Renovations are underway to breathe new life into Turua’s community hall, as its committee works on future-proofing the facility for another half-century.
The $1.3 million project is expected to take around 10 years to complete, and will be performed in stages as funding allows. The first step has already begun with the acquisition of a portacom to house the community library, which is currently located in the mouldy and leaking front annex of the hall.
“[It] will have air conditioning, et cetera, so that the books are actually not deteriorating,” Turua Hall committee secretary Cynthia Bates said.
“My vision is to also have a drop in centre over there that’s open during the day … And more types of activities like an after school homework club, internet, story time.”
The portacom, originally owned by Barnardos, was moved to the hall on January 6, and will be shifted into its final spot adjacent to the main building once resource consents have been approved.
It will have its own separate access on Matai St, and along with the library it will house toilets, a meeting room and Turua Hall’s Civil Defence control room.
Once the library is relocated, work can begin on the main hall. The library annex will be refurbished, reroofed, and outfitted with a toilet and kitchenette to create a self-contained space. In the main hall, the toilets will be redeveloped into unisex toilets with a shower and change area, and ranch sliders and a porch will be installed on the Matai St side of the building. The stage will be replaced with stackable risers and acoustic curtains.
A toilet will also be installed in the supper room and kitchen area, and another ranch slider installed facing the recently-replaced council playground.
At the main entrance, there are plans to replace the front meeting room with a covered area for unloading vehicles. And the building needs an external facelift, to deal with the peeling paint and broken windows.
The project is ambitious, the committee said, but much needed.
“The community use this hall. Possibly not as much as we would like, but we have a number of regular users. We also have birthday parties, funerals, weddings come through and use the hall. And with those other [community] halls shutting, it will increase the demand for us,” Cynthia said.
“There’s also a large social connection there between having a facility within your area, and wanting to be involved with that area because there are facilities for things to happen,” committee president Dave Greenslade said.
Hauraki Plains district councillor Neil Gray said the project was inspiring.
“The council is pretty supportive of the communities keeping their halls going… Some communities just can’t sustain it, and some communities like Turua are working really hard to embrace them and improve them,” he said.
“[It helps] make our communities vibrant and retain a decent population around, that’s critical.”
So far, the committee has received an $81,000 grant from Lotteries New Zealand, $5000 from Barnardos, and $6000 from the Grassroots Trust. It also has funds set aside from previous fundraising campaigns, and access to Hauraki District Council’s targeted rates for the upkeep of community halls.
The committee was also grateful for the support it has received from local businesses and community members, Cynthia said. The council donated its internal consenting costs, and building relocation company KT Cartage donated a portion of its fee to move the portacom; and local builder Roger Brocklehurst regularly volunteers his time to perform maintenance on the hall.
“We draw on [our community] quite a bit, but because we’ve got so many projects lined up one after the other, we don’t want to exhaust them. It’s sort of a very delicate balancing act,” she said.
DETAILS: To get involved with Turua Hall contact Cynthia Bates at cbates66@outlook.co.nz
