Youth Centre Committee Will Continue

Taupo Times, Volume XII, Issue 52, 6 July 1965, Page 1

Youth Centre Committee Will Continue

Taupo Youth Centre will continue in its efforts to raise money for the provision of a youth hall in Taupo. This was decided a special meeting of the centre, on Sunday, after an ultimatum had heen presented to associate clubs that if sufficient support for the movement was not forthcoming, the centre would he forced to go into recess. As a result of widespread advertising, 48 people were present at the meeting and 29 sent in apologies for their absence.

The centre will now attempt to raise £16,000 for the hall. Four thousand ponnds is on hand and the" centre ha,s been promised £10,000 in a Golden Kiwi grant. The estimated cost of the hall is £30,000. A section of the meeting was of the opinion that the eost of the hall could be reduced by erecting a smaller building. This was oppo*ed by the president Mr A. Armstrong, who said the Golden Kiwi grant was subject to the hall being built as proposed. Advocating that the hall remain at the size proposed, a Taupo architect, Mr E. Christie,- said that research he had made on the subject suggested that the present proposed size would be most. suitable. "The hall will have an international size indoor basketball court with seating for 700 spectators. There will be accommodation for other indoor sports, such as badminton," he said. It was thoiight by members

that the hall would be of great advantage to Taupo and would provide a source of revenue. A member, Mr J. Stanley, said there are no halls in Taupo at present that are suitable for conventions, which forces convention organisers to look elsewhere for accommodation. The meeting was preceded by an mterview on station 1ZA between the centre president, Mr A. Armstrong, the vice-presi-dent of the Taupo Indoor Basketball Association, Mr W, O'Brien, and a member of the centre, Mr O. Delany. The interviewer was the Taupo town clerk, Mr K. G. Winton. In the interview Mr Armstrong said work on building the hall could begin as soon as the centre had raised £8000. He said this would mean the floor, walls and some other parts of the structure could be erected. Mr Dawson commented on the apathy shown by businessmen of the town toward the Christmas carnivals used to raise money for the centre.

"Businessmen and the population of Taupo cried down the carnival idea and said it could not be a financial success. It was not a roaring success for making money, but we did make some," Mr Dawson said. Mr Delany was of the opinion that the public did consider the project too ambitious, but he added that there could be no knowledge of whether it would work until it had been tried. Problem(s with juvenile behaviour ceased to exist in Taupo when youth activity in the town first became jorganised, according to Mr Delany. Sergeant N. Waters started the youth club in the old court house some years ago and Taupo lads were able to learn boxing, weight lifting and other sports. Once this was started there were no cases of vandalism in the town," he said. Mr Delany said the court house proved inadequate and later thpught was given to the building of a larger hall. Mr Armstrong said the project started in 1959, but the entire fund-raising was left to the central committee with little co-operation from other sporting bodies. Mr O'Brien suggested there had been insufficient liaison between the centre and sporting bodies and he suggested that basketball players in the town were unaware that fund raising for the new hall was in progress.