Glen T
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 85
|
Post by Glen T on Apr 15, 2007 22:58:33 GMT 12
|
|
Glen T
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 85
|
Post by Glen T on Apr 15, 2007 22:59:50 GMT 12
Some 4 years ago?, ms Angelo gave Don and I, a friends of the museum pin for our services to 'the Museum', in the Ohakea museum cafe. I feel so gutted about its closure now I considered sending it back because of all the apparent 'porkies' being told about why it should close. From the outside, it has so many similarities to the ACF closure, it seems uncanny. But, I will keep the pin for the day that Ohakea has a museum center that is run, managed and looked after by Ohakea people only - who have no other agenda than to preserve, promote and display aircraft, Ohakea, its people and its history as their only aim! I applaud and thank those dedicated Manawatu people who have voiced their disgust and dismay at this closure, and are working very hard to ensure we have a museum at Ohakea to be proud of. ************************************************ Man Std Weekender 14April2007
|
|
|
Post by p40fanatic on Apr 15, 2007 23:38:29 GMT 12
Right, definitely going to have to make the drive down there ASAP. This whole thing really is a debacle! I'm sorry I can't offer more wise insight, emotional content etc but all I'm thinking has been said and I'm still speechless about it.
I'll take the Blunty! ;-)
|
|
|
Post by skyhawkdon on Apr 16, 2007 15:25:57 GMT 12
Thanks for scanning and posting the newspaper clippings Glen. Like you I feel like handing back my Museum volunteer badge. I'm dissapointed in CAS. I thought he would have tried harder to keep it at Ohakea. I hope you guys still at Ohakea go and claim back all the various trade displays. As I built up that Kahu cockpit ('07) in 2002 you have my permission to take it back. Same for the Pre-Kahu instrument panel that used to sit next to it - I made that up in 2002 too. Both should go back to the Avionics Sqn on base where all the instruments etc came from. See if you can get my Skyhawk hump (from the old 75 Sqn Avionics bar) back too. I've got room for it in my garage now!
|
|
|
Post by SEAN on Apr 17, 2007 14:28:04 GMT 12
Found this by pure chance from Apr 92 RNZAF News.... Bring back the good old days......
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 17, 2007 18:18:15 GMT 12
It looks like despite the reprieve, the Museum will still close, on May 13th... Ohakea museum to close next month14.04.2007 By COLIN ROWATT THE AIR force museum at Ohakea will close its doors for good on May 13. Confirmation of that decision by the National Air Force Museum Trust Board was delivered by Chief of Air Force, Air Vice Marshall Graham Lintott, yesterday afternoon. It came after a lengthy meeting involving top RNZAF officials, museum trust board members, Rangitikei, Manawatu and Palmerston North mayors and a number of other people with an interest in the Ohakea museum. However, the outcome of the meeting was not all gloom and doom. Instead, the parties emerged with a positive view of the future – not for the museum but for the proposal to establish a new visitor centre at Ohakea. At this stage there is no actual concept for such a centre, no location, no costings for its establishment and no indication of who will pay. The only substantial assurances given yesterday were that the new facility would be close to Ohakea air base but outside its gates so would be fully accessible to the public, and the Air Force Museum trust board would provide the centre with quality displays of artefacts and memorabilia relevant to Ohakea. Mr Lintott said the proposed new centre would not just be about Ohakea’s past but would also incorporate features relating to the base as is it is and in the future. He suggested it would ultimately be “much better than the current facility” (the museum) with a wider range of activities. The visitor centre would be a partnership between the RNZAF, local authorities in the region and the museum trust board. Other groups such as the Friends of the Museum and tourism organisations in the Manawatu and Rangitikei would also likely have a part to play. The most significant decision made by those at yesterday’s meeting was to form a working party involving representatives from the major interest groups. That working party would hold its inaugural meeting on April 23. The working party’s first task would be to come up with a concept for a centre as a visitor attraction with an Air Force focus. In stark contrast to the attitudes they displayed toward the museum trust board’s closure announcement less than a month ago, civic leaders at yesterday’s meeting were optimistic and positive about the new proposal. Palmerston North Mayor Heather Tanguay said the closure decision had caused a great deal of angst in the wider community but she believed that would be relieved when people understood the plan for future. Part of the working party’s task would be to establish a communication strategy so people could be kept informed Manawatu Mayor Ian McKelvie was also optimistic. He said yesterday’s meeting had given him a much better understanding of the “very good reasons” behind the trust board’s closure decision but he could now see “exciting” potential in the new proposal. www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3729933&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 17, 2007 18:22:03 GMT 12
So, from this I make it that: - the museum is to close;
- the artifacts will be sent to Wigram and/or dispersed back around the sections on base Ohakea for storage (at huge transport and storage costs);
- the historic building that housed the museum will likely be demolished to make way for a hangar that may or may not be built;
- and then they will ask the local councils, residents and the to-be-reformed 'Friends of the Museum' to raise another couple of million dollars so it can all be re-established a few bloody feet away.
Well done, this sounds like a Government-driven proposal to me...
Why not keep the current one open as long as possible to be making revenue to pay for the new centre?
|
|
|
Post by flyjoe180 on Apr 19, 2007 8:37:24 GMT 12
Unbelievable really...
|
|
Glen T
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 85
|
Post by Glen T on Apr 21, 2007 20:09:30 GMT 12
I have just been having a discussion with a friend of mine who described to me the following story about a business.
A reasonably large business that claimed itself to be a National entity, was owned by a bigger company and managed by a Trust Board. Its facilities were good, but an extension was needed to increase their ability to produce and deliver their end product in an upgraded condition in order to attract more business. It was not cheap, probably some $30 million dollars. This business also had a small branch/office in another part of the country that was looked after by a dedicated bunch of people and since it was created more than 10 years earlier - out of the foresight, goodness and kindness of a few, had been the envy/pain in the side of the main office. Therefore it had been starved of support and finance for many years in the hope that it would fold of its own accord, and the HQ made it quite obvious that this small outpost was not wanted.
It then transpired that the financiers that had been approached by the HQ to supply the $30M, had decided that because of the small branch office in another part of the country, the HQ was not a National entity - but it was only a Regional one, and therefore it was not eligible for the finance and the request was declined.
So the managers and the Trust Board decided that in order to change their status to National and get the money for their HQ upgrade, the small branch office had to close, and therefore they had to find excuses and even maybe 'untruths' to minimise the effects on the overall business and close the outpost down . This was despite the fact that it was making money and was the gateway for directing people to the HQ business!
The closure caused a huge outcry from supporters, volunteers and visitors alike - especially when it was discovered what the true agenda was all about. The business lost allot of kudos with the community, dedicated people to the business lost their jobs, a marvellous facility that was developed in part by donations and fundraising, was demolished and a great deal of 'national' history was lost.
The Headoffice got their 30M$'s and the revamp went ahead. It added extra space providing a bonus area to develop their business. But alas the business was still off the main traffic route that would have provided the proper support and business prospects they so desperately needed - and they did not have that important outpost office that provided the exposure to many more business prospects for the overall good of the business.
In time the truth came to be published about what and why it all happened. The business, which did away with a very important part of its overall operation, got it's factory upgrade - but at a huge overall cost that included bad press, embittered ex-employees and the loss of very important public support and pool of volunteer helpers and supporters.
Not sure where this story came from, or indeed if its really true, but wow its some story !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 23, 2007 21:34:59 GMT 12
I'd like to say something here. This refers to both the RNZAF Museum at Wigram, and the RNZAF Musuem Exhibition Centre at Ohakea.
The way I see it, these two locations are among the most important sites of our Armed Forces. They are unique places where a distinct culture is retained and preserved, one you do not find anywhere else in NZ apart from on the RNZAF bases themselves. They are significant and historic places for anyone who has been in or connected with the RNZAF, because those people are in themselves a cultural minority group. I am in that group. I was in the RNZAF from 1989 to 1993, and I'm very proud of that fact. Once you've been in the 'mob', you never lose that sense of what it means to be a member of the RNZAF. You feel a great sense of pride and you feel connected to the history of those who came before you. you also feel you did your bit for a nation who these days is increasingly ungrateful and lacking in understanding of just what it is the RNZAF is about - thanks to a continual downgrading of the service by the Labour Government.
Only recently I heard the Chief of Air Force, Graeme Lintott, on National Radio saying how he hates to hear the public ask that question "Do we still have an Air Force." I knew exactly what he meant, as I have heard it so many times myself since 2001 and it is not a joke to those of us who were or are in the RNZAF.
I have realised recently that I am a member of a very underappreciated and ever dwindling minority cultural group.
There used to be many tens of thousands of us. At its peak there were around 60,000 serving members in the RNZAF. Today it's more like 3000 I believe. The ex-members are still part of the group, we all share that cultural bond. I can go into any RSA or aeroclub and meet a fellow ex-RNZAF member and feel that bond that the service instilled in us.
Sadly with age affecting most of them though, and as those from the 'greatest generation' of WWII are fast disappearing, we as a group are fast going the way of the Dodo, shrinking towards extinction.
If current trends persist the RNZAF should soon be handed over from the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Conservation and placed on the critically endangered list. Yes, we RNZAF members are most distinctly a minority cultural group. We have our own language, our own styles, our own art, our own history, our own higher average IQ level, our own literature, our own law, our own customs and traditions, our own engineering practices and standards, and most importantly our own sacred sites around NZ. Most of these sites have gone and are all but faded memories - built on by developers, turned into airports, or reverted to farmland. Those few that remain are under huge threat. It hurts enough that historic Wigram has been decimated by destruction to make way for housing, and that Whenuapai is under grave threat and Hobsonville is unbelievably to be turned into a slum housing estate by this f*cking useless government.
But now the only North Island site that might have had a chance of preserving a little of our lost past is also to go. That really hurts! And it really stinks. I served at RNZAF Ohakea. Someday I would have liked to return there to the museum and be able to re-absorb myself back into my cultural roots. Maybe even take friends and family there to show them what it was about. I'm certain many generations of my kind have felt the same way. I fear this will not happen now. Very recently the Government spent several million dollars restoring old disused barracks at North Head to preserve as a heritage site. Yet they won't fund the Ohakea Museum which is an active and viable asset. Ohakea has a thousand times more history invested in it than North Head ever did as far as I'm concerned.
I wonder, if this museum was dedicated to one of the more trendy minority cultures, such as say a Maori tribe or greenies or whatever tiny group that labour loves, would this lack of help be the same case? No, they'd have their chequebooks out by lunchtime and the place would be fully funded.
It's time the Minister for Art, Culture and Heritage took one less overseas holiday on the taxpayer, and funded one less rapper trip to LA, and allowed the money saved to fund something that actually has some importance to New Zealand's heritage and culture.
To the people at the Ohakea Museum, and to fellow-RNZAF past and present, all I can say is, Ake Ake Kia Kaha!
|
|
|
Post by lesterpk on Apr 24, 2007 0:35:57 GMT 12
Dave, that sounds like it would make a great letter to the editor, why not send it in to some papers and the Air Force news as well? Les.
|
|
|
Post by paddy on Apr 24, 2007 4:17:02 GMT 12
Dave, Well said! You've put into words what I feel. I have always wondered about the bond I feel to the RNZAF and to Ohakea.
Regards
Paddy
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 24, 2007 9:17:48 GMT 12
Thanks chaps. I wrote a very similar letter to Helen Clark, Trevor Mallard and two other Government minians (sorry, Ministers) a couple of weeks ago expressing the loss of cultural heritage that this closure means. Thus far, nothing has been heard in reply....
|
|
|
Post by Bruce on Apr 24, 2007 9:56:48 GMT 12
Helen will have to up her security to prevent you from "accosting" her Dave!
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 24, 2007 14:07:56 GMT 12
Urrr, I wouldn't dare! Yuck!
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 25, 2007 21:32:21 GMT 12
Today during her Anzac Day address the Prime Minister stated that she wants more of the battlegrounds where New Zealanders fought to be recognised and viisited by New Zealanders who travel abroad, including those in France, Belgium, the Pacific, etc, and not just Gallipoli.
She seems to think that the average Kiwi doesn't know enough about the many places Kiwis have fought and died around the world, and she'd like them to learn more about them as well as the famous Anzac Cove.
This is all well and good, but I would think that a great way to initially educate New Zealnaders about these many battle sites before they leave New Zealad is by supporting and encouraging museums that are dedicated to our military history. Do you agree?
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 25, 2007 21:57:43 GMT 12
I'm amazed that the Save Ohakea Museum lobbyists didn't organise a huge memorial service combined with rally/protest to get the community and media out to the museum today to put on a show of strength. It would have been a prime opportunity for pointed news coverage as it fits right into the remembrance theme of Anzac Day.
Instead it seems they have been doing something much less constructive...
ttp://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/eveningstandard/4038056a6502.html
Museum talks make no ground By MERVYN DYKES - Manawatu Standard | Wednesday, 25 April 2007
The first meeting of the working group formed to consider a replacement for the doomed Air Force museum at Ohakea was described yesterday as "a room full of air waiting to be bagged".
Deliberations began at 1pm at Ohakea and ended at 4.30pm, although several of the participants had gone by 4pm. By that stage no decisions had been made, apart from agreeing to meet again sometime next week.
Friends of the Ohakea Museum representative and former RNZAF officer Chris Torr, who later made the "room full of air"comment, said the first stage of the meeting was a brainstorming session to get ideas for a new facility down on paper. The second stage began to consider how it might be funded.
"There were some exciting ideas put forward," he said, "but they did not get around to discussing what will happen in the interim - between the old museum closing and the new one opening."
Museum supporters are most concerned about this stage as they fear that once Ohakea's present museum has been closed on May 13 by the Wigram-based Air Force Museum Trust, there will be no urgency given to replacing it.
"Once the exhibits are sent down to Wigram it will be hard to get them back," said Mr Torr.
Among those at yesterday's meeting were Manawatu District Mayor Ian McKelvie, Rangitikei District Mayor Bob Buchanan, Wanganui District Deputy Mayor Dot McKinnon, and representatives of the Bulls Information Centre, Destination Manawatu, Vision Manawatu and the Air Force.
Mr Buchanan said the next step would be to get facts and figures together for the new facility.
Mr McKelvie said it was "quite a broad meeting . . . with a wide group of people", including new participants who needed to get up to speed quickly.
He said he believed the Air Force was keen to see "some sort of stake in the ground in the next couple of weeks".
Yesterday's meeting had an ambitious agenda and went on so long that some people had to leave before the end. But he said his overall impression was that the meeting was a good one.
___________________________________
|
|
|
Post by mumbles on Apr 25, 2007 23:43:44 GMT 12
I'm planning to have a last shufti up there on Friday if anyone has any picture requests.
I also have it on extremely good authority that that A-4 was put together in a way that would make disassembly extremely difficult, to prevent it ever leaving the base.
As an aside, does Whenuapai have a base museum?
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 26, 2007 0:21:11 GMT 12
Photo requests? Everything you can shoot. It'll all be gone soon and the more you and others can record the better.
Phil, did you manage to get to the museum with your camera yet?
|
|
|
Post by skyhawkdon on Apr 26, 2007 8:14:22 GMT 12
I went to the ANZAC service at the Wigram Museum yesterday and couldn't help thinking about all the past and present Ohakea Museum staff and volunteers (the current staff are modern day "casualties" of the RNZAF, just like all those made redundant when the ACF was disbanded - the wounds aren't physical but they still hurt).
I agree with Dave that yesterday would have been a great time to have had a "memorial service" for the Ohakea Museum and to have gotten some TV coverage. The Wigram service made it onto the TV3 News. Perhaps when the Museum closes in May a "funeral" can be held?
Yesterday I noted with interest the plans for expansion at Wigram which were on public display and couldn't help wonder what these expansion plans have to do with the closure of Ohakea. I think Glen's wee piece about a certain unnamed "business" is spot on!
|
|