Newspaper Article 1988 – School hall’s journey from forest

School hall’s journey from forest

Raureka School’s new hall arrived yesterday morning to a loud, spontaneous cheer from pupils.

The school, opened in 1914, has a hall for the first time with the former Kaweka forest headquarters social hall transported to the school grounds and placed on its new site. The hall will need some renovations, alterations and connection to services.

The 12-year-old building will become an important asset for the school’s 75th jubilee celebrations in February next year.

Shifting the building from the Kaweka forest headquarters yesterday was part of an $80,000 project to provide the school with a hall.

Raureka school committee chairman, Mr John Springford, said a new hall, although larger than the one bought by tender from Kaweka, had been estimated to cost $250,000. The cost was beyond the grasp of the school and the community to finance.

The school had earlier been negotiating the purchase of a Catholic Church hall in Florence St which has since gone to another church.

The search continued and the school lodged a tender of just over $10,000 for the Kaweka hall, which was considered superfluous to requirements with the trimming last year of forestry staffing levels.

The shift cost about $20,000 and the trouble-free journey took less than six hours.

Mr Springford said fundraising had begun about 2½ years ago and with a total of $80,000 available, including a $20,000 grant from the New Zealand Lottery Board and a similar amount from the Education Department, an extension would be built at one end of the hall.

The other $40,000 had been raised by the school and the community, with the hall to become available for organisations wishing to use it. Mr Springford said Raureka, which has a roll of 360, was one of the few big schools in Hastings without a hall.

The school has also gained a new unit to cater for 12 handicapped pupils.

The unit is expected to open by the end of this month for a settling-in period before the end of the school year.

Photo caption – Raureka School’s new hall, a 6.4-metre-high load, crosses the Ngaruroro River at Fernhill on its journey from Kaweka forest to its new site yesterday.