Egmont School pupils visited the Maketawa Museum in Norfolk, Taranaki on Friday, July 26. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Egmont School pupils visited the Maketawa Museum in Norfolk, Taranaki on Friday, July 26. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Some North Taranaki school pupils swapped the classroom for Taranaki’s John Deere Museum on Friday, thanks to The Hits and Brandt Stratford.
Egmont School’s Kea classroom pupils visited the Maketawa Museum in Norfolk, Inglewood. The visit was a prize in a The Hits and Brandt competition to visit the museum.
It was Reef Hinz, 8, who won the class trip for his friends, and he said it’s all thanks to his nana.
“She heard about it on the radio and entered it for me. I’m so happy we won. I really like tractors and this place is super cool.”
For classmate Ava Roberts, 8, the visit to the museum brought up a happy memory.
“My mum and dad got married here a few years ago. I like it here. The tractors are cool.”
Egmont Village School teacher Moir Christophers said before the trip, the class learnt about John Deere tractors.
“Reef winning this trip for us prompted an investigation into vintage and modern tractors and equipment in the John Deere family. This trip was a very exciting opportunity to develop and learn about local resources and personnel.”
Image 1 of 14: Egmont Village School pupil Reef Hinz, 8, won the school trip to Maketawa Museum for his class. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Maketawa Museum owner Barry Bishop said the museum is here to share with the community.
“I think people don’t know this place exists in Taranaki. Most of our visitors are from outside the region so I’d like to get the word out that this is here for people to see. We partnered with Brandt and The Hits to offer a classroom visit to get the word out about who we are and get some kids up here to look at some tractors.”
His appreciation for the John Deere brand spans nearly half a century.
“When I was farming about 40 years ago I was driving a John Deere.”
Bishop opened the museum two years ago after spending six years collecting tractors, purchasing them from around the country and even importing seven from the United States.
It’s not just heavy machinery the museum has, he said, with memorabilia, photos and even toys for the kids to play on.
“The visitors love it. We get a lot of social groups and sports clubs coming up here to have a look. Even families on the weekend come up here and everyone is entertained. We’ve got something for everyone.”
The Hits Taranaki day announcer Richard Allen said the competition had been very popular.
“In this day and age, you might be forgiven for thinking that people would only want to enter competitions to win exotic holidays or cars, but this type of promotion, working with a major player such as Brandt Stratford, shows the strong connection that local radio can deliver to its audience.”
NZME Taranaki senior media specialist Matt Surgenor was there on the day. His son Jack, 8, was one of the pupils enjoying the trip.
“Jack’s been counting down the days since his class won the draw, and it hasn’t disappointed. Funnily enough, adults enjoyed this trip as much as the kids. And you couldn’t ask for a better a host than Barry.”
Brandt territory manager Lyle Crudis said it was great to partner with the museum to offer the experience.
“After speaking to Barry about getting more awareness about this awesome place, we worked with The Hits on a competition. We were quite pleased we had a lot of interest from several different schools around the region and we’d like to thank Barry for opening up the museum so we could offer this.”
