Our Speaker last Thursday was Norcombe Barker, Director and General Manager of Larnach Castle in Dunedin.  
Norcombe shared the history of Larnach Castle from initial construction up to his family taking over the, somewhat derelict, building in 1967. Since then the Barker family have strived in updating / renovating and adapting the Castle to current needs turning the building into a world-renowned destination stop as “New Zealand’s only castle”.
Many Projects have been undertaken by Norcombe and his family since 1967. The self flued Oamaru stone chimney pot upgrade works to make them seismically safe and workable and the Music room upgrade works are just two of many. However, as always, when dealing with a historical building the renovations are never straight forward and new challenges always emerge.
The focus of Norcombe’s presentation was two-fold, one to note the significant and positive changes made to Larnach Castle but also to highlight the current major challenges faced within the Tourism & hospitality markets within Dunedin and New Zealand. The Castle team continue to work through on a daily basis the current effects that the Covid-19 pandemic have left on this lynch pin sector to the New Zealand economy, Norcombe stated this year by far has been the most challenging for him, the Castle and the wider Tourism and leisure sector both domestically and worldwide.  
In these uncertain times many new initiatives to attract the domestic market to Dunedin and Larnach Castle have needed to be thought up such as the rehosting of a gala ball some 50 years after the original in 1968. This was made possible by using some historic TVNZ footage and tracking down the participants of the ball and re-inviting them to attend some 50 years later.
The same menu to that of the original ball was again used, however the time of serving the meal 50 years on differed to the original which was served at midnight and festivities went on well into the early hours of the next morning.
The second ball served the meals a lot earlier due to the guests now being in their 70’s and over, Norcombe noted Larnach Castle was about fun, laughter dance and community, this spirit of Larnach castle is best depicted by the Paul Dibble sculpture “Dancing” as depicted at night below.

Although on the most part new initiatives such as “Loyal Locals Cards’ and different service offerings within the new gift shop, such as Basalt pendants with the stone taken from the Castle site itself and the bottling of Larnach Castle whisky. These improvements have positively aided the Castles position in the short term.
The local and New Zealand domestic traveller support of Larnach Castle is much welcomed, and Norcombe noted they were encouraged that bookings of rooms and meals have remained steady with the domestic traveller market.
Unfortunately, this has not prevented very tough decisions having to be made such as losing staff and putting expansion projects, like the new office and administration block, on hold indefinitely.
Norcombe noted that Larnach Castle was “not out the woods yet” and that the upcoming summer season would be a barometer of how the future looks as no international tourists will be arriving for quite some time and this market is one which contributes significantly to the Castles year on year revenue.
In final remarks Norcombe stated that the current position for him, and many others in this sector, was about consolidation for the next year and waiting for the markets and borders to begin to open once again, when that occurs is yet to be defined.
Norcombe's presentation was followed by a question and answer session.
An excellent presentation and one thoroughly enjoyed by all attending members.