Garage sale moves a Bellyful

A garage sale on the weekend cleared out Napier's Hinepare Accommodation Centre as furniture and other items which have been in the building since it opened as a hospital nurses' home almost 60 years ago were sold.

The four-storey building which hosted seasonal workers, backpackers and other guests was found to be a potential earthquake risk and forced those living there to vacate.

Former Napier Hospital orderly Dr Russell Farquhar helped out at the garage sale and said it was a very difficult thing to see the old hospital buildings no longer in use.

"It was a very good facility - I have more of an emotional attachment not so much to the buildings but to the people I worked with on something as good as that hospital was."

Items that sold at Saturday's sale, included a 12-ring stove and other kitchenware, 40 rimu dressing tables, mirrors and drawers, tables, chairs, bunks, pillows and linen.

Volunteer family support agency Bellyful provided staff to help set up the garage sale, and Maori Wardens also helped.

The building had 86 rooms, and at its peak as a workers' hostel it housed about 120 people.

It had 25 permanent guests, who had to find alternative accommodation when it closed.

Part of the proceeds will go to the Bellyful, which provides meal services to mainly young mums or families in distress or affected by illness.