Akaroa Museum to open for longer hours

Press, 28 November 1987, Page 5

Akaroa Museum to open for longer hours

Akaroa Museum, in the historic LangloisEteveneaux House, will be open longer hours at the week-end during the summer because of an increase in revenue and visitors.

Akaroa County councillors yesterday agreed to allow the longer opening hours after hearing from the museum committee that the revenue had doubled in the last three years, corresponding to a large increase in the number of visitors. The curator, Mr Steve Lowndes, said he attributed the increase to more visits by Canterbury school pupils, who came to watch the museum’s 20minute audio-visual presentation on the history of Banks Peninsula. The audio-visual had become popular as part of schooltrip activities on visits to Akaroa or camps at Wainui.

The figures also reflected the general increase of tourism on the Peninsula, said Mr Lowndes. The museum will now stay open on Saturdays and Sundays, and on public holidays, from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. A small honorarium to pay for volunteers to staff the new hours on a roster basis was also granted by the council.

Previously, the museum had been open on weekends from 1.30 p.m. to

4.30 p.m., and had been run by volunteers, but Mr Lowndes said he could not expect voluntary staff to cope with the longer hours and all the other work.

The chairperson of the museum committee, Mrs Marlene Woods, said the museum also housed the town’s information centre. Some visitors to the township had previously been critical of the fact that they had not been able to visit the museum in the morning, after leaving their hotels, and before heading off to another destination, she said.

Several people in the community had been asked to staff the new week-end rosters, including some of the telephonists who lost their jobs after the old manual exchange closed and changed to a new automatic system, said Mr Lowndes.

The council also agreed to insure the museum building for its replacement value, together with articles on loan from the Canterbury Museum, and specific items of notable value. The building is insured at an indemnity value of $BO,OOO for an annual premium of $302.

Some councillors said that since the building and most of the artefacts inside could not be replaced, the indemnity insurance should suffice.