Background to the Friends: In 1988, the Wanganui City Council announced that it was concerned about the cost of running the historic theatre and that it might hand the Opera House over to the community to run. Well the community responded and now do so, with some council support. Early in 1989 a group of people with theatrical and community interests at heart formed a Friends of the Wanganui Opera House steering committee. Their aim was to help preserve the historic building as a "full working theatre for the use and enjoyment of the community". They were representative of the performing arts in Wanganui and were: Derick Matthews chairman, Margaret Saunders, secretary, Diane Moreland, Delphine Turney, David Smiles, David Bennett, Rhys Barker, John Richardson, Jim Ennis, and Morris Richards. By May the Friends had moved to become an incorporated society with theatre veteran Derick Matthews at the helm. The society established a $5 membership fee and held its first event, a gala variety concert, on 4 June, 1989. The acts, designed to show the full potential of the stage, included a fire-eater, a magician, singers, musicians, a choir, dancers and drama groups from local theatre groups. An impressive floral display was organised and opened to the public for viewing two days before the concert. A newspaper editorial encouraged the public to support the Sunday concert, acknowledging that in a city which had recently lost two theatres and many other old buildings, the preservation of the ‘the only Victorian-style theatre in the country, the largest stage in Wanganui, and the only public auditorium able to seat 1100, was essential.’ It warned that "initial enthusiasm was one thing, sustained commitment was another. The end result, if the society flourishes, will not be unlike W(h)anganui Regional Museum - operated by an independent, autonomous board in a building owned and maintained by the City Council." The concert was a success, the notion caught the public imagination and by August the three Wanganui Rotary Clubs had thrown their organisational support behind the project. The groups organised another concert, this time featuring internationally acclaimed singer, Dame Malvina Major, with supporting performances by the Wanganui Boys’ College Band and the Wanganui High School Orchestra. Early moral support came also from families associated with the 1899 construction of the building. They included builder Nicholas Meuli’s great-niece, Gay, who noted that "There is no comparison going to a show there and one in the Memorial Hall. The Opera House is full of atmosphere and the hall is just that." By the following year, when the group held its first AGM on 30 May, 1990, it had maintained the public interest and Derick Matthews was elected as president. Also elected were as Diane Moreland treasurer, with a supporting committee being Mesdames Turney, Chrissie Garmonsway, Messrs Ennis, Smiles, Bennett, Richard Overton, and Bill Lind. The secretary selected from the committee was Ms Garmonsway while Opera House manager, John Richardson, became a member, but without voting rights.
With support from the community, businesses and the Historic Places Trust, the society has flourished, although not without its struggles. It has also achieved a huge volume of restoration work, and while not involved in managing the Opera House, works closely with the manager to achieve what is needed. "Precisely because this is so, whatever scheme is finally formulated, must have as its priority the preservation of the building, not the easing of local body burdens." Since establishing themselves the Friends have been involved in a range of restoration projects. These have included installing sprinklers, reorganising the opera pit to accommodate a full 50-piece orchestra; returning (with Lions Club assistance) the downstairs seating to the staggered arrangement the original architect intended; creation of new toilets including a paraplegic toilet facility; developing an upstairs lounge, sweet stall and bar; recurtaining the theatre backdrops; upgrading the lighting board; recarpeting; recabling; relaying the stage floor; and extending the annexe. It has also meant hours meeting with fire officers to discuss the location of smoke alarms, and sprinklers; hours with council staff discussing how to upgrade the old building to meet modern building and safety codes; meeting with the Historic Places Trust to determine how to do so without undermining the integrity of the building, all on a voluntary basis. Laying the new stage floor, the third in the Opera House’s history, in 1993 was a marathon effort. While it only took a day and a half to lay the floor, it had taken more than 18 months to find suitable timber, buy it, fell it, dry it and cut it. However, it should last for 60 years. Tasks ahead for the Friends include improving the ventilation of the theatre, and maintaining it as the gem it is. |
