OnStage Manawatū elects its first female president in its 116-year history

OnStage Manawatū's first female president Meri Tipene-Walker and long-serving member Alan Horsfall look to the future. Photo / Judith Lacy

At home one day, Meri Tipene-Walker visualised herself sitting in what was then Manawatū Savage Club’s main hall. All she could see was the stage.

Club members were thinking of changing its name and Tipene-Walker came up with OnStage.

In March 2020, the club became OnStage Manawatū, the first step in modernising and simplifying the club’s customs and formats.

Last month, Tipene-Walker was elected the president of OnStage - becoming its first female and first Māori leader.

She feels blessed her suggestion for a new name was accepted and says it made her even more dedicated to the performing arts club.

Music has always been part of her life. Tipene-Walker, a singer, joined the club in 2008 after moving to Palmerston North from Pahīatua. She joined the committee last year as the property maintenance officer and can still be found at the end of a vacuum cleaner or broom.

A vote at the 2004 annual meeting cleared the way for women to become members and the first were inducted in 2005.

In his booklet, Entertaining the Manawatu: The Manawatu Savage Club’s Century of Achievement, Noel Watts writes that for a long time there was resistance against allowing women to take part in club concerts. Eventually, women were accepted as accompanists but at first were not allowed on stage and had to play the piano on the floor of the hall.

Tipene-Walker’s late mother and husband were also members of the club.

Alan Horsfall, a trumpet and saxophone player, isn’t sure how long he has been a member but thinks it is more than 30 years.

OnStage's Manawatū's door at 100 Campbell St, Palmerston North, is open for new members and guest performers. Photo / Judith Lacy

He takes the Manawatū Guardian on a tour of the revamped clubrooms. There are changing rooms where the old kitchen was, while the new kitchen is where the meeting room was. There are new heaters and lighting.

Some of the memorabilia that covered the walls of the rear hall has been put in a display cupboard, significantly decluttering the space.

Horsfall says the club needed to change the face of the place to one where anyone can come and get on stage.

Concerts used to be formal affairs with men in black jackets and bow ties. Now causal dress is welcome.

He is dumbfounded when people tell him they didn’t know the club existed.

OnStage has a concert every second Monday of the month at 7.30pm. The club has a swing band, rock band and novelty band, with other performers club members or guests.

Vocal genres include operetta, classical, pop, R&B, jazz, blues, reggae and waiata.

Members don’t have to be performers but can help with stage work.

Chris Dann on piano and Berndt Reiss on bass accompany Meri Tipene-Walker at an OnStage Manawatū concert.

The Manawatū Savage Club was established in 1908. It took its name from the London gentlemen’s club founded in 1857, named after the poet Richard Savage.

The Manawatū club’s opening night was on May 23, 1908 at the Empire Hotel. The club went into recess three times - during World War I and II and the Great Depression.

After hiring halls for decades it bought the former Church of Christ at 100 Campbell St. The official opening was on May 13, 1972.

Bands practise in the main hall and the smaller one is hired by a dance school.

Subscriptions are $40 a year. Concerts are $5 for members and $10 for non-members. For details email merindes@gmail.com.

Mahnoor Hussain and the OnStage Manawatū Swing Band.

Judith Lacy has been the editor of the Manawatū Guardian since December 2020. She graduated from journalism school in 2001 and this is her second role editing a community paper.