Seats take voyage to new home
A bank of seats from Christchurch’s derelict Lancaster Park have gone on a voyage of over 1000 kilometres to their new home at a rugby club near Tauranga.
Te Puke Sports and Recreation Club enlisted 14 organisations, including Sumner Rugby Club in Christchurch and dairy company Fonterra, to help them get the 400 seats from Christchurch to Tauranga by boat.
The ports in Lyttelton and Tauranga waived their loading fees and the shipping company took them on board free of charge.
Te Puke Sports and Recreation Club president Ashley Pete said the seats were shipped on a banana boat that had unloaded its cargo in Lyttelton and then headed to Tauranga to collect the last shipment of kiwifruit of the season.
Kiwifruit marketing company Zespri helped ensure the cargo shipped for free.
The Christchurch City Council put the seats in Lancaster Park up for auction earlier this year, ahead of the earthquake-damaged facility’s planned demolition in December. Dozens of community groups bid on 21,000 of the 30,000 seats up for sale.
Pete said it was a thrill to see the Lancaster Park seats craned ashore in Tauranga on Friday morning.
‘‘It was a great morning. A lot of logistics organised by a lot of people has gone into getting them here,’’ he said.
‘‘It was great to see them. They are amazing quality seats.
‘‘The logistics of getting them up here was always going to be a problem. It all came together amazingly well.’’
He said the new seats would replace the club’s current grandstand and should be in use by the start of the season in 2019.
‘‘Our grandstand is nearing the end of its life.
‘‘We are hoping these seats will give us as much luck as it gave the Crusaders in their day.’’