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KĀWHIA’S long-term librarians Linda Wix and Pauline Lellman were thanked for their service at the recent community board meeting.
Linda has been at the Kāwhia library 15 years and Pauline has been volunteering at the library for 22 years. Linda resigned in November last year in order to move closer to grandchildren. Pauline is leaving the district this year.
At the meeting, Pauline said she had thoroughly enjoyed living in Kāwhia but had retired and was leaving the area.
Linda said she was moving closer to her grandchildren. She originally arrived from Auckland nearly 20 years ago.
“We always had a hankering for the west coast, one year we came down to Kāwhia … miserable weather, I thought ‘not too sure about this’.
“Another year we came down in February. This looked better, so we made the decision to think about retiring here.”
They found a section, built on it, and used it as a holiday place for a while. A librarian, she took on the job at the library for the Ōtorohanga District Council. They have been replaced by Annette McGregor from Aotea who started on Tuesday.
Annette’s start also brings back Saturday morning openings at the Kāwhia library for the first time since the Covid lockdowns in March 2020.
The library is also now open a little later on Tuesdays and Fridays so tamariki can access the facilities after school.
The new hours are – Monday closed, Tuesday 2pm-4pm, Wednesday 10.30am-12noon, Thursday closed, Friday 2pm-4pm, Saturday 10am-12pm, Sunday closed.
