Heritage digitisation specialist Andy Fenton will discuss the preservation of local history and the work of the Preserving Local History and Educational Trust in digitising community newspapers. The talk is part of the Wellington Heritage Festival and is hosted by Porirua Libraries.

It takes place from 1pm to 2pm in the Helen Smith Community Meeting Room at Pātaka, on the corner of Norrie and Parumoana streets. The festival lists the event as accessible and free.

For Porirua, the subject has a direct connection to the Kapi-Mana News. The trust says editions from January 1967 to May 1970 are available online through its Your Stories collection, following a partnership with Porirua City Libraries and with the support of Stuff, the copyright holder.

The trust says the newspaper covered council decisions, school events, sporting results, community organisations, businesses and neighbourhood issues. It was first published in 1949 and reported on Porirua, Tawa and surrounding districts.

Fenton is the founder and chairperson of New Zealand Micrographic Services and a trustee and chairperson of the preservation trust, according to the festival. His talk will consider the risk of losing connections to the past and ways to preserve them.

The festival event listing has further details. The Kapi-Mana News collection can be explored online.

Photo: Pakoire / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.