Many Hands Helped To Build New Hall

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 49, 24 June 1965, Page 12

Many Hands Helped To

Build New Hall

The St. PauFs Presbyterian Parish Church, Taupo, has, over the past five years, been drawn tightly together in the common cause of providing new facilities in Taupo where its members can worship or congregate for social activities. On Saturday, the parish will see the results of its work when the new church hall is opened by the Rev. H. B. Burnett, who will attend the function from Tauranga.

The idea for the hall, of which stage oue has been completed, was provoked by the rising nnmber of people in the parish and the resulting crowded conditions experienced in the church building.

The congregation was beginning to tax the seating capacity of the church and junior groups, two or more of which used the church for meetings at the same time, found the conditions were not conducive to concentration.

Sometimes the Sunday school groups represented more than 100 children, which made the work of separating them into various grades a difficult task. The minister, the Rev, N. R. Martin, said matters were getting to the desperate stage when a curtain was '

brought into use to divide the classes. Plans for the £7627 first stage of the U-shaped building were started after 50 per cent. of the total amount had been raised by the parishioners. The appeal for this sum went out to members in 1962. It asked them to make spot donation or successive donations over a period.

Everyone too.k part in the project and extra money was raised by holding stalls fairs and other activities. Actual building began in July last year and before long the distinctive portal arch was a source of interest to passersby. It looked like an inverted boat, but in the finished building it was to create an attractive sweeping curve across the interior of the hall.

The need for extra {space for the congregation became more pressing k>ng before the hall was finished. Uast Decemher, the church was planning its annual Christmas pagj eant and it was suggetsted | the new hall would he the ideal place to liold it. Through the co-operation of the builder, Mr W. A. Service, the work was completed on time and the building was duly nsed by members of the congrega- 1 tion. Finishing work on the hall was mostly done by yoluntary labour which began at the start of the New Year. Every Saturday since that time, male parishioners arrived at the hall dressed in working clothes prepared to wield a paint brush or a hammer.

j Some contractors even Igave their services free of I charg'e by assisting with the interior decorating. The electrical wiring of the building was done by voluntary labour. Many of the fittings were placed in the hall immediately after its completion.

Some of these were available through the moneyraising projects conducted by the Association of Presbyterian women, who were responsible for outfitting the kitchen with modern I equipment.

While scaffolding still lined the walls of the hall, it was being used for' teaching Sunday school. A Bible class dance has also been held to raise money for the provision of electric heaters.

In its completed form, the main hall is light-coloured, spacious in design and contains at one end a large stage with dressing rooms beneath. The dressing rooms are sufficiently big to provide an extra classroom when needed.

The building will be used exclusively for Christian education and fellowship gatherings of the church. This will mean it will be available for Boys' Brigade, Life Boys, indoor bowls, in-ter-church uses, women's fellowship and the usual religious activities on Sundays. Outside, the hall is built in concrete blocks with veneer finish and wood sheathing. It makes the nearby 50-year-old church look a little dowdy, but the parish realises this, and the long process of money-raising, will continue until there is sufficient finance to build a inew church on the property j as well as an additional | six classrooms, a. lounge j and a kindergarten for 60 j children.