Interested parties are invited to a public meeting on the proposal for using unused space at the Taumarunui Railway Station for a local museum.
Ruapehu District Council has been considering the idea of leasing the unused space in the Taumarunui railway station building to set-up a permanent local museum.
Council feels that there is strong public interest in trying to preserve what we can of Taumarunui's rich heritage and culture and having a permanent space for display of our history and historic artefacts' is a critical part of this.
Council Chief Executive (CE) Clive Manley said that the Taumarunui Historic Society, Tracks and the Museum Trust (Memory Bank) had all shown an interest in having some of the space for a permanent display.
In addition to these community organisations, space could also be made available for one off displays such as family collections or in response to events or historic milestones.
Discussions so far have suggested that setting-up a Museum Building Management Committee would be the best way of deciding on how the building would be used and managed.
The current proposal is that the Management Committee would have 12 representatives comprising; a Chairperson (Council CE - 1), Historic Society (2), Tracks (2), Museum Trust (2), i-SITE (1), independent representatives (2), local Iwi (1) and historian Ron Cooke (1).
Preliminary discussions have been held between Council and the three community organisations that would have permanent displays where they have agreed that each of them will be responsible for their own business; however, the use of the building will be decided by consensus from all parties via the Management Committee.
Mr. Manley said that what is needed now was the opportunity for the public to have their say on these proposals.
A public meeting has been organised for Wednesday 10 May in the Taumarunui Council Chamber starting at 6.30pm.
Any interested party is welcome to attend this meeting and provide their views on the proposal to set-up a permanent local museum space in the Railway Station and the proposals for how it would be managed.
For more information please call Sarah Doyle on 07 895 8188.
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