Prayers answered for quake-strengthening funds for St Mary's Church

Church members (back, from left) Mick Ormond and Alan Sutherland. (Front) Deb Sutherland, Jeanette Hudson and Kath Fletcher, with donor Rollo Vavasour (right).

St Mary's will be saved.

Though more fundraising is required and pledges of cash still need to be honoured, members of the Anglican church in Waipukurau say they have secured the necessary funds to start earthquake-strengthening work, which could get under way at the church as early as next month.

Unused for more than two years after being declared earthquake prone, the church hopefully will be reopened in time for Christmas.

The 1929-built church was closed by the standing committee of the Diocese of Waiapu at Easter 2014 after an initial evaluation rated the building at just 13 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS).

A St Mary's Earthquake Action Sub-Committee was formed to investigate if the church could be strengthened to the minimum 34 per cent of the NBS, and at what cost.

In good news delivered last September, engineering reports confirmed the church could be brought up to the minimum rating for less than $250,000.

Last week, only seven months after banking its first donation, the action committee announced it had successfully raised more than $200,000 - enough for the seismic-strengthening work to begin.

Though more fundraising would be required to reach its $250,000 target and outstanding pledges of money were yet to be collected, subcommittee spokesman Alan Sutherland said, most importantly, the Waiapu Board of Trustees had granted permission for the work to go ahead.

Mr Sutherland said committee members had even volunteered to underwrite the costs in order to gain the approval.

"We do this confidently, knowing we have been pledged money, and in the hope that the balance will be raised by the time the work is completed," he said.

A tender from a preferred contractor had already been accepted, and all that was holding up the work was a final engineering report, which was due to be available by the middle of this month.

"The aim [is] to start the restoration work in September once [building] permits are finalised. It is hoped that the church will be ready for use by Christmas," he said.

Committee member Jeanette Hudson said the fundraising effort received a shot in the arm early on when the biggest single donation of $50,000 was made to the restoration fund by the Vavasour Charitable Trust.

"If it wasn't for that we would still be here praying for the money," she said.

Havelock North man and trustee Rollo Vavasour said the trust was founded 45 years ago by his late father Henry "Pip" Vavasour, mother Rosamond and his uncle, Father Frank Vavasour, and had given to charities in Hawke's Bay, Wellington and Marlborough.

Although St Mary's had always been a very pretty church, he revealed there were other reasons behind the trust's donation.

"I married my wife Sally, a good Waipuk girl, here [at St Mary's]," said Mr Vavasour, whose mother-in-law Sheila West was also a stalwart of the church for many years.

The church's organ has already been partially dismantled so that the earthquake-strengthening work can be carried out.