Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Surf Club established by volunteers to be demolished after 40 years' service

By Alison Smith
NZ Herald·
26 Jan, 2022 02:38 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Barry MacCulloch and Tony Cheetham on the Tairua Surf Club site where the original club is about to be demolished. Photo / Alison Smith

Barry MacCulloch and Tony Cheetham on the Tairua Surf Club site where the original club is about to be demolished. Photo / Alison Smith

A "significant new chapter" in the history of Tairua's Surf Club is unfolding with the demolition of the old clubhouse to be replaced with a brand new building.

Tairua Surf Lifesaving Club was among recipients in 2020 of the Government's "shovel-ready" funding pool announced that year.

A combined $1.7 million was tagged for surf club upgrades in the region. With the consenting process faced for the replacement of the club on beachfront council land, it has taken until now for the project to get across the line.

A barbecue is being hosted on Saturday at which the people who originally founded the club, including Tairua surfer Barry MacCulloch, are among those planning to be there.

He met with members of the Tairua Surf Lifesaving Club and was able to fill in the history of the early years, including highlighting the importance of some historic treasures such as an original surf rescue board built by Whangamatā shaper Paul Shanks.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The old building was a bach from around the Pepe that we bought for $4000," says Barry. "It came with everything including knives, forks and spoons in the drawers."

The club and the local boardriders are working together treasure-hunting for memorabilia from those early days. Some of this is historically and sentimentally important to the founders of the original club, who were the local boardriders, Barry says.

Work was done on the building and surfers built a deck off the front, a well-worn deck that has stood the test of time and is going to stay when the new building arrives.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The new build will remain single storey and on the same footprint but includes areas for guards to be out of site and off the deck when not on duty.

Tairua SLSC President Tony Cheetham said the old building contained asbestos, and the project has involved several hurdles for the SLSC to overcome.

While it was a quick and easy task to put the surf club there in 1982, replacement of the old club has involved many hurdles.

A Thames-Coromandel District Council coastal erosion specialist has helped and this knowledge is dictating what can and can't be done.

"The main thing is we got there," says Tony.

He hoped the new building would be embraced by more locals including local boardriders, several of whom still live in the town and whose grandkids and children now attend surf club.

"In the past it may have been seen as a bach owner's surf club. The new club is a great opportunity to push forward and increase local involvement," says Tony.

"It's a significant new chapter. The committee is made up of people who live elsewhere and have holiday homes, where really it would be nice to see the bulk of the committee being local in the long run. You want it as a community facility."

Pauanui Surf Life Saving Club received $676,000, Tairua Surf Life Saving Club $699,000 and Onemana Surf Life Saving Club $317,000 in funding announced by the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Poto Williams.

Last year Onemana Surf Lifesaving Club had a brand new building delivered thanks to the funding.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The minister said funding replaced money unable to be raised due to Covid-19 restrictions and the loss of traditional funding and fundraising opportunities.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

BoP shooting happened at 'private dwelling', suspect still wanted

08 Jul 01:36 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Boat in perilous position in Tauranga Harbour

08 Jul 01:04 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Risk to the public': Police search for wanted man

07 Jul 11:57 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'It was unreal': Orca pod amazes Tauranga jetskier near Whangamatā

'It was unreal': Orca pod amazes Tauranga jetskier near Whangamatā

08 Jul 04:03 AM

The pod, including a large male, circled him and his group for about half an hour.

BoP shooting happened at 'private dwelling', suspect still wanted

BoP shooting happened at 'private dwelling', suspect still wanted

08 Jul 01:36 AM
Boat in perilous position in Tauranga Harbour

Boat in perilous position in Tauranga Harbour

08 Jul 01:04 AM
'Risk to the public': Police search for wanted man

'Risk to the public': Police search for wanted man

07 Jul 11:57 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP