Upper Takaka Country Club
Deputy chairman of the Upper Takaka Country Club Richard Baker, club manager Merle Sulman and Upper Takaka stalwart Ken Sulman at the hall. “Upper Takaka really needs this hall,” says Richard. Photo: Neil Wilson.
The historic Upper Takaka Hall has had a facelift, and locals are looking forward to using the community facility more often and more comfortably.
Thanks to generous grants from the New Zealand Lotteries Commission and the Tasman District Council, the hall that houses the Upper Takaka Country Club now has new heat pumps, ceiling and underfloor insulation, new lino in the kitchen, new windows and mouseproof kitchen drawers and cupboards. The building has also been reclad and had its exterior woodwork painted.
“The place was starting to look a bit dowdy and even neglected,” said hall committee treasurer Ken Suhlman. “Over the last four or five years we’ve done a lot of work, and now it’s really looking good. The corrugated iron on the exterior has been replaced with Coloursteel and the improvements inside - like the new thermal drapes - mean the hall will be able to be used more comfortably, especially in the winter.”
The hall was first mooted in 1919, when the Harwood family provided a section of land for the purpose. After a couple of false starts, a hall was eventually built over a seven-day period in 1937.
Local historian Mac Harwood says that the hall was well used during World War Two for patriotic dances, home guard practice and flower shows. The supper room was also a standby classroom for the Upper Takaka School. The hall was also the home of Upper Takaka’s library for a while during and after the war.
According to Mac, people used the hall less frequently during the 1950s so the community decided to re-line the walls and ceilings. In the 1960s a lotteries grant assisted the committee to extend the hall and install a septic tank and flush toilets.
The kitchen was modernised in the 1980s with the help of a state electricity grant, and the next major development occurred after the adjacent Rat Trap hotel burned down in 1994.
“Everyone was having to go into town for a beer. We decided to form the club so that they could have a beer close to home and we’d know where they were,” said Ken Suhlman.
“The club is an incorporated society and it maintains the hall for the community. It’s part of the nationwide chain of Clubs New Zealand. There are over 300 clubs all over the country and belonging at Upper Takaka means you can go and visit any of them.”
These days the hall is used for a range of community events: 21st and 40th birthdays, a polling booth, catering for stock sales and the annual pig and deer-hunting competitions. The club is open every Friday and Saturday night and, on the first Friday of every month, Merle Suhlman puts on dinner for whoever turns up.
“We had 40 here last time. I never know how many I’m going to get until they turn up on the night, so it’s a bit tricky. We have the bar open and I run a raffle to help to subsidise the children’s Christmas party at the end of the year.”
The hall renovations mean that the people in and around Upper Takaka can continue to enjoy their priceless piece of community infrastructure for many years to come.
Neil Wilson
