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EVENTS . . . OVERWHELMING SUCCESS
Though the Buffalo Committee had not yet met following Whitianga’s multi-event
Homecoming Week commemorating the shipwreck of the HMS Buffalo, Ron Morgan –
Mercury Bay Museum Curator and event committee member – tells us that the entire week
was an “overwhelming success!”
Ron has had feedback from event organisers that “each of the expert talks had
full attendance, some talks were moved to the Fish and Game Club venue to
accommodate the crowds.
“The guided walk to Shakespeare Cliff was attended by 50 people, The Song of the Kauri
cinema evening was sold out (over 110 tickets) and a second session was held that
evening. All the community and formal events attended by the Navy and representatives
were extremely well received, the Captain’s Dinner held a capacity audience for the Mercury
Bay Club, and even the polar swim had a few hundred people on the beach!”
After the events, Ron put a call out to the community to make donations toward the
purchase of two of Paul Deacon’s paintings of the Buffalo, one in the storm, and the other
of her foundering on the beach. “There was a great response”, explained Ron, “and now the
two are on display permanently at the museum.”
As a result of the Buffalo Homecoming Week, a number of descendants from overseas
contacted the museum. “The combined knowledge of the descendants, with the experts
who came to visit for the week’s events was that the knowledge base of the HMS Buffalo
increased significantly. This new network of descendants and Buffalo enthusiasts are now in
regular contact.
See our article about the history of the ship in our last issue.
Coromandel Community
SPOTLIGHT Whitianga
To honour the Homecoming
Week events, this stunning
HMS Buffalo quilt was
created by a team from
Mercury Bay Quilters:
Heather Stephenson, Thelma
Crawford, Shirley Beer, and
Isabel Lloyd. You can view
the quilt at the Mercury Bay
Museum.
Publisher Tovi Daly – who
was totally impressed when
she saw the quilt at the
Captain’s Dinner – comments
“The sails were sewn so they
actually billowed like the sails
on the Buffalo.”
BuffaloHomecoming W ek
or ema
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Natural Health
Health 2000 Whitianga has trained staff
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Address: 4 Coghill Street, Whitianga
Phone: (07) 866 5899
Email:
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday: 9am - 5pm
Saturday: 9am - 1pm Sunday: CLOSED
Coromandel
in the ADVICE