War Memorial Centre it is then. The facilities at the centre of a four-year name dispute await a healing of the wounds. Photo / Paul Taylor.
War Memorial Centre it is then. The facilities at the centre of a four-year name dispute await a healing of the wounds. Photo / Paul Taylor.
The Napier War Memorial Centre is to have its own website in a new move to start closing the doors on four years of acrimony over a change of name.
The modern battle started when Napier City Council changed the name of the building to the Napier Conference Centre inJune 2016, removing not only the "War Memorial" tag but also crucial elements of its memorial history such as the Roll of Honour and an eternal flame.
A compromise resulted in both names being used in what became a confused mixing of the name of the building, and the name for its business.
After last year's local body elections, Napier Conference Centre signage came down and new Mayor Kirsten Wise signalled a review of the "branding" and reinstatement of the War Memorial status of the Oceanside facilities on Marine Parade.
And following a meeting last week council confirmed that two centres into one cannot go.
The business will now be Napier Conferences and Events, based in the War Memorial Centre but also with its own website, linked to other venues such as the MTG, Century Theatre, the Municipal Theatre and National Aquarium.
The council is working on design concepts for the reinstatement of the War Memorial features, with the intention of having them in place by Anzac Day next year.
Wise said it was a "great step in terms of healing the wounds that had been caused when we removed the War Memorial elements from the Napier War Memorial Centre in 2016".
The War Memorial Centre website would be able to tell "the stories of our fallen heroes", the battles in which they had been involved, and the War Memorial Centre itself.
