A safe haven for our community to be in, to learn in and to thrive in
Elected Members were treated to a tour of Te Āhuru Mōwai, the facility which will house the Manawatū Community Hub Libraries. The building is set to open with regular operating hours on Monday 22 July.
As the Elected Members stood in front of the Tui Mayo room the history of the past Manawatū District Council and the vision for the future was united. Tui Mayo was elected to the Feilding Borough Council in 1962 where she served for 21 years. She was chairperson of the council’s library and baths committee and it was here that she campaigned strongly for a new library.
Her foresight has been honoured in various council facilities including in a wing of a previous Feilding Library which featured a fine native timber ceiling and dado. These wooden pieces have been meticulously removed and are being refitted into the Tui Mayo room at the Manawatu Community Hub Libraries – a strong reminder to honour the past while celebrating the District’s future.
The Tui Mayo room will be one of four meeting rooms that will be open to the public to use and on 18 April, as Elected Members and Executive Staff from Manawatu District Council toured the facility in it’s current state, it was clear through the tour offered by Adie Johnsen Community Services Manager, that this facility will be one for all ages, abilities, and interests.
It truly will be a place for the community and as gifted by Ngāti Kauwhata the actual building has been honoured with the name Te Āhuru Mōwai meaning our space that would become a safe haven for our community to be in, to learn in and to thrive in. The name was officially received at the 15 February council meeting. The services inside will be known as the Manawatū Community Hub Libraries.
“The name gifted to the building, Te Āhuru Mōwai is special. It encapsulates the services, the function and the aspirations for our Manawatū community in this space”, Johansen explains.
The Manawatū Community Hub Libraries will open with regular operating hours on 22 July and will have event and meeting spaces, a designated space for the youth, a Makerspace, a genealogy area, upstairs and downstairs social spaces and a café. With an increase in the programming to be offered, the Manawatū Community Hub Libraries will be a place to meet, become inspired, innovate, create, discover and do.
Elected Members and council staff at the entrance to the Tui Mayo Room.
(LtoR): Lorraine Himiona, Adie Johansen, Anaru Himiona, Toni Himiona, Anahera Himiona.
Tui Mayo featured in the 1968-71 Feilding Borough's photo.