Remuera's beautiful church will get a makeover. Joseph Barratt reports
Heavens above. At Remuera's Catholic Church, it's more likely to be chunks of falling chunks of masonry until major renovations are completed. Viv Coombe has been going to St Michael's all her life. They're almost the same age it's four years
older than her. She was married there 50 years ago and all her 14 children went to the primary school next door. Now, after a long history of serving its community, the architecturally impressive church is long overdue for an upgrade. "There are so many happy memories there," Mrs Coombe says. "I am so happy it will be restored." The church was started in the late 1920s, during the Depression, providing income for dozens of Auckland families. In its early days, when finances were stretched, orders came from the top to keep working because it would provide employment in the area. Sand was carted from St Heliers Bay and used for the mortar and the building was completed in 1933. But the high salt content in the sand is rusting the reinforcing steel in the roof and chunks of tiling are falling. No one has been hit but it has certainly given urgency to the project. Father Brian Arahill, the parish priest, says that apart from the danger of pieces falling from the roof, "it is only a matter of time before rain starts coming in". Plans have been drawn up to repair the roof, strengthen the building and carry out maintenance work on the stained-glass. "We also need to do some seismic strengthening because the building code in 1932 was not nearly as stringent as it is now," Father Brian says. "It is a magnificent building, we need to keep it like this." The church is used by more than 600 worshippers every week and plays an important part in the community, which has contributed to the work. One former resident is so enamoured with the church that he made an anonymous donation of $50,000. Work is expected to cost more than $690,000. The Lotteries Commission has contributed $250,000 and the ASB Community Trust $200,000.
