Bangalow Historical Society – re-creating a community hub

“Our role is caretaking Bangalow’s history, and this is your chance to get involved,” says Historical Society President, Trisha Bleakley. On Saturday 18 February, from 9am to 10.30am the team will be fielding enquiries to fill a range of volunteer museum positions. “We need help from people with all kinds of skills, from preparing and setting up exhibitions, to acting as exhibition guides, to cataloguing and even researching family and business histories.”

As well, help is needed to set up and dismantle upcoming exhibitions to be held on the verandah, as well as storing museum items between exhibitions. On the administration front, they are very keen to find people with social media, audio visual and public relations skills, to help promote exhibitions. Others are needed to produce a regular newsletter, while entrepreneurial fund-raising skills are always in demand for small volunteer community groups such as this. “We’ve got the vision – we just need the people.”

Once again, the Heritage House building will now be available to rent as a meeting place for local organisations, as it was so successfully in the past. “We see this building as a community hub and meeting place, even without the café operating,” Trisha adds. While the kitchen will not be operated as a tea rooms, it can be rented for specific functions. Alternately, groups are welcome to bring their own lunch or light refreshments, urn provided.

There has already been interest expressed in holding art and craft exhibitions, which will start happening after the official re-launch on 25 February. One local group is keen to set the building up to demonstrate sustainable building practices.