Actors to bring Nelson’s history to life
Nelson actors will bring the region’s history alive with reenactments during Nelson Anniversary Day on January 30 to celebrate the first European settlers.
Judene Edgar said the group of actors wanted to take the local history to the next level by giving locals the opportunity to hear conversations early settlers might have had.
‘‘Books are great, photo’s are lovely, but people really learn when they get to see and feel and touch and hear.
‘‘We have to keep our history alive, it’s what we learn from, it’s where we’ve come from.’’
To celebrate Nelson’s 175th anniversary on Monday, Isaac Thomas, Roger Sanders, Linda Calgaro, Breigh Fouhy, Mike O’Malley, Laura Irish and Edgar will transform themselves in domestic servants, cooks and gardeners.
‘‘It just makes it that much more real,’’ Edgar said.
She said a lot of research had been done into the earlier days to portray the characters truthfully.
‘‘It’s interesting because of course very few viewpoints from those days were done from a domestic servant perspective.’’
Because of that, Edgar said a lot of work had gone into building characters based on the living and working conditions of the early settlers.
On Monday, the challenges of being a domestic servant in 1860 will be re-enacted at Broadgreen Centre at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.
At 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm the actors will bring to life a 1950s viewpoint of the demise of the Nelson’s Railway at the Railway Reserve.
At Stoke’s St Barnabas, a friendly ghost will share stories about the graveyard inhabitants at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.
Isel House will host a lively meeting of the cook and the gar- dener around 1923 at 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm.
Nelson City Council spokesman Paul Shattock said the council decided this year’s theme would celebrate Stoke’s early European settler heritage houses. Next year’s Anniversary Day would celebrate Nelson’s Maori heritage, to coincide with the completion of the waka landing site.
The full list of the day’s activities, along with a map of Stoke’s Legacy Trail, can be found on the Nelson City Council website.