The Coach House Museum
40 Bowen Street
Feilding
New Zealand
Feilding
New Zealand
Children are Welcome Too!
Suggesting a visit to a museum is unlikely to garner much enthusiasm from the younger set.
From the Coach House perspective we welcome young people to our museum. It is a wonderful sight to see the reactions of the children that visit us. The "in the olden days" questions are always a delight. This is the perfect opportunity for grandparents to share their experiences and put the olden days into context for the new generation.
To make the family visit a little less daunting the Coach House has a couple of vehicles especially for children that they can clamber over and imagine themselves in situations from times past. Sitting on the gig geeing up the horse or on the mail coach leads to all sorts of imaginary tasks, whether it's taking the gig to town or delivering the mail around the country from the coach. And the questions!
How fast will it go?
Where does the petrol go?
Can we take it home?
What goes in here?
Can you stand up and drive this?
The museum also caters for the more formal visits from school classes. The Coach House is able to provide an Education Resource Folder which provides teachers with information on what is available and how it fits within the New Zealand Curriculum Framework. The kit includes texts describing aspects of life in Feilding one hundred years ago and sources for further research. The written material comes to life with a visit to the museum. The students are provided with some challenges to research from the material displayed in the museum and, in many cases, this leads to the preparation of written works of that subject.
This example of new Zealand's most popular two-wheeled passenger vehicle was built in Pahiatua by the firm McEwen, Ball & Minnett.
It was presented to the Society by Don McLennan and was restored by John Anderson. some years ago. In 2001 it was restored to its original condition. It is now "road-worthy" and is able to be used for giving rides to the public.
The gig features Dennett springing for a comfortable ride, has a solid body and butterfly style mudguards. The seat is adjustable to allow alteration of the balance between horse and vehicle.
It was presented to the Society by Don McLennan and was restored by John Anderson. some years ago. In 2001 it was restored to its original condition. It is now "road-worthy" and is able to be used for giving rides to the public.
The gig features Dennett springing for a comfortable ride, has a solid body and butterfly style mudguards. The seat is adjustable to allow alteration of the balance between horse and vehicle.
The Coach is neither an authentic or a true replica of a Cobb & Co vehicle. However it was built to plans which came from Australia and the Caterbury Museum. The coach is very much a hybrid - the front wheel springs come from an International truck, the back wheels were originally on a spring cart. The spokes of the front wheels were originally either laminated pine or kwila, but in a coach upgrade in 2001 both front wheels were replaced.
Centennial celebrations in Hawera were the incentive for Rod Ogle to begin on the cioachbuilding project but it was not completed until after that event. The coach had its first outing at the Hawera A&P centennial parade in 1984.
In 1986 this coach first came to Feilding when it was bought by Cyril Symes. The coach became a familiar and popular feature at many Manawau events and in 1996 the Manawatu District Council bought the vehicle in recognition of the significant community usage that had built up over the decade.
In 1999 ownership was passed to the Manawatu Historic Vehicle Collection Trust and the coach quickly became the working symbol for the trust's horse-dawn era museum; and subsequently, the inspiration for the naming of the museum building - THE COACH HOUSE.
Centennial celebrations in Hawera were the incentive for Rod Ogle to begin on the cioachbuilding project but it was not completed until after that event. The coach had its first outing at the Hawera A&P centennial parade in 1984.
In 1986 this coach first came to Feilding when it was bought by Cyril Symes. The coach became a familiar and popular feature at many Manawau events and in 1996 the Manawatu District Council bought the vehicle in recognition of the significant community usage that had built up over the decade.
In 1999 ownership was passed to the Manawatu Historic Vehicle Collection Trust and the coach quickly became the working symbol for the trust's horse-dawn era museum; and subsequently, the inspiration for the naming of the museum building - THE COACH HOUSE.
