Tourist Attraction Transformed
After 2 years, what was a struggling tourist attraction is now a thriving community enterprise. The Compass Community Trust in Tauranga ("Compass" stands for Community Organisations Management Planning And Support Services) has transformed Tauranga's former Historic Village. It was a "living museum" comprising historic buildings brought together from around the region, such as the 87 year old Mt Maunganui school, but patronage was declining.
The bulk of the village is now occupied by 61 community groups. Seven hundred people use the facility every day and about 30 meetings are held there every week. One of the advantages of the village is that groups interact with each other - the village even has its own Intranet (internal Internet). The village serves as a one-stop-shop for many of its clients with more than one issue. Gambling addiction, for example, is seldom found alone, but often in combination with drug or alcohol addiction. Some examples of services available at the village are:
- The Turning Point Trust is for people recovering from mental illness. Its facilities include a woodwork shop, where clients make - as well as the conventional picture frames and cupboards - such diverse items as grandfather clocks and banjos.
- Te Tuinga Whanau, as the name implies, is concerned with keeping families together. Its help can take a practical form, budgetary advice while out shopping together or gathering watercress, but it puts more store by its work on youth suicide prevention.
- Bay of Plenty Deaf Association. The Deaf Association caters to all people who identify as Deaf - members of the Deaf community, as distinct from hearing-impaired people, who have such groups as the Hearing Association.
Last year a "Funding Expo" was held at the village. It was a day-long series of workshops at which different funding agencies explained the issues around their different schemes. The Community Development Group of the Department of Internal Affairs presented workshops about COGS funding and Lottery grants.
Several art and craft groups still use the village. The Tauranga Spinners and Weavers run a fibre gallery where everything is handmade. The other main fibre used is flax, with a variety of fine kete on sale at low prices. The House of Bottles Wood Museum is leased from the Trust, and six workers turn old fenceposts into wooden bottles, flowers and even clusters of purple onions. The Tauranga Concert Orchestra rehearses in the village hall, and the village hosts an annual classic and sports car day. The village has its own radio station, Village Radio 1XT, broadcasting on 1368kHz from 9am to 5pm on Sundays.
| For more information contact Compass Community Village, P O Box 841, Tauranga |
Contact for Enquiries
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 00 83 33
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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