Waipawa is 150 years old!

Turning 150 is a time which will only happen once in our history and is an important milestone. It is a time to remember our past and look to the future.

On the 7 November 2007 a public meeting was held to get feedback from the community on whether they would like to see Waipawa's Sesquicentennial celebrated in 2010. Those that attended the meeting were keen for this milestone to be celebrated.

A second public meeting was held on 21 November 2007 and a steering committee was established with six sub committees. The steering committee chairman is Bruce Stephenson and the Secretary is Donna Moorcock.

The sub committees are:

• Sport and Recreation
• Historical and Cultural
• Beautification
• Special EventsGifts to the Future
• Rural

If you would like to be kept informed of progress or would like to submit ideas please do not hesitate to email waipawa150@chbdc.govt.nz.

Here are some ideas from the steering committee's meetings held so far.

Sport and Recreation

Several sporting events are being organised to occur throughout 2010.

Historical and Cultural

Working with the Settlers Museum to organise exhibitions throughout 2010.

Beautification

• Ongoing planting of plants within the Waipawa township area.
• Tidying of the entrances to the town.

Gifts to the Future

Our 150th Gift to the Future

Our idea for our 150th Gift is to upgrade Nellie Jull Park, by building a Community Stage / Band rotunda, redeveloping the Children's Playground, putting in new picnic tables, seating, drinking fountains etc... to make the park a more vibrant and alive place!
The Band Rotunda / Community Stage

Remember when we used to have Picnic in the Park... and we used a truck apple trailer as our stage...?

Imagine having a purpose built stage where we can have concerts and run other outdoor events any time we wanted?

Wouldn't it be great to bring back part of our town's past and make it a part of our living future? (Waipawa use to have a band rotunda which was used for weekly concerts when the town's park was the Domain - now called Don Allen reserve)

The Band Rotunda will provide a stage for such things as...

• Picnic in the Park
• Dance recitals
• Open-air drama performance
• Mini weekend concerts
• School choir, band performances
• Kapa haka
• Story-tellers stage
• Classical music
• Country music
• Rock, Pop or Hip-hop
• Carols by Candle-light
• And much more...!

The possibilities are only limited by your imagination

Our vision is that a community stage - which is built in the style of an old fashioned Band Rotunda is built where the rose garden is now.
This Rotunda can act as a venue for all sorts of activities in the park.  With a purpose built stage we will have power on tap and no need to move staging on and off a sometimes very boggy park.

Upgrade of Children's Playground

Some of the playground equipment in our park is over 100 years old!  It was shifted from the old Domain to Nellie Jull Park when it became the main park in Waipawa.

Recently the current playground equipment has been assessed and much of it can be retained and maintained to carry on bringing joy to our children. But a couple of pieces of it has past its use-by date and has got to a stage where it is considered dangerous and is broken beyond repair.

For information on hiring the Waipawa Town Hall click here

We are looking to add to our playground by integrating some new equipment in with the old. These pieces of equipment provide a greater range of activities for different ages of children.