After the shock closure of Rotorua Museum, which led to the loss of 20 Museum jobs, remaining staff rallied together to deliver a primary schools tournament playing the ancient Maori game, Horohopu.
Horohopu is played using poi toa, popularised around the world as fire poi but with a firm and large poi head and a meter long rope.
The object of the game is for the poi toa to be thrown from one player to the next and advance towards the scoring zone.
Rotorua Museum education coordinator Wharekahika Clarke said in a press statement "we had the tournament planned months ago, but when the Museum closed suddenly, we were left at a bit of a loss. But with a lot of work already put into it and strong interest from a number of schools, we thought let's do it."
Museum director Stewart Brown said the remaining staff had a strong feeling of togetherness and worked as a team to pull it off.
The Horohopu tournament was the culmination of a six month teaching programme based on traditional Maori games delivered by the education team at Rotorua Museum.