Waitaki’s cultural facilities held their annual morning tea last week to thank volunteers who donate their time and talents towards keeping Waitaki District Council public facilities ticking.

In total, across the cultural facility sites, volunteers have provided more than 2065 hours of their time this year.

“We are so thankful to have such dedicated teams of volunteers at the Forrester Gallery and Waitaki Museum and Archive,” Cultural Facilities administration officer Philippa Elliffe said.

“From transcribing records in the archive, to providing a warm welcome and wonderful customer service on the gallery and museum front desks, our volunteers are such an important part of our teams.

“At the gallery we have four custodians who also volunteer their time on the committee of the Friends of the Forrester, helping us run exhibition openings and events,” she said. 

“Special mention to Heather Machin, Brian Robinson, Margie MacDonald, and Yvonne Gillespie.”

Forrester Gallery educator Liz King said the volunteers add “colour, enthusiasm, and warmth” to the gallery, whether they are on the front desk or helping at an event. 

“They give our small team strength!”

Ōamaru Opera House director Frances McElhinney said volunteers keep their engines going.

“We value their hardy sense of humour, hard work, dedication and willingness to work – sometimes long late nights – they are admirable and a great addition to our team at the Opera House.”

Making sure there is access to quality library services across the whole Waitaki District is crucial, and volunteers are a key part in making this happen.

Waitaki District Libraries manager Jenny Bean said the libraries at Ōtematata, Ōmārama, Kurow and Hampden are kept open by an awesome team of volunteers who give up their time to support their community. 

“We are hugely appreciative of the commitment and hard work of all the library volunteers – they are fantastic.”

Volunteers at Ōamaru Library help with a range of library duties including getting all the returned books back on the shelves in the right place – an essential job in a library.

Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu – National Volunteer Week was last week  (June 18-24), and honoured the collective energies and mana of volunteers in Aotearoa.