Bulls Museum curator Kevin Ellery looks forward to moving the Chris Amon exhibits to the new Memorial Building in the town's former library. Photo / Bevan Conley
Bulls Museum curator Kevin Ellery looks forward to moving the Chris Amon exhibits to the new Memorial Building in the town's former library. Photo / Bevan Conley
The dedicated team of volunteers who run Bulls Museum has welcomed more than 1300 visitors through its doors this year.
It has been a great start for Kevin Ellery and the other members of the Bulls & Districts Historical Society, who run the museum on little more than dedication and a shoestring budget.
“We have a lot going on right now, and we’re looking forward to the refurbishment of the former library along the street, which is to become the Memorial Building,” Ellery said.
“The outside has been generously painted by local contractor Allan Barnes with paint donated by Dulux.”
The building will provide a venue for featured displays from the museum collection, and the first will be about Bulls-born, internationally-renowned Formula 1 racing driver Chris Amon, who died in 2016.
Ellery, who was a friend and neighbour of Amon in Scotts Ferry for many years, said it would be exciting to display the many items of Amon memorabilia in the new setting.
“A bronze statue has been commissioned, and we’re about halfway towards raising the $50,000 needed for the project.”
Sales of homemade preserves and knitted garments on display in the foyer are helping to fund the Chris Amon project.
The Chris Amon exhibits in the Bulls Museum will be the first to feature in the Memorial Building situated in the former library. Photo / Bevan Conley
Alongside the Amon display in the Bulls Museum is one dedicated to the war horse Bess, who served with the Wellington Mounted Rifles in World War I and returned to live and work at the Flock House agricultural college farm on Forest Rd until she died in 1934 at the age of 24.
The horse’s owner, Colonel Charles Guy Powles, erected a cairn in her memory there. It has become a shrine to all the horses and other animals that have served New Zealand during armed conflicts. Bess was one of only four horses to return home after World War I.
The museum display includes the posthumous Blue Cross Medal awarded to Bess in 2020 by the Australian War Animal Organisation.
A service is held at the memorial in Bulls every Anzac Day, and Ellery said some special visitors would travel up from the South Island this year.
“A group of eight soldiers and horses from the Canterbury Mounted Rifles will be making the trip up to attend some services, and they especially want to attend the Bess service,” he said.
The Historical Society lost one of its stalwart volunteers in February.
Vera Hunt, who farmed in Rongotea with her husband Robin for 60 years, was the author of several local history books and had been working on a history of the Scott family, of whom she was a descendant.
“She was a valuable member of our society and did great work for a number of organisations in the region,” Ellery said.
The museum held its annual general meeting earlier this month, and the visitor numbers were cause for celebration after the disruptions in recent years.
The museum proudly promotes itself as “the little museum that punches above its weight”, and Ellery said it looked as though 2023 would be a great year for living up to the slogan.
Anyone wishing to contribute to the Chris Amon project or find out more about it can contact the museum via email at bulls.museum@gmail.com or call 021 105 1327.
The Bulls Museum at 81 High St is open every day from 11am until 2pm.
