The kitchen at the Te Puru Community Centre has finally had a long-awaited facelift.
A celebration was held at the Thames Coast facility on March 12, to thank all those involved with the upgrade. The celebration marks the tail end of years of effort by the committee and community to restore and refurbish the building, after it was damaged by storms in 2008.
The hall was closed to the public in 2011, after building inspectors found significant issues with the roof structure.
The Thames-Coromandel District Council estimated at the time it would cost around $150,000 to fix. Additionally, the building needed upgrades to the exterior, drainage, kitchen and bathrooms.
The community rallied together to bring the hall back into working order, committee member Kay Steen said.
“Thanks to the generosity of the community and Placemakers, the hall was put back together better than before,” she said.
“In 2021 we made an agreement with TCDC to upgrade the toilet block and we would upgrade the kitchen. The toilet block was finished in July, 2021, so it’s taken another four years to complete the kitchen.”
The new kitchen, which cost $22,000, was funded by the hall committee. The council paid for new flooring, at a cost of $5000. Kay said the committee was excited to invite staff from Mitre10, who worked on the installation, along to the celebration.
“Julie [from Mitre10] made a comment that we couldn’t ignore. She said that of all the kitchens their department designed and ordered, they have never seen one finished,” Kay said.
“We fixed that and invited Julie, Mandy and Jason to join us in an afternoon tea and have a look at what they helped to create.”
