Exciting new Museum treasures & stories

Recently I got to meet Sir Richard Taylor, CEO of Weta Workshop and creative genius who was part of the team that helped  bring Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to life on the movie screen. I’m still feeling starstruck!

Yeah, a legend! But so much more and really nice as well.

This meeting came about because my good friend Jack, who’s also president of the Wellington branch of the Tolkien Society (Welly-moot), bumped into Richard last year at a showing of the extended trilogy at the Roxy Cinema in Miramar Wellington.

Jack told Richard that there is a LOTR museum in Wellington – The One Room Fan Museum – which is by and for fans.

Richard asked Jack to email him, as he may have some items to share with the Museum on loan …

Cue to Covid-19 and everything gets put on hold.

But then, Jack and I (plus Alex and Pete, our beloveds) take up the invitation to visit Weta Workshop after work to meet up with Richard – and to look at and hear stories about some items.

I’m so nervous that I can hardly think straight.

It’s brilliant. Richard is as much of a geek as us (apologies Richard). We love the stories about items made over 20 years ago for these movies. Small items, with significance only for those utterly in love with Tolkien and the NZ-made movies. Actually, with ENORMOUS significance, precious even!

At the end … “Do you want to hold an Oscar?”  Do I???

Some selfies and some treasures on loan to keep safely in the Museum to share carefully with visiting fans.

I can’t tell the stories as well as you Richard, but I hope I can convey something of your love of their creation and the people who made them; something of the excitement of that time so many years ago; something of the importance of keeping those memories alive even as you must keep moving on to other exciting projects.

Fellow LOTR fans, from tomorrow, when the Museum is opens again as most of NZ moves to Covid Alert Level 1, we will be able to enjoy these treasures and the memories. Till then, best wishes, Kathy xx