2018 AGM - Resume and Presidents Report

Resume of Wainuiomata Pioneer Church Preservation Society AGM

The AGM of the Society was held at the Church on 10 June 2018, attended by approximately 18 members.   The following are the elected officers for the 2018-2019 year:

Patron.         Mayor Ray Wallace

Auditor.        Lorraine Collins

President:     Christine Parker

Secretary:     Vicky alexander

Treasurer:     Andrea Lister

Committee.   Margaret Kinsey

                      Linda Grime

                       Hellen Valster

                      Joyce Lockyer

PRESIDENTS REPORT

 presented to the

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

10 June 2018     

Our activities have been somewhat quieter this year as the focus of the committee has been almost entirely on our replacement Vestry.

In my last report I mentioned that we were about to replace the paths surrounding the Church thanks to a Grant received from First Sovereign Trust and assistance for the Hutt City Council and this contract was carried out not long after.  We were delighted with the result and are still receiving compliments from the community as to how good these look.   

As you all can see today the replacement Vestry is finally underway and progress since the builder started has been good.   I intend to elaborate the full saga of the past 18 months under general business so will just briefly cover this rebuild in this report.    

After initial plans were discussed and drawn up it was realised that we would still be faced with an inadequate storage area.  Our architect suggested a shed which is a replica of the Church (similar to what they have at Christ's Church in Taita) and we decided that we would go with that option.  Also at that time it was thought that we would have to have a large water storage tank for the fire sprinkler system in the same area and the shed would hide this eyesore, (thankfully due to the installation of a new larger water toby at the boundary there is no longer a need for this tank).    

The final plans were then drawn up for both the Vestry and the shed and subject to many frustrations, delays and unexpected additional costs we finally got building consent some months ago.    We were then faced with the daunting task of finding a builder who would even consider undertaking this job.   As you all probably know, with the housing crisis, builders and other subcontractors are all frantically busy as this time.  We were therefore extremely fortunate thanks to a suggestion and recommendation by one of our members, to obtain the services of the builder we have, Ash Sparks Ltd which has brought us to where we are today.  

We appointed our committee member Chris Parker to be Project Manager for this job and she, assisted by her husband Laurie, have worked tirelessly to ensure we get the best possible outcome for the Church from this (now) major renovation.

In 2017 we were very fortunate to obtain a grant from Lotteries Commission for some of the costs involved in this rebuild and with this, the fundraising your committee has been doing for the past two years, a generous bequest from Mrs Joan Griffin, and of course the donations which have come from many members since our last newsletter, which mentioned a probable shortfall in our funds, means we should just scrape through with the Vestry rebuild and Shed.    

It does mean however that the installation of the fire sprinkler system will probably not be able to be carried out during this latest construction, however all the plumbing for it will be done at this time and the sprinkler system will be installed as soon as funds permit thereafter.

Our current paid members total 51 full and 18 honorary members and it has been very helpful that membership fees have come in very promptly this year.

Once again our main fundraiser was the Tuff Guy Challenge which saw us provide almost 100 Marshalls over the three-day event.  We are again extremely grateful to our many willing volunteers who year after year come forward to help with this event.   Also our co-ordinator Christine Parker who does a fantastic job every year. 

We do have ongoing fundraising plans for the future, one of course will be the official opening of our Vestry, plus a possible Quiz Night at the Tennis Club a Garden Tour of Wainuiomata gardens, plus any others we can dream up.

We have only had three weddings in the past year, one memorial service, and one naming ceremony.  We have held two Concerts performed by the Wainuiomata Country & Western Club, our usual Carol singing night, and an Easter Sunday hymn service, all of which were very well patronised and enjoyed.

The book "Our Buried History" written by our member Colleen Hira which was launched at our Jubilee continues to sell and we have sold another two copies in recent weeks.  We are hopeful that a weekly column we are writing for the local paper on Wainuiomata pioneers will generate some further sales.

Our Facebook page continues to give us good exposure as does our web page.

Our thanks to the Wainuiomata Gardeners' Club for the tending of our flower beds and to our dedicated Grave Carers for their work on their "adopted" graves.

In closing as always my very sincere thanks to our small but dedicated committee who work tirelessly to ensure that the Church which is so dear to all of us remains in the best possible condition.