By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA and ALICE PARMINTER
“I was sitting in the middle of the church and the sound was just coming over my head.”
Kerry Doherty recalls a young girl who sang at a funeral a month or so ago at the St James Church in Thames, on the corner of Pahau and Pollen Sts.
“There was no music accompaniments, just her singing. [It would] just about bring you to tears the beauty of the voice travelling through the church.”
The acoustics is one reason the preservation of the historic building is important to him.
The late-Victorian Gothic building is in urgent need of repair on its deteriorating exterior, for rotting timber, crumbling concrete, and eroding paint.
Kerry, who is chair of the Thames Union Parish Council which administers the building, said the damage was extensive.
Just the first stage of repairs, which would cover the Pollen St-facing side of the church and the 60-foot tower, will cost nearly $250,000.
“I know it’s a lot of money but it is history that we don’t want to lose. I just feel that the town, even if it is only a little amount they give, will be an enormous [help] for us to get it all done. I hate asking people for money, but without their support, I am just depending on out of town groups to help us.”
Kerry said the repairs would extend the life of the church for another 100 years.
“I put [it] to our parish council meeting in September last year that if we don’t do something we’re going to lose it.”
The parish planned to break down the repair work over three years to make it “less stressful”, especially on the fundraising side of things.
“If we can do it in bites, I feel confident that it would go ahead,” he said.
The second and third stages of repair will include the exterior of the building’s north and south walls, followed by the west wall.
The native timber interior and the building’s roof are still in excellent condition and will not be part of the repair work.
The group has already raised $109,000 for the first stage of repairs, but Kerry said they needed to find another $136,000 before September 10 to ensure the first stage could go ahead without delays.
Fundraising began last year, with the church selling food at the Thames Markets, and gold remembrance plaques for the church pews.
“We are selling those at $1000 each. We have quite a number of those already. That will just carry on as a fundraiser.”
The church also hired out the attached church hall as a venue, Kerry said.
“I still admire the workmanship that’s in the building and it’s an icon for the town really. If nothing is done to improve it, it will eventually just rot away,” Kerry said.
“I just would be gutted as an old fella in town to see it just go and if we don’t do it this time it won’t be done.”
DETAILS: To support the Thames Union Parish fundraiser, please contact Kerry Doherty on 027 938 2383.
