New vision for old hall

 

Like all quintessential New Zealand towns, Mangawhai is built around its community hall, centralising the community’s social gatherings, meetings and markets.

Although Mangawhai Library Hall hosts a variety of events and groups including table tennis, line dancing and theatre, enthusiasm has grown in the managing committee to raise the profile of the historic 19th century building.

“We want to remind the community this grand old lady is here,” says Deb Doehn, who recently took over the role and responsibilities of Hall Hirer.

President of Mangawhai Library Hall Committee, Rosemary Browne, says the hall is like a blank canvas and can be easily transformed to suit a range of events including family celebrations, business functions, art classes and school holiday programmes.

“The wooden floor is good for dancing and the acoustics are great,” she says. “It also has a stage which I don’t believe other facilities have in Mangawhai.”

Built in 1893, the Hall originally incorporated a library – hence the name ‘Library Hall’ – and was used for weddings, funerals, agricultural shows and also as a movie theatre.

Today, the spacious kitchen is suitable for catering large events through all seasons due to the recently installed heat pumps, and new signage depicting contact details are on order.

“Improvements are pending,” says Browne.

Doehn and Browne’s vision to see the hall used to a fuller capacity comes from not only a community ideal but also financial requirements as the committee’s primary source of funding is in the hireage of the facilities.

“We are self-funding and have a list of outgoings so walk a very fine line in this regard,” Doehn says. “But we’re being pro-active and hope to turn that all around.”

n If interested in hiring the Mangawhai Library Hall, please contact Deb Doehn, 431 3065 or mwilibraryhall@gmail.com


FUTURE: Reminding locals and visitors of the ‘grand old lady’, Mangawhai’s Library Hall, is committee member Deb Doehn (left) and president Rosemary Browne.

- By Julia Wade