Search Results

Using money raised by the Wine and Food Harvest Festival, we funded the scholarship up to $5,000 which enabled a young winemaker from the Alexandra-Clyde basin to study in France. Two winemakers were assisted, and we have now entered a partnership with the Central Otago Winegrowers Association to help financially support a recipient or recipients selected for the exchange programme to study the wine industry in Burgundy, France. Central Otago Burgundy Exchange stagiaires (interns) are en route to Burgundy for vintage 2022. We are thrilled to be sending James Dobbs (Rippon), Rochelle Young (Prophet’s Rock), Molly Hermann (Felton Road), Tiffany Da Silva (Peregrine Wines) and Ben Leen (Amisfield). Also joining the crew is Rosa Cockburn from Lapis Lazuli Vineyard. Rosa Cockburn hopes to gain a deeper understanding of Burgundy’s winemaking traditions. “The exchange offers us a rare and intimate insight into a winemaking region that is so steeped in culture and history. For wine fanatics such as us, Burgundy is exciting to dream about, let alone spend 5 weeks meeting iconic figures in the region and experiencing their vintage first-hand.” The Central Otago Burgundy Exchange was established in 2006. The exchange is up to six weeks long, with the stagiaires spending their first week training at the Centre de Formation Professionelle et de Promotion Agricole (CFPPA) in Beaune, before spending weeks 2 - 5 on placement at their respective Domaines. Sincere thanks to exchange partners: Mosaique Bourgogne International, Centre de Formation Professionelle et de Promotion Agricole (CFPPA), Otago Polytechnic Central Campus, Tonnellerie Cadus and Promote Dunstan for their support

A donation of $2000 was made for 12-year-old Jack Farrell and McLean Family to run a Light Festival in the Packing House grounds in July 2020.

Two large signs have been stalled promoting historic Clyde on either side of the highway entrances to the village. An information panel was placed at the lookout above Clyde. A large information sign and map installed outside the Blyth St museum. A sign for the Stamper Battery in the grounds of the Briar Herb Museum was installed in 2023. A welcome to Clyde sign was set up in 2024 near the Clyde War Memorial. Two Welcome to Clyde signs off the main highway at two entrances to Clyde were furbished in 2023.

Bronze Plaques: To add to the value of Clyde’s historic walk, we funded small bronze discs which were set in the pavements of Clyde as a guide to the Walk Around Clyde trail. In 2014 we embarked on our “Footprints In Time” project where 20 bronze plaques, at a cost of $400 each, were compiled and funded by Promote Dunstan. The plaques commemorate notable early and recent residents who have made a contribution to Clyde and were laid in the pavements in the historic precinct. A further plaque listing the Mayors of Clyde and another plaque listing the early Masters of Lodge Dunstan were installed in 2015. Plaques of prominent citizens, Anthony Brough, Charles Attfield and Thomas Bell were added in 2019.

The restoration of the 1907 Clyde Railway Station has been on Promote Dunstan’s agenda since 2005. The group contributed $5,000 towards the conservation plan and a further $22,000 to the $90,000 required for the actual work. The group organised an official opening of the station in October 2015 and funded an afternoon tea for residents and invited guests. We have since funded displays in the building’s railway museum including a large model of the station and surrounds. In September 2022 four giant panels giving the history of the Otago Central Railway were hung in the museum and a large banner for use when the station is open was also commissioned. Currently we are awaiting details about the restoration/strengthening of the station chimneys.

Supported the campaign to keep the 1877 Anglican church as a community asset by organising a public meeting in Clyde to gain support for a community project from which was formed the Friends of St Michael’s Charitable Trust. Promote Dunstan paid for a valuation of the property and the printing of a pamphlet on the history of the church. Unfortunately, Dunstan parish chose to put it up for tender and it was sold in 2021 to support its ministry in Alexandra)

We have provided financial help to the Lodge to maintain and improve the lodge building which is one of Clyde’s major heritage buildings.

This was one of our community projects where we decided to sponsor the painting of murals on either side of the underpass with railway and rail trail cycle themes. We commissioned local artist, Bruce Potter to design and paint the murals at a cost of $40,000. The underpass was officially opened in August, 2019.

We worked with a local historian (Wayne Stark) and the District council by giving financial help to restore several nineteenth century graves. We also funded an information sign listing the occupants of the cemetery.

We have been installing large information boards to complement our Dunstan Heritage Self-Drive brochure. The first of 12 was installed at the old Alexandra Bridge in April, 2015 followed by Clyde Cemetery (May 2015), the irrigation steps at Brandy Hill, Clyde township (September, 2015), Galloway Station and Chatto Creek (September, 2016), Omakau, Lauder, Drybread (2019) (February 2020, Matakanui (February 2020), and the final panel at Becks was installed in October 2022.

One of Promote Dunstan's on-going projects is to gather together a 'record in time' of the Dunstan. This involves collecting together pictures, video clips and sound clips relating to our area. Record-In-Time was a major commitment. We purchased an audio kiosk and one of our members spent thousands of hours compiling material and installing the programme to run it. It contains historic and modern photographs of Clyde and its residents as well as audio of people telling their stories. We are now looking at updating machinery and hope to install new machinery to operate the Record-In-Time which is a popular exhibit at the Clyde museum. We look forward to generating a collection of photographs from each of the decades since photographs were first taken in the area. The Central Stories Museum has already made a number available and these can be seen at our Heritage Gallery. We also seek to collect together interesting oral histories from those in the area who can talk about times gone by, reminding us of our colourful heritage. We'd also like to gather together video clips relevant to the area. We intend to make all of our collection available both on-line (via this web site) and as a CD / DVD which interested people may access. Can you help? Do you have old photographs which you'd be happy to allow us to display here? * Note that the images here will be relatively low resolution and not particularly suitable for downloading and printing. If you wished to access high resolution copies then they would be possibly available from their owners and sometimes there would be a charge involved. Shown below are a few photographs supplied by Sally Bell (nee Chandler).