Whangamatā Community Library

02/06/2026

OPENING DAY TOMORROW!!

Come along to our new space on the corner of Hunt Road & Port Road tomorrow from 10am.

We will be open our usual hours from tomorrow onwards. We are so excited to welcome all our local readers back and hope you’re ready to get your hands on some new reads.

See you then!

28/05/2026

UPDATE!!! 📚✨

LIBRARY RE-OPENING:
Thursday 4 June
10AM
Cnr of Port & Hunts Rd

To our wonderful community we are happy to announce the library will be reopening next week a few days later than we had hoped.

Below you will find a statement from our very busy chairperson Jacqui James. We thank everyone for your patience.

19/05/2026

We are so excited to announce that our Lego Thursdays are back starting this week!

With a change of location, Brick Club will now be held in the Scout Hall every Thursday from 3:15pm with an extended time to 4:30.

The Whangamatā Scout Hall is located 130 Lincoln Rd, at the very end facing the rugby field.

Adam our experienced builder will be there to help. Please come along and show your support to your local library. We endeavour to continue our community-led events despite our temporary status and are so thankful to Scouts for letting us use their facilities.

See you there!

13/05/2026

Exciting news for our Whangamatā community! Well done to everyone involved. 💪 📚 🥳

13/05/2026

We’re happy to announce we have secured a temporary library space, thanks to the effort & support of a lot of people . We’re working to re-open after Kings Birthday Weekend.

Thank you for your patience, we’ll look forward to seeing you soon!

CFM Local News 13-5-2026

The Whangamata Library will reopen at a temporary location after Kings Birthday Weekend. Library committee chairperson, Jacqui James, yesterday confirmed a premise on the corner of Port and Hunt Roads as the venue where library services will be provided. Jacqui said with the assistance of Coromandel Insurance Services, the local community board and district council, the library would provide a full range of services in the new location. Jacqui thanked library members and users for their patience over recent weeks and now with librarians and volunteer staff, looked forward to getting the temporary site operational.

A second attempt is being made to get member’s approval for a major redevelopment of the Pauanui Club. A 20-year strategy which involves selling sections on the club’s golf course, missed membership support earlier this year by less than 1 percent, now Board members are trying again. Club President, Bruce Patten, told us yesterday that the long-term viability of the club depended on the proposed upgrade. This time round in going to their 1500 members, the club’s board is providing significantly more information and endeavouring to achieve a greater voter turnout – up on the 30 percent who participated in the original bid. Votes can be lodged on-line or at a Special General Meeting on Kings Birthday weekend.

No word yet on the sale of Slipper Island since tenders closed last week. The 217-hectare island is being sold for the first time in over a decade, wide interest had been shown from NZ, Australia and as far afield as the United States.

While on about real estate, rents across the region continue to drop compared to 12-months ago. The Coromandel Peninsula is boasting one of the country’s cheapest average weekly rental costs being $585 – this $66 a week below the national average. The number of houses coming on to the rental market has dropped 17 percent when compared with the same period last year.

Happy Hour is back at Grace O’Malley’s Irish Inn – every Friday between 4 and 6pm.

24/04/2026

A big thank you to our local Fire brigade for helping us access our library safely. Whangamatā Community Library has been inundated with support and offers of help during this disruptive time, while our doors sadly remain closed.

UPDATE!
We are hoping to be relocated in a temporary space within the next month and will soon begin the task of removing the books, cleaning them and storing part of our collection that will not fit in our temporary library. We will reach out for assistance if it’s needed.

We really appreciate the empathy, kindness and support our local community has shown.

09/04/2026

Kia ora, Whangamatā Community Library patrons. We’re aware of an issue with our overdue email reminders, which are still being automatically sent out to some patrons despite all due dates being extended to Friday 24 April.

We’re working on getting this problem fixed; rest assured that we’ll continue extending the due date until Whangamatā Community Library is ready to reopen. In the meantime, feel free to ignore these emails.

If you have any questions about the current checkouts on your account, get in touch with our team at Thames Library – our phone number is 07 868 6616.

09/04/2026

If you’ve been receiving overdue reminders for any library books you currently have out, please read the information below ⬇️

Kia ora, Whangamatā Community Library patrons. We’re aware of an issue with our overdue email reminders, which are still being automatically sent out to some patrons despite all due dates being extended to Friday 24 April.

We’re working on getting this problem fixed; rest assured that we’ll continue extending the due date until Whangamatā Community Library is ready to reopen. In the meantime, feel free to ignore these emails.

If you have any questions about the current checkouts on your account, get in touch with our team at Thames Library – our phone number is 07 868 6616.

06/04/2026

🚨UPDATE - LIBRARY CLOSURE

Due to the ongoing leaky building issues, our library remains closed at this time.

We know this is frustrating, and we appreciate your patience while we work on a solution.

What this means for members:

✅ All library memberships will be put on hold until we reopen at our temporary location.

✅ If you have library books out, you can hold on to them for now, or return them to the council office next to the library.

What’s next:

We are actively working on securing temporary accommodation and as soon as we have confirmed details we will share them here on this page.

📢 Please watch this page for any updates. We will post as soon as we know more.

Thank you for your support, we can’t wait to welcome you back as soon as possible.

📚 Your Library Team

31/03/2026

Unfortunately this is not an April Fools joke; instead it is very true our local library has had to shut its doors following a mould toxicity test last week. We are very sad to communicate this to our members and wider community who use our library services. At present it is unclear what the future holds for our library. We can only hope you continue to give us support whilst we attempt to find a way to get the work needed to ensure our staff, and those who frequent the library return to a safe and improved facility.

Like most community organisations we run on the smell of an oily rag, so this closure has thrown up a number of issues that need navigating:
What happens next?
Where will we move to while the building is repaired?
How long will it take?
How will we pay our bills and staff?

CALL FOR NEW HOME!

With that being said we are asking for the good people of Whangamatā to help us find a temporary building for our library. Must be available for a 1-2 year period, have wheelchair access, a reasonable size and rental.

The road ahead could see some bumps as we work with TCDC to ensure a solution is found quickly. Meanwhile the library will have to remain closed. We will keep you all informed as more information comes to light.