Friday 3 September will be the first official New Zealand Merchant Navy Day. The purpose of Merchant Navy Day is to recognise the merchant seamen who risked their lives during the war transporting troops, military equipment and cargo around the world and to remember those who lost their lives during this conflict.
To mark this very special day, we will be having a full day of activity here at Voyager.
The day will begin with a Remembrance Service at 8.30am in the Edmiston Gallery of Maritime Art here at Voyager. The service will be very kindly officiated by Reverend Bill Law, Chaplain Auckland Merchant Navy Association and will include the presentation and blessing of a wreath to be hung in Oceans Apart. On arrival you will also be greeted by Voyager’s very own resident Piper Mr. John Downie. The public are invited to attend this service, as a mark of respect for the huge sacrifices made by our merchant seamen during World War 2.
Throughout the rest of the day we will have supporting activity including Merchant Navy specific tours (at 10.30 am and 1.00 pm) and specialist gallery hosts who can regale you with their Merchant Navy knowledge.
We do hope that you can join us here at Voyager to recognise this significant element of our nation’s proud maritime heritage.
The Voyager Kids Council.
Grace (left), Matt (centre) and Finn (right)
The team at Voyager have always thought it’s super important that young Kiwis can learn about the explorative spirit of our seafaring nation. We want to inspire them to chase their dreams and become the next Sir Peter Blake or Leslie Egnott, world-beaters from a small country at the bottom of the world.
But to be successful in this goal we need to understand what it is that young Kiwis want from a museum experience and so began our search for the three members of our Voyager Kids Council, a dedicated team whose role is to help us make Voyager a place which is relevant for kids.
We were absolutely overwhelmed with the response from kids eager to make their mark on the Voyager experience, wanting to bring along their enthusiasm and imagination to guide our exhibitions and public programmes. It was a hard decision to make, but we had to whittle down all of these great applications to our final three.
We are very pleased to introduce our three kids councillors.
Matt:Aged 11 Matt is the oldest member of the Council.He’s pretty much got sailing in his blood.His Dad, Shaun sailed all over the world competitively including crewing on Fisher and Paykel with Grant Dalton in 1989-90. Matt is currently enjoying sailing his own Optimist at the Glendowie Boating Club.
It looks like Matt will have a considerable contribution to make to the Council. He says “ I am passionate about boats, sailing and the sea. Voyager is my favourite museum. This museum is fun for me, because I can learn all about our maritime history. I can interact and try things out like the virtual steering of a big yacht and see actual full size dinghies and boats that are not popular classes anymore. In my spare time I research, draw, design and build model boats. My dream is to become a yacht designer and sail around the world. I think I would be able to come up with good ideas and inventions for Voyager”.
Grace: Aged 9 Grace was determined to secure a place on the Council.She goes to Bayswater Primary and says her idol is Sir Peter Blake, who, of course, went to the same school.Grace was one of the lucky Bayswater pupils to be a guest at the opening of Blue Water Black Magic- A Tribute to Sir Peter Blake in December.Grace thinks the interactive aspect of Blue Water Black Magic is a huge attraction for kids.“It’s really challenging, like on the match racing activity, you’re playing but you’re also learning new skills”.Grace would like to see more interactive exhibits at Voyager.
Finn:Aged 7 Finn is the youngest member of the Council.The sea and sailing is indeed in his blood.He is the great, great nephew of the legendary yachtsman, sailing entrepreneur and patron, Sir Tom Clark.His mum, Mel recalls many idyllic times on Sir Tom’s famous vessel, Buccaneer.She has personally enjoyed many years of match racing and Finn’s Dad, Andy is a sail maker. Finn says “I have a good mind and I think some of my ideas will make Voyager a place all kids will love”.
We got all of our Councillors together at Voyager on the last day of the recent school holidays. We had lunch with them, talked about what they liked about Voyager, listened to their ideas and then explored the galleries. What an absolutely fantastic and passionate bunch of kids they are, we are looking forward to working with them more and more over the coming months. We just know that they are going to help us provide for kids even better than we currently do, making Voyager a place where they can have fun, be inspired and learn about New Zealand’s intrinsic bond with the ocean and our forebears dreams, ambitions and human endeavour. So watch this space for more Kids Council updates!
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