of Jackson’s Old Pop printed below

Did you know you can get the BB News into your email box?  I do this, and its great, and makes sure I do not miss out.  Contact Megan to be added to the list

My favourite story this month is from Jackson Somner-Allen:

The Story of Jackson’s Old Pop

jackson somner-allen

The following story written by ten – year – old Jackson Somner – Allen of Waipu, recently won the Waipu Museum’s] fortnightly migration story competition. Every two weeks between now and the beginning of next year the museum will award two family tickets to the Waipu Grand Pageant for the most compelling migration story, as presented in pictures, cartoons and/or words. The story should answer the questions: where did your family come from, how did they get to New Zealand and what did they do when they got here?

This is a story of my Old Pop, Frank Watts. While he did not come to Waipu on the boats from Scotland, he came to New Zealand after serving in the Second World War. My Old Pop was born on the Clarence River in New South Wales, Australia.

After marrying my Old Nan they settled in a small village on the Hokianga Harbour. He was a farmer. About 1964 he decided to sell his farm and move from Horeke to Waipu where he owned the Boomerang Tearooms, known today as the Magic Takeaways. After years in this
business he sold it and bought the local milk run.

Milk was sold in glass bottles and delivered to the door. Old Pop delivered milk seven days a week and the cost of it was only ten cents a pint bottle. Customers could either pay by money or they could buy milk tokens. Milk was delivered in all sorts of weather and it did not matter if it was raining or sunny, milk got delivered. I have an article that was in the local paper of my Old Pop delivering milk to the local nudist camp. He was not concerned about who got milk as long as they paid for it.

Waipu Pageant Tickets

Get your Waipu Pageant Tickets now – HERE

This is going to be an amazing once in a lifetime (or every 10 years or so!) event – so do not miss out, get your friends and relatives tickets for Christmas!!!

Getting involved in Waipu

I have some friends who are new to Waipu, and today they reminded me what a friendly little community this is, and what a great range of things are there to get involved in. Join in and before you know it, you have new friends and interests.

Some of the regular clubs include: the Lions, Citizens Club, Bridge, Badminton, Tennis, Rugby…
You can volunteer as: a Fire Fighter, St Johns Ambulance, or at the Waipu Library,  the Waipu Museum, the Caledonian Society

Some new opportunities this year include…

The Old Manse Working Bee:

Every Thursday a group of retired men gather together to help with the restoration of the 141 year old manse, which for over 100 years housed successive Waipu Presbyterian ministers and their families. The old kauri building was in a dilapidated state with some suggestion the best option was to burn it. down. It was purchased last year from the Presbyterian Church by the Whangarei District Council along with seven hectares of land known as the Glebe.

Earlier this year the Waipu Museum won a $37,000 grant from the Lotteries Grants Environment and Heritage Board, which along with $20,000 raised at a 2004 Waipu Music Hall provides the funding for this project.

The volunteers are helping to make this money go a long way. They work from 10am to midday, with another team turning up for an afternoon shift from 1pm to 3pm. All the activity is overseen by builder Ian Hanna, who spends the rest of the week preparing for the volunteer teams.

The aim is to have the old building looking smart and the surrounding grounds tidied up by January when the Waipu Pageant will be staged in the Glebe. Anyone who would like to join the Thursday working bees can leave their name and contact details at the Waipu Museum.

Get involved in Helping with the Waipu Pageant

It is on 11/12 January and there is heaps of opportunity to get involved helping in preparation, crowd scenes, props, organisation…… Contact the Museum

The Waipu Highland Games

Held on 1 January are always looking for new volunteeers to help in preparation, on the day and afterwards

Contact Ted Hart 09 432 1818  Don Ewan 09 432 0185

More volunteers needed for patrol

Constable Martin Geddes wants to recruit more volunteers for the Bream Bay patrol group he set up several months ago. He is looking for people aged 16 years and over and says “generally age is no barrier as one of the main principles of Community Patrol New Zealand is that it is non-confrontational.”

Contact Constable Martin Geddes at 432 4030 and leave a message you’re your contact details if you are interested.

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