Wantroom Room begins next chapter
It may be small, but for the residents of Wairau Valley it was a big deal.
The Wantwood Room in Wairau Valley has officially opened on its new premises next to Wairau Valley School where it was originally located.
The opening of the ‘community room’ on the new site on Sunday was nearly five years in the making after residents battled to keep the room in the Wairau Valley School area following the Ministry of Education’s failed efforts to move it to Blenheim.
Chairperson of the group behind the battle to keep the Wantwood Room in Wairau Valley, Angela Woolf, said the facility was of huge importance to the
‘‘It’s very significant to the community, it was built in 1919 and it’s been part of the community for 98 years now so the thought of losing it to a club in town was not what we wanted for it.’’ Angela Woolf
community.
‘‘It’s very significant to the community, it was built in 1919 and it’s been part of the community for 98 years now so the thought of losing it to a club in town was not what we wanted for it,’’ she said.
Trying to save the historic room had not been easy.
‘‘It’s been a real battle.
‘‘I used to sleep quite easily but the night that we got a letter from MOE (Ministry of Education) say- ing no that’s it, I didn’t sleep the week,’’ she said.
When the Ministry of Education wanted to move the room in 2013, it was being used as a store room, but according to Woolf, the room had a colourful history.
She said the room was quite literally a dark place for some students.
‘‘An interesting thing too that I didn’t know was that [misbehaving] students were locked in the room with the light turned off.
‘‘One lady commented on the Wantwood Room [Facebook] page saying that she’s afraid of the dark now because she was locked in!’’
The room still had artefacts dating back to the mid-20th century, including a jug which was used to serve hot chocolate to keep school students warm.
‘‘I don’t know how far back it was used actually but I think it was in the 1940s or even the 30s that a teacher at a time, Mr Gifford, used to heat it up during morning tea.
‘‘We had an old lady that used to go the school and she had called in quite regularly and she remembered the hot chocolate from that,’’ Woolf said.
The grand opening of the Wantwood Room in Wairau Valley was held on Sunday afternoon.