Oh Romeo! Where to from here? | Taranaki News | Local News in Taranaki

New Zealand's only glockenspiel has been delighting tourists for the past eight years and may soon be receiving a much-needed face-lift.

Stratford Mayor Brian Jeffares received a letter from Hamish Guthrie asking council to revamp the town's glockenspiel.

He wrote...

'The glockenspiel in Stratford was a very innovative idea at the time of its inception, but now is probably a good moment for council to reassess its place in the community and explore ways to grow the original idea. As it stands - the visitors to Stratford love it, the local retailers get a bit irritated by its noise and the locals, in the main, pass it by without too much interest. It's a bit like a living fossil - we all know it's there, but we've all seen it and there's nothing new happening with the glockenspiel to recapture our interest or make us feel that it connects with our community'.

Currently, the Romeo and Juliet speech is played four times a day at 10am, 1pm, 3pm and 7pm.

Mr Guthrie suggested to council that auditions be held for the characters and each month a different pair of voices play the roles. He then suggested that a town crier be added to introduce the new voices and the sequence they would be playing.

At council's ordinary meeting held on Tuesday January 30, councillors appeared to agree with the suggestion that the glockenspiel needed a revamp. However, they were unsure of the suggested idea by Mr Guthrie.

Councillors agreed to approach the Central Taranaki Tourism Network and see if they would like to accept the project of revamping Romeo and Juliet.

Peter Mischefski, co-ordinator for CTTN, said the team is happy to help the council and have begun exploring options and costs for the revamp.