Derelict hall on deathbed
A once thriving rural hall that hosted dances and social gatherings is now on its deathbed.
Broken bottles, cracked computer screens and poo-covered pianos are the only reminders of what the Ngarua Memorial Hall used to be.
Ngarua resident Laurie Belfield, 80, can recall going to the hall as a young woman, with her husband Garrie, participating in everything from cabarets to sports games.
Now a shell of what it used to be, it is an ‘‘embarrassment’’. She’s wanted it gone for years.
‘‘I passed the comment when [the committee] walked away in
2003 that we should just light a match to it,’’ Belfield told Stuff. ‘‘I should have, it’s absolutely wrecked now.’’
The building has sat vacant since Matamata-Piako District Council decommissioned it in
2007.
In 2010, a licence to occupy the building until 2015 was granted to Nou Te Rorou Trust, a charitable trust associated with Te Wharekura o Te Rau Aroha school.
The trust approached council in 2015 with an interest in securing tenure of the site to develop it further for schoolrelated purposes.
However, the tenure was declined after sample tests showed the building had potential to produce harmful toxins. There were also various electrical and fire safety issues.
Since then, the site has been vandalised and squatters have made it their own, Belfield said.
‘‘Fortunately I only go past there at night, but it’s not very nice when you meet someone and they ask where you live, you say Ngarua, and they say, by that dreadful hall.
‘‘And when we had all the overseas visitors going to Hobbiton, the tourists drive the highway and see that – it’s disgusting.’’
‘‘The hall was the hub of the district,’’ Garrie Belfield, 83, said. ‘‘If there was something down there the whole district would be there.’’
He said the hall held everything from badminton, indoor bowls and table tennis to gatherings for Federated Farmers and Young Farmers.
Laurie always imagined the hall becoming a private home after community halls became a thing of the past, but is disappointed it was neglected for so many years.
‘‘It could have, in my opinion, made a nice home,’’ Laurie said.
‘‘Someone had thought about putting a business in there, a tractor museum, but they weren’t allowed to.’’
Matamata-Piako mayor Ash Tanner said demolition of the hall has been one of those ‘‘things that has been shovelled around’’ long before he became mayor.
The building is on Crown land that is gazetted as recreation reserve, however, council held an appointment to control and manage the reserve.
‘‘I guess there was uncertainty on who had the authority to make that call,’’ Tanner said.
‘‘It had a reserve status, but because council is the management of that reserve, and it became unsafe, we did have the authority to either repair or remove it.’’
The Department of Conservation is working to dispose of the site and has indicated sale proceeds will be gifted to MPDC.
There are two adjoining parcels of land owned by MPDC and the total estimated value of the combined land is $290,000. The income from the sale of the sections may not cover costs.
Tanner said demolition will begin shortly, but will take some time due to asbestos.
‘‘It’s going, which is great. I’m not a fan of pulling down buildings but when they’re at that state, it has to go.
‘‘It was an eyesore coming into our area. When you’ve got an abandoned building covered in graffiti and boarded up windows, it’s not a good advertisement.’’
‘‘I passed the comment when [the committee] walked away in 2003 that we should just light a match to it. I should have, it’s absolutely wrecked now.’’
Laurie Belfield, above