Happy ending to Helicopter House

The Helicopter House has come to its final, happy conclusion.

Representatives from Mitre10 and the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter Trust (NMRHT) all came together one last time yesterday for the official hand-over.

After a lot of hard work from a lot of hardworking volunteers and generous donors, the project came to fruition.

The sale of the house raised $142,000 for the endowment trust, and pushed them over their goal to raise $1 million this year.

General manager of the NMRHT Paula Muddle said she was ‘‘very happy’’ with the result, and emphasised that this was a gift that would keep giving.

‘‘Since it’s going into the endowment trust, the money won’t disappear into fuel costs for the helicopters,’’ Muddle said.

The trust will be taking a break from big fundraising projects, but Muddle encouraged people to keep the helicopter trust in mind when they thought about donating.

The new owners, Dean and Emma McCashin, have until March to move the house from the Mitre10 Mega carpark, where it was built over just six weeks.

The couple decided to bid for the house because plans to build their own home kept being delayed, and the ready-made house seemed ideal, and went to a good cause.

The NMRHT endowment trust is a base fund which is invested, with 5 per cent of returns being used to help with operational costs of the helicopters and the rest being reinvested to keep the trust viable.