Friday, December 21, 2012

Behind the Hedges tickets for sale

Behind the Hedges - A Country Lifestyle Trail

Sunday, 17 March 2013
10.00am - 4.00pm


Come and enjoy a fantastic day out in the countryside, exploring nine lifestyle properties showcasing the best of rural Horowhenua.

Following on from the sold out event of 2012, the 2013 fundraiser Lifestyle Trail showcases eight new destinations and a crowd favourite from 2012.

Make a date with friends and family to explore “hidden” properties including a chic renovated woolshed, a wander through an asparagus field and nut groves, and a blueberry farm operating a number of cottage industries.

You’ll also have the opportunity to pat a donkey and get up close and personal with ‘haughty’ alpacas.
Fresh local produce will be available, along with pantry packs of homemade preserves, plus raffles, local entertainment, fresh picnic boxes, plants, flowers and other rural must haves for you to take home. Be sure to bring plenty of cash!

Behind the Hedges - be surprised, be delighted, be inspired.

Buy a ticket

Buy a picnic box (meat)

Buy a picnic box (vegetarian)

View the menu
NOTE: There is a $3 fee per transaction.

Tickets can also be purchased from Te Takere.

More information

To find out more please contact Gill on (06) 367 9743 or email behindthehedges@tetakere.org.nz
All funds raised go to Te Takere – Culture and Community Centre.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Counting down the days

Only a few days left till we open the new Youth Space.  



Excitement is building as as builders race to finish by the Friday deadline and tech people rush in with computers and large screens.  At the moment it seems chaos reigns but it will be settled by Saturday.  Join us for the party!



Work continues in the Education space with a Tea/coffee making area almost finished apart from the walls.



Planting began today for the Chinese Garden with lovely bamboo being placed in strategic areas to enhance the space.  The bamboo is called fairy bamboo and is the non-spreading variety!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Now for the next stage.....





New carpet has been laid in the same colours as the main Te Takere area.











Frantic unpacking of equipment to meet the deadline of the 1st December and finishing off painting the former bright green columns to a lovely shade of blue.






  The new content creation room being soundproofed ready for installation of equipment.



The former children's library is transforming into the staff offices. On the top floor glass walls have been put in to sound proof the soon to be office areas.



The Chinese Garden with our beautiful dragon installed waits for the planting to enhance the area.




Friday, September 28, 2012

Welcome to Te Takeretanga o Kura Hau-Po

Welcome to Te Takeretanga o Kura Hau-Po.



Our beautiful new living room for the people of the Horowhenua. Come on in and have a look around, see the fantastic services we have on offer. Tonight I am just going to give you a brief glimpse of the inside of Te Takere.  Above is the fiction section with the stunning woven sail and oar above, with the curved stairway heading up to the quiet area.


One of our many public internet areas dotted around the library.



A lovely non-fiction reading alcove. Note the series of local historical photos above the shelves.



Our great new self issuing machines.  If you need any help there will always be someone to help you issuing your items.  It feels wonderful to be finally working in this brilliant new environment, we have waited so long and now it is here! Join us as we celebrate our grand opening tomorrow morning.


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Less than 3 days to go


The sails are up!  The vibrant colours are amazing and really set off the design.  Te Takere looks stunning at night with the floodlights shining on the sails.  I can't wait to start working in there.  The atmosphere inside is electric.  Everyone is fired up and ready to go.



Our new name is flying high above the verandas, subtly but distinctively welcoming all to our new living room.  Work has begun in the old library premises refitting and tidying up in preparation for the Youth Centre.


A taste of things to come...........

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The changing face of Te Takere

This is it! The last days of the old library premises, people rushing in to get last minute books to tide them over, walls being stripped of old photos of Levin and the heating failed again!

 

Slowly but surely the face of the old Levin library is morphing into Te Takere. 



White panels, the same as the car park side, are being fixed to the older building.



Boxes are being packed, old stock cancelled and staff re-trained.
 Library life will never be the same...see you on the other side!







Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Views by moonlight

Work progresses at an amazing speed with the builders weaving their magic on Te Takere.  





One beautiful moonlight night saw Ema passing by Te Takere and she was struck by how lovely it looked at night.  Ema quickly took a number off photos, two of which are included below. 



With all the lights on people are working late at night to have everything perfect for the opening.  The colours inside are contemporary but also very restful.  The new furniture in block colours will fit in well and they happen to be very comfortable!






Imagine how it will be with the construction work finished, gardens in, fences gone and the doors finally open to the public. (And yes there will be public toilets!).  The spectacular sails that will be on the veranda poles were tried out for size yesterday.   The new lift is also being worked on today.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Temporary offices


The library staff have now all been relocated to temporary premises until the new office suite is complete at Te Takere.  We are actually enjoying the lovely natural light.









Every available space is jam packed with library running essentials, even our volunteers are busy working in the temporary workspace.  Every effort has been made to reduce the amount of 'stuff' coming over from the old offices.  We want to make sure that only the best moves back into Te Takere.












 I love the wooden seating that matches the now complete decking of the outside waka sections.








A closeup shot of the anchor bolts that will hold the sails in place.





Thursday, August 23, 2012

Five weeks (and a bit) to go!


Time is flying!  Not too long now.  Things are happenning every day.  The front of the old building is changing to resemble the new one with panels being placed over the old frontage.





The Chinese garden area is slowly being transformed from a boring corner to a relaxing one.  The walls are being painted to reflect the murals inside creating a wonderful outdoor room.









I can't believe that this was our old workroom downstairs.  Orginally this room was for the mobile library, then a loading bay, librarians office and soon will be the branch circulation area.











The view from the back of the new building showing where the small back garden set against large picture windows will add to the ambience of the quiet lounge.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Decking going in for the garden

The decking for the Chinese garden is taking shape between showers of rain.  Both sides of the pond will have the decking and be linked by a small bridge.  Imagine sitting out here on a sunny day drinking coffee and reading a book!

The outdoor walkway extending the full frontage of Te Takere is gaining more character with seating along the outside.  People will be able to sit along here resting or downloading the latest ebooks onto their ereaders even when the library is closed.



Also along the walkway are spotlights set into the ground which will light up the sails and the front of Te Takere at night.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Checking the new children's area

Deb and Wendy took the advantage of a visit to Te Takere to get an idea of the layout for the new children's area.  Deb was most interested due to being the new Children's Librarian.  Her initial reaction to the space is "Wonderful, exciting and can't wait!" 





The fantastic new Waka decking is in place with finishing touches going on in the next few days.  Once the gardens around it are finished it will look spectacular!







Our upstairs space continues with sanded and buffed floors showing the original wooden flooring from pre-Te Takere days.  This will be our new quiet space with no computers.  People will be able to sit and read, use Wi-fi or study.





The source of the noise next door in the old toilet block, work is progressing fast and ahead of time!  New beams have been fitted to the ceiling to strengthen it before being set up as computer suites.


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Starting upstairs

It is hard to believe that in nine or ten short weeks we will be in Te Takere.  It will be worth the wait to move into our exciting new place. 







Work has begun on the children's library side putting through a new door into Te Takere, all the non-fiction books against the wall have been moved so the builders can set up another "pod" to construct a fire proof door.













At the moment the veranda in front of the current library is getting a makeover with old panelling being pulled down. 













The view from the newspaper reading section of the library is quite surreal with scaffolding across the windows.








The brilliant new strip lighting is blazing its way across Te Takere. 










So!  This is what's happening behind the fiction shelves.  A curved tunnel with a firedoor will extend into the current library space. 







 
 



And it's finally happening, the outside waka walkways are being finished off with lovely wooden strips.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Holes in the wall

It is getting really exciting now!  As we were rapidly moving fiction books aside this morning a hole appeared in the wall from Te Takere. 









I raced to get the camera and take a shot of our temporary glimpse into the future.  I actually got photos from both sides of the action!  This is from the current library side.








This view from Te Takere side.  The builder is using a jack hammer to create the hole.  No wonder we were moving books!  This is where a large fire door will be between the old and new sections.
















The stunning new strip lighting is in and arranged in a diagonal patterns across the ceiling.  These strip lights are across the whole Te Takere area including upstairs.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Giant woodpeckers?



This morning when I got to work the woodpeckers (well concrete choppers) were under the floor again!  Our contractors are actually being very considerate as most of the really loud work is being done before and after library opening hours.
Staff are all chuckling about the earth moving!  At least we know what is causing our floors to shake and walls to rattle and we know it will stop!



Once the old public loos have been gutted the space, which is surprisingly large, will be converted into two state of the art classrooms.  Just the spot for some night classes or to hold some interesting lecture series.


Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Please don't walk on that floor yet!




Today it was great to see the lovely timber flooring that has been laid in the shape of a waka.  We will have two timber floor areas, one either side of the tiled open centre space.









Painting has finished in the large meeting room.  The pale walls make the room seem even more spacious.


















Work is coming along apace in the outside garden area.  We are grateful to the Horowhenua Chinese association for sponsoring this part of the project.  The birth of a dragon shows the beginning phase of the dragon sculpture that will be a feature of the garden.  


.  




Outside of Levin library the scaffolding is up for the garden and along the verandah of the old building where the new facade will be.  Eventually the whole combined old supermarket and existing library will look like one continuous building.



Downstairs below our workroom demolition has been going on inside the old public toilets.  It's noisy and it rattles us around a bit in the office.  Customers wonder what is going on - but it's progress!