Why a rural community is fighting to save its hall

Saturday, 10 February 2024

A rural community is fighting to save the Yaldhurst Memorial Hall. From left: John Chappell, Sue Chappell, Mike Mora, Christine Mortimer, Sara Harnett-Kikstra, Chris Wood, Michelle Clark, Veronica Moore, Alan Wright and Arlene Wright.

Tall weeds grow in the cracked concrete car park, and the windows and doors are sealed with wooden boards.

But the rural community that built the Yaldhurst Memorial Hall is willing to put its reputation on the line to save it, and is asking residents across Christchurch for their faith.

The Yaldhurst Rural Residents Association wants to buy the 69-year-old building and war memorial from the city council for $1 and save it from demolition by returning it to its former glory.

Its members argue the hall is not just an old building, but the centrepiece of a rural community that no longer has a place to meet.

Inside the Yaldhurst Memorial Hall in 1993. Michelle Clark says the hall is like a time capsule.

The Christchurch City Council owns the hall, but closed it after the 2010-11 Canterbury earthquakes due to safety concerns.

Sue Chappell, who was born the same month the hall was built, in December 1954, said it had remained at the heart of the rural community until it closed.

It was where locals celebrated milestone birthdays and held big events, like family reunions and wedding receptions, she said.

The local school held its concerts in the large room, while the smaller rooms at the back were where industry and social groups like Young Farmers had regular meetings.

The Yaldhurst roll of honour, kept inside the Yaldhurst Memorial Hall. It remembers the the locals who served in World War I and World War II.

To Chappell and her brother John Chappell - whose family has lived in the area for a century - the hall was extra special.

Their dad fought in World War II. Once home, he helped raise funds for the hall by farming potatoes. Other residents donated the proceeds of selling livestock, or in one case sold entries to a ploughing competition hosted on their property.

John Chappell remembered going to the hall as a child with his father, where they’d put the flag at half mast for Anzac Day.

He said for decades it was the locals who organised volunteer cleaners and caretakers for the building, though that changed more recently - he couldn’t remember when exactly - when the city council decided it should be in charge of bookings.

John Chappell says locals volunteered their time to take care of the hall for decades, but more recently the council had taken charge.

Although the city council owned it, the community raised the money to build it and donated the land.

It was built as part of a scheme where central Government pledged to match every dollar raised by communities for living war memorials.

A condition of the scheme - from which 320 halls were built across Aotearoa - was that the community would hand ownership over to the local territorial authority for safeguarding.

Michelle Clark, from the Yaldhurst Rural Residents Association, was confident local residents had the skills and motivation to restore the hall in a cost effective way.

The association disputed the council’s two engineer reports and cost estimate of $2.3 million to get the hall earthquake strengthened and up to building code.

Clark and her business partner, property developer Sean Dixon, said the council’s estimates included work like installing double glazed windows, which they thought was unnecessary.

For the Chappells, saving the hall is personal. Their dad’s name is on the roll of honour, as one of the locals who fought in World War II.

As the hall has interim heritage protection, they were focused on restoring what was already there, and thought it would cost less than $600,000 to make it safe to use.

They also believed its heritage value could be profitable, as it could attract film-makers.

“When you walk inside, it’s like a time capsule,” Clark said.

Arlene Wright, who is in her 80s, remembered when Yaldhurst was almost entirely farmland, and the go-to place for gatherings was a tennis club or somewhere closer to Christchurch city.

When the hall opened, it brought music and entertainment to the community. There was a big dance every Saturday night, she said.

Her husband, Alan Wright, 90, did not think he’d be alive to see the hall returned to its former glory, but supported the effort because he remembered how hard people worked to build it in the first place.

“It’s not [the council’s] building to pull down,” he said.

The council considered demolishing the hall (but keeping the site and plaques for a memorial) in 2017. The Yaldhurst Rural Residents Association fought back at every turn, with a campaign originally led by Dennis Thompson and Mike Mora.

City council staff remained unconvinced the association would get the funding necessary to manage the work required, but thought there was value in letting them try.

There would be conditions, including a time limit and safety standards - or the hall would have to be returned to the council - but those details won’t be decided until after the public has had their say through the draft long-term plan in March.