Salvation Army selling children's camp

Gordon and Faye Letham manage Camp Mahurangi at Snells Beach. Picture / Paul Estcourt

The Salvation Army is selling its Camp Mahurangi at Snells Beach, which has served children from the Auckland region for 20 years.

The move to quit the tranquil east Rodney facility has upset residents and Auckland teachers, who say the 122-bed camp is popular and well-run and it will be hard to find an alternative venue.

Major Ross Gower, the army's northern divisional commander, said yesterday that the camp would close in June and a marketing strategy was being prepared for selling the waterfront site. He said it would be a sale by tender so he could not say the price tag on the 4ha site.

However, a resident said it was "worth a fortune" being adjacent to the Whisper Cove villas project where units overlooking Kawau Bay are going for $1.6 million.

Individual Snells Beach waterfront homes fetch $1 million, and the last similar-sized property to change hands - five years ago - went for $6 million.

Major Gower said intensive housing projects were imminent on both sides of the camp.

"When we first went there it was in the middle of farmland and was a rural getaway. It will be squeezed by development, and its suitability as a camp is disappearing.

"We can't say to children to keep their noise down because neighbours have a right to peace and quiet."

Major Gower said the army was moving, philosophically, away from its work in big institutions towards working more out in the community. It has closed youth camps in the Hutt Valley and at Oxford, near Christchurch.

Camp Mahurangi was used for army youth programmes for only a fraction of the year, he said.

Providing for development of the facility would mean charging at a significant level per camper.

Camp managers Faye and Gordon Letham have built up a strong rapport with school clients over 14 years.

Mr Letham takes timid youngsters for their first abseiling lesson and enjoys watching their confidence grow.

The camp is fully catered, and Mrs Letham is renowned in the school community for her "well-balanced menus", which go well with a regime of fresh air and no television.

Schools contacted by the Herald said the camp was so popular that they had to book two years ahead to hire it.

Manuka School, in the North Shore suburb of Glenfield, holds its Year 5-6 camp there every two years.

"It's a great setting because the beach at the bottom of the camp is safe for swimming and kayaking and the grounds and facilities are fantastic," said acting principal Rae Parkin.

She said the school paid $13,000 for taking 100 children for four days to the camp. Some of the parents could not afford the full amount of the camp fee so it was subsidised by the Lion Foundation.

At Mellons Bay School, Howick, principal Alan Foy said the camp was an important part of education because it offered challenging and stimulating learning in a safe environment.

Major Gower said the proceeds of the camp sale would be reinvested in property.

The army will keep its Blue Mountain Adventure Centre at Raurimu near National Park.

In September the army announced the sale of its 11 aged-care centres to Retirement Care NZ for an undisclosed sum. It is also selling the alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre on Rotoroa Island, in the Hauraki Gulf.