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See events listing and
daily calendar at
www.thamesheritage.co.nzEvents Include...
a partial list...events being added
11-15 MAR: THAMES MUSIC & DRAMA: “Have a Shot”
SAT 12 MAR: VINTAGE AND CLASSIC CAR SHOW, PARADE &
FAIR with HERITAGE FASHION IN VICTORIA PARK: croquet
lessons & tea, vintage tennis, bike decorating, more
SAT 12 MAR: SURF2FIRTH MARATHON
SAT 12 MAR: THAMES CITIZENS BAND, St. James Church
SUN 13 MAR: CLASSIC CARS & TEA, Corbett House B&B
SUN 13 MAR: TOTALLY THAMES TROLLEY DERBY
SUN 13 MAR: HISTORIC WALKS AND NATURE TOURS
William Hall Arboretum Tour, Kaueranga Valley kauri
lecture/walk, Shortland Wharf historic walk
SUN 13 MAR: KOPU BRIDGE WALK & SWING SPAN OPENING
SUN 13 MAR: SAINT GEORGE’S TRADITIONAL EVENSONG
WED 16 MAR: THAMES HERITAGE FILM FESTIVAL “Sleeping
Dogs” at the Embassy
FRI 18 MAR: TE RADAR DINNER SHOW, Bella St. Pumphouse
SAT 19 MAR: VICTORIAN FETE, Thames Historical Museum
with music, dancing, games, tea party
SUN 20 MAR: The festival ends with performance by a
renowned Italian pianist/composer
OPEN or EVENTS MOST DAYS:
MAD HATTERS WORKSHOPS, TBC
HISTORIC MUSEUMS OPEN: The Treasury (“The Way We
Were” daily lectures), Thames Historical Museum, Bella
Street Pumphouse, Shortland Butts Hotel
THAMES SCHOOL OF MINES: Daily Heritage Art & Paint
Making Workshops, Tours of School of Mines, Gold
Panning
SMALL GAUGE TRAIN RIDES
THAMES MARKET, Saturday mornings
THAMES HERITAGE EVENT TRUST
Thames
Heritage
Festival
A FANTASTIC CELEBRATION
OF THAMES’ RICH HISTORY
Saturday 12th March
to Sunday 20th March
hames isn’t the kind of town that waits ‘till next year’ to celebrate. Sure its 150th
celebration of the opening of the Thames goldfields will be special, but nothing
stops Thames townfolks from honouring its history
daily
with its many volunteer-
run museums to the event-loaded Thames Heritage Week, now in its 10th year.
This year, festival events run Saturday 12 March through Sunday 20th March, already
extended a day beyond last year’s full week.
We realised at this decade milestone, that even history celebrations have a history.
How did it all start? No surprise, The Treasury’s Geraldine Dunwoodie was there
from the beginning and helped organise the ‘first’ Heritage Day held in Victoria Park.
She shares, “It has been very satisfying to watch this Festival grow in both size and
quality of the interesting events now held. This has led to a greater awareness of the
importance of preserving – and showcasing – our heritage.”
The Treasury continues to be involved, and has organised daily ‘The Way We Were’
speakers (so far 26 interesting speakers since 2011 with another 5 this year), as
well as holding ‘Finding Your Family’ sessions, ‘talking walks’, and assisting Mark
Bridgman with the old time films at the Embassy Theatre”. This year’s movie,
“Sleeping Dogs” is on Wednesay 16 March.
“The Treasury is open every day of the Festival”, notes Geraldine, “so I am rather tied
up and can’t get to as many events as I would like to!”
In 2009, Rex Simpson became organiser and the festival was expanded to a week,
and in 2012, the Thames Heritage Events Trust was formed to organise and arrange
funding. Geraldine explains that now “community organisations are encouraged to
plan their own event and be responsible for running it”. This explains the wide variety
high calibre and quantity of events.
THAMES
celebrate