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Post date: May 04, 2014 8:46:57 AM
So salvation has come to St Andrews - and in many ways we were lucky that the bulk of our project has been completed before the Chch earthquake so we are ahead of the pack both in fundraising for building projects and also in now having earthquake strengthened buildings in Wellington. However my role in coordinating fundraising is not yet done - that million dollars from reserves needs to be replaced. However this past week and especially this weekend have been very much focused on enjoying the achevements. Wish Tony had been able to share more of the celebration
On Thursday night the people from the Saving St Andrews group who were available and their long suffering partners went out to dinner to celebrate. We went to Mariluca's - where you guys shouted us an anniversary dinner. The night was wonderful - but out of the 13 attending eight have been seriously ill with food poisoning over the weekend. Ironic that the celebratory dinner nearly resulted in the key players being unable to attend today. Tony is v sick today and has been bedridden (except for multiple bathroom dashes. Like Tony three or four people are saying it is one of the worst cases they have had. I appear to have been immune - insensitivity in this case being a blessing. The middle photo gives no hint of the carnage that night would unleash.
Over the ten years there has been a core group of about ten people who have worked hard, often with opposition, to complete the project. Listening to the very proud conversations over the past week that is hard to remember - this is definitely a project where success has many fathers (all own it now) Had it not worked failure would have been an orphan.
This week has been dominated by church things for me. As you probably remember as part of my church volunteer work I have been part of the group that is called "Saving St Andrews" I've only been on it for 6 years so am relative newcomer to a 10+ year project. About the time we arrived at St Andrews in Wellington the church was given a red sticker by the City Council as an earthquake prone building. It was obvious as we arrived in Wellington that there were problems. I remember our first visit - it was a wet, windy day and the first 3 rows of pews were cordoned off with buckets placed strategically under the waterfalls coming through the cracks in the roof. Anyway after ten years of hard work and raising $2.5mill the building project is now finished and today was the dedication. Total cost was $3.5mill and church has eaten into its reserves to fund the project. St Andrews is officially saved! The buildings are beautiful and practical. Heavily used not just by church but a range of music, theatre, community and commercial users. Room hire is the biggest income source for the community.
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