Scott Kerr, Tony Cheetham and lifeguards of Tairua Surf Club at the opening of the new club. Photo / Alison Smith
Scott Kerr, Tony Cheetham and lifeguards of Tairua Surf Club at the opening of the new club. Photo / Alison Smith
“This is just magic, it doesn’t get better than this.”
With these words, Regional Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash cut the ribbon on a new purpose-built $1 million surf club at Tairua, replacing the fibrolite shack bought for $4000.
Tairua, along with other Coromandel clubhouses at Onemana and Pauanui, wereamong the winners in the Government’s Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund, which saw $17m invested into surf clubs around the country.
Pauanui Surf Life Saving Club received $676,000 and just completed its upgrade, and Onemana Surf Life Saving Club received $317,000 and has been operating there since last summer.
It was part of a $3 billion infrastructure funding injection announced in May 2020.
The reality for many was escalating costs and a lack of labour and contractors. The club’s volunteer project managers said in the end it was local connections, namely Watts and Hughes Construction managing director Craig Watts - who is a bach owner and supporter of the club - coming on board to get the project under way.
Minister Nash congratulated Tairua Surf Club’s immediate past president Tony Cheetham, who led the fundraising, and supporter Scott Kerr, who project managed the consenting process.
Cheetham had to find another $300,000 on the $699,000 from the Government, and Kerr dealt with additional council building requirements to achieve sign-off.
He said this included replacing retaining timber on the dunes of the reserve, a concrete path on the dunes, and stainless steel handrails on the wooden handrails, which had to be installed on a new wheelchair-accessible ramp to the club deck.
“The resource consent application for a public building on a public reserve is not for the faint-hearted, and if you survive that, then the due diligence for the building consent process is equally as demanding,” said Kerr. “Both require careful navigation to balance central [and] local government, your community and your organisation’s interest.”
Stuart Nash opens Tairua Surf Club, as (left) Scott Kerr and Tony Cheetham look on.
The new building and the process of achieving it is a far cry from what happened in 1982, when local boardriders delivered an old 1960s bach to the beach and built a deck off it for another $2000 using free labour and donated wood.
Minister Nash said the Government had invested into the clubs that came to them with a value proposition too hard to turn down.
“The surf clubs are about keeping people safe, but we also know in communities like Tairua, surf clubs are part of the community hub.
“It’s the grassroots, the heart and soul of communities like Tairua, and it’s so good to invest in that.”
The minister said Tairua was “quintessential New Zealand”.
“But the thing we know about these beautiful golden sand beaches is, they can be dangerous. To the men and women who keep our beaches safe, I thank you, but I also believe you need a facility that is fit for purpose - and let’s be honest, a 1960s bach with asbestos is not a fit-for-purpose clubhouse for a beach as wonderful as this.
“This is just magic, it doesn’t get better than this. And I haven’t said this to all the surf clubs we’ve been to. This really is amazing.”
The construction was done by local builder Ricky Turner, whose grandfather Austin put the original surf club building on the beach - a shack which was replaced by the bach and deck built by local boardriders, including Rick, who was a surfer at the time.
Ricky Turner, who built the new Tairua Surf Club building on the same site where his grandad put the first-ever surf lifesaving shed. Photo / Alison Smith
Cheetham said $11,000 from Lotteries for a feasibility study in 2018 was the first win. He thanked the Government as the principal funder, and said the Government’s regional economic development arm Kānoa had been amazing.
“Your ability to see value in spending money on provincial projects like this [...] for a small community like us, is a huge thing.
“At all times it felt like [Kānoa] had one project on your books, and that was Tairua. Thanks to the Government Kanoa team - you’ve been outstanding.”
Surf Lifesaving NZ (SLSNZ) chief operations officer Chris Emmett said when SLSNZ heard from partners Veros of the Covid recovery fund, he and SLSNZ CEO Paul Dalton approached clubs around the country to see how “shovel-ready” they were.
“I remember the chair of Midway [a SLS club in Gisborne] ringing me up and saying, ‘You’re not going to believe this, but Jacinda’s upstairs and she’s just given us $5 million - she’s upstairs having a coffee’. Then, two weeks later, we heard about the Coromandel projects.
“[It was] a pretty stunning investment from the Government. We’re a predominantly volunteer organisation, we’ve been around for 112 years, and initiatives like this will ensure that our legacy continues, because we’ve got to keep going.”
Emmett’s first experience of Tairua was at the age of 17 as a paid guard for three weeks.
“Back then, the club was full of surfers - they had a couple of rescue tubes, but had old longboards with rope handles made by Paul Shanks, and I went, ‘Man, you can do rescues on longboards!?’”
He said buildings were important, but only when there were people in them.
“I’ve watched this place go through an ebb and flow of local surfers, out-of-town bach owners, and more surfers, and I’ve noticed that Tairua turns out some very good lifeguards, on a regional and national basis.”
Lifesaving was not only about saving lives, he said.
“It helps communities and it helps their skills as human beings. We find people that come in to surf lifesaving, nine times out of 10 leave as a better person.”
