Centre’s closure a shock to supporters

The sudden closure of the Tahunanui Community Centre because of financial problems has supporters rallying to save their local hub.

When visitors turned up to the centre on December 24, they were met with locked doors and a number of notices taped around the Muritai Street building.

The notices said a special general meeting of the centre’s board would be held at 4pm on January 7 in the neighbouring early childhood centre.

‘‘The agenda is to discuss the board’s decision to look at commencing a process to put the Tahunanui Community Centre into liquidation.’’

On Thursday the board posted a message on the centre’s Facebook page.

It said the decision to close the centre was due to ‘‘financial difficulties’’, meaning all services provided had ‘‘stopped until further notice’’.

‘‘We are in the process of contacting all stakeholders with priority being pre-school parents and volunteers.

‘‘This was an extremely difficult decision for us to come to, however we feel we have explored all possibilities to keep the Centre open, but have no avenues left open to us for funding so we need to cease trading.’’

Supporters of the centre, playgroup and preschool quickly took to social media to share the news – saddened, outraged and shocked.

The centre is a community hub for many activities and support services, including distributing food parcels, running fitness, cooking and dance classes and mums and bubs sessions.

In September last year the centre had about 10 fulltime and part-time workers.

Tahunanui Community Centre Board chair, Fiona Thomas said it had always been the intention for the centre to close over the Christmas period, from December 21 to January 14 with the preschool intended to open on January 7, but financial circumstances meant a sudden change to those plans.

She said all team members had been advised of the indefinite closure on December 21 by email and phone calls.

The board was ‘‘bound by process with how we have to proceed’’ and part of that is the meeting on January 7, she said.

‘‘Meantime, we’re looking at all the different options that may be available.

‘‘I know this was a sudden shock to the community, but we were in a position where we had to make some decisions very quickly and now we’re just trying to work through how we go forward.’’

Nelson City councillors, locals and strong supporters of the centre have been left scratching their heads, as many said they would have fronted up to help with funding if they had known.

The not-for-profit centre which runs on grants and funding is leased from the Nelson City Council.

Mitre 10 Mega Nelson revamped the centre’s playground and garden in May as part of the company’s Helping Hands Initiative.

Mitre 10 Mega marketing coordinator Murray Leaning said he only learned of the centre’s crisis after seeing it on social media.

‘‘I’ve had a couple of meetings with staff, and am meeting with the board on Monday.’’

He said he was putting together a group of people to support the board.

‘‘It’s worth saving. We believe we can give them enough support to turn it round.’’