Entertainment and Leisure
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Stars of stage and screen, toys that last a lifetime, Elvis, festivals, song, dance and the Greatest Show on Earth are all here. There are events to fill you with joy, shows to get you on your feet, stories that make you smile and suggestions for experiencing a more relaxing pace of life.
When the daily toil is done, Taranaki people know how to enjoy themselves – come and join in the fun!
On 12 February 1961 fire fighters broke into a New Plymouth house and uncovered a fantastic story of treasure and tragedy. They revealed a sad tale of a woman who lived a strange and lonely existence guarding a collection of rubbish and rare and beautiful items.
Halcombe – Turton
On the 22 January 1919 at St Mary's Church Battersea, by the Rev H. Foster. Pegg Norman...
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People like to tell Arthur Fryer stories. Instead of a museum stuffed with artefacts the Hawera historian has books stuffed full of words, all stories on the town's past.
Arthur finds people telling him stories in all sorts of places and on many fascinating topics. "One day I was at the Hawera Park Bowling Club. I sat down in the shelter and Sid Brown said to me, 'You know Arthur I fired...
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In the early 1980s, the Regent Theatre in Dunedin started a small annual book sale primarily for the university students of the town. The first was held inside the theatre which is near the Octagon.
Bryan Robb, manager of New Plymouth Opera House since 1982, picks up the story: "The Regent Manager was a friend of mine and he said, 'It's a great money maker'."
At the time, Robb...
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It's Friday, 14 October, in New Plymouth. Katherine Mansfield's birthday. Outside the TSB Stadium, the clock is ticking, second by second, drawing closer to 12 o'clock. Soon the doors will be wrenched open and the 24 hr book sale will begin. It will stay open until exactly the same time tomorrow.
Four cheerful female friends head the snaking line of 200 book fair aficionados....
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Under a galaxy of stars, walled by trees and with a glittering lake as its floor - nothing beats the TSB Bowl of Brooklands on a good night. From the soaring voice of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to the din of an REM gig, demure young ladies in white frocks to Army howitzers, the TSB Bowl of Brooklands has seen and heard it all.
A bright idea
The Bowl is a result of one man's dream, thousands of...
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In 1977, when the Stratford County Council approached David Walter to be honorary county historian, the brief was wide, and aimed towards producing a publication for the looming 1990 centennial.
Despite his own concerns about his suitability for the job - not only did he come with no academic training, he'd been under-whelmed by history lessons at school - David quickly realised that much...
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A restful silence. A whiff of grease paint; a waft of sawdust and old timber. A cavernous space, like a giant mouth open on a high note.
If you stand in the centre of the Eltham Town Hall these are the things you may hear, smell, see and feel.
Or imagine.
Close your eyes and picture what spectacles have been seen by these soaring walls, swiftly hoisted up by handy men in six months from...
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Errol Taylor has been involved in the music scene in Taranaki for more than 55 years and his musical life is not over yet.
The seemingly indefatigable musician played in most of popular Taranaki dance bands of the 50s, 60s and 70s.
The Daltones, The Nite-Lites and The Nevadas were all names to set the feet flying at the Queens Hall and Star Gym, not to mention countless other...
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Tucked away on a shelf in the archives of Puke Ariki are hundreds of wallpaper covered novels. The books are pasted with birth and death notices from local newspapers - covering decades.
This is a giant family tree of the early settlers in New Plymouth, carefully cut and pasted into the upside-down novels. The colourful books are a slice of New Plymouth history.
A set of drawers...
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Not everyone has a pyramid in their back yard – but Fred Cowling was not everyone.
The New Plymouth man built the five–step miniature pyramid, containing several tonne of concrete, as a lookout over his 30 hectare Hurdon farm.
"He built it from a photo of a pyramid," says his daughter Dorice Cowling Holmes. "I don't know why he did - it just appealed I suppose. He'd climb it every morning to...
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