According to Councillor Alister James, chairman of the CCC’s Annual Plan Subcommittee, community support for the hall renovations and extensions made a difference when his colleagues sat to consider the budget and plans for the next year. The Council received more than 60 submissions in support of speeding up the project.

“This extra money means that work can now start and the total upgrade’s likely to be finished this financial year,”Cr James says. That news delights Kim Money, one of four women who have been working for 30 months to convince anyone who would listen that their part of the city needs a useful community centre and that the old hall on the beach could be a real asset for many years in the future.

“You know, the Council doesn’t get many pats on the back, but they deserve it,” Mrs Money says. “The Burwood-Pegasus Community Board and the staff there really supported us. We’re absolutely delighted that the Council’s recognised a community development project that started from the community itself and which will really add something, as well as preserving a unique city asset on the beach.”

Mrs Money, along with Merekaraka Vicki Tawa, Katrina Hill and Alice Tickell formed Community Connection Nga Ngaru Trust as a focus for their plans for the old brick building on the beach opposite Bowhill Road. They and other volunteers worked to spread the message, find out what local people wanted and develop plans that were realistic and had widespread support. “Nga Ngaru means The Waves and we named it Community Connection because that’s what it will do when the hall’s done up.

“We’ve put together a management and business plan that would see this place being used for sports, recreation and other meetings as well as having space for a cafe and youth venue and a little movie theatre and providing a base for our Healthy School Lunch project. It’s going to be great.”