Slimmed down Whanganui Summer Programme in January

A perennial favourite, the trip up the Waitotara Valley will feature in the 2025 Whanganui Summer Programme. Here visitors view the St Hilda in the Wood Church in 2024.

The Whanganui Summer Programme will run in January as usual but with a reduced number of events, the organising committee has decided.

A trustee, David Scoullar, said that after decades of filling the whole month, the committee has decided to have only two weeks of events for 2025.

“There are so many attractions in Whanganui at holiday time that people have a lot to choose from.

Maybe we aren’t quite as high in their expectations as we have been in the past and we have to take a close look at the way we run things,” he said.

For that reason and because the committee wants a bit of a break, the WSP will run from January 20 to February 2 and the number of out-of-town trips has been reduced to six — up the Waitotara Valley, Bridge to Nowhere, Ohakune Coach Road, Rangitikei Heritage Tour, Whanganui River Road and South Taranaki Historic.

Scoullar said the programme had taken a financial hit over the past two summers and it received no funding other than the returns on trips.

“We’ve had to dig into our reserves. Our prices are considered quite reasonable and we get good feedback but we have to be more prudent to ensure that we at least cover our costs.

We hope our website and social media will help spread the message and that we will get a strong response in 2025,” he said.

The upcoming programme will feature trips that have maintained their popularity plus local events, two evening talks and three Whanganui Regional Museum tours.

The full programme will be available from December 3 on www.whanganuisummerpro.wixsite.com when bookings will open online at www.iticket.co.nz and at the Whanganui I-site visitor centre.

The link to Summer Programme on Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/WhanganuiSummerProgramme

and the link to Summer Programme on Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/whanganuisummerprogramme/