The Tairua Heritage Society is a community based initiative. Our focus is to develop activities that collect together the stories of our community and its past and to disseminate these in a variety of ways to all age groups in the community. Our aim is to engender a ‘sense of place and belonging’ and pride in the community in which we live. The acquisition of this building is crucial for the continuation of our mission to preserve and promote the local history of Tairua and its surrounding areas. If we fail to secure the necessary funds, we risk closing the Centre, putting our assets into storage, and losing the community profile and goodwill we have developed. Keeping the Heritage Centre open will allow us to continue our outreach efforts and provide educational opportunities for residents and visitors alike. The Society has seventy Friends and volunteers. Our collection of exhibits includes photographs, memorabilia, books, the Father Bennett collection and 1000 objects that have been catalogued. Ownership of the building would allow the society to continue to develop resources and activities that allow us to involve the whole community viz.: adding to the collection of panels that can be housed in the Centre and without, that tell our stories; producing additional books and pamphlets that tell aspects of our community’s stories – there are more to be written; interviewing and recording, both orally and visually, stories of community members and their families; increasing our contact with local schools; increasing our contact with iwi; developing the use of technology so that we increase the appeal to younger people; enhancing the history trail around the town, consisting of 24 ‘stations’. These now have QR codes on them, which allows walkers to access information on their phones; directing and producing additional performances to the 8 shows undertaken 2017-2025 to inform and educate the audiences about the history of our community, while providing an entertaining evening; using the Centre during the winter to host speakers on local topics and invite the local community to attend.