East Takaka church celebrates 140th anniversary
Trustee Tony Lindsay holds the 140-year-old nails and order of service for this weekend’s commemoration. Photo: Neil Wilson.
The church at East Takaka celebrates its 140th birthday with a church service and get-together this weekend.
Trustee Tony Lindsay explained that although the church is no longer used on a regular basis, people still like to get married there.
"The Anglicans and Presbyterians used to have once-a-month services there and we'll be reviving that tradition this weekend to mark the anniversary. The churchyard's also a cemetery, so that places serious responsibilities on the trustees," said Tony. "We're only the guardians of the place for future generations. One of our goals is to organise some kind of plaques or other form of marking for the 50 or 60 unmarked graves that are there."
The original minute book was destroyed by fire but the trustees have placed the church records, going back to 1875, in the archive at the Golden Bay Museum.
"Jane McDonald at the museum has beautiful handwriting and she's writing up the minutes of our modern-day meetings for us, said Tony. "Future generations will be grateful for that, I'm sure. I was thinking that when I was born in 1938, the East Takaka church was already 70 years old. That's how old I am now. It's a link back to our pioneering past and we've got to look after it."
Tony said, "The church is in good nick. Frank Byrne has been up there and replaced some boards. I've saved the nails that came out and put them in the museum. They're in remarkably good order for their age."
There will be a cup of tea and a walk around at the church at 2pm on Saturday, said Tony. "Some of us are dressing up in period costume.Then the celebration service is at 11am on Sunday. It will be a great way to mark a significant anniversary."
Neil Wilson
