Lindsay Rehm says locals in Wanganui East are "unbelievably caring" Photo/Stuart Munro
Lindsay Rehm says locals in Wanganui East are "unbelievably caring" Photo/Stuart Munro
It's fair to say feelings are running high in Wanganui East.
What's got under the collective skin of the locals are proposals flagged by Wanganui District Council that could see the local swimming pool and a key road bridge closed.
Wanganui East sprawls over roughly 430ha and is where about 6000 of the city's 43,000 people call home. It has it good points and bad, like any suburb.
But, in recent times, it has shown something else - it's got a big ticker.
When news broke that the swimming pool in Tinirau St was facing extinction and the Wakefield St overbridge could be closed to all but cycle and foot traffic, it fired up the community.
There have been public meetings and petitions. One group even created a simplified form that locals could fill and submit to the council's 2014-15 draft annual plan.
But there has to be an underlying reason for what appears to be a whole suburb - and some from rural areas beyond - to draw a line in the sand and take on city hall.
Karl Zimmerman, principal at St Anne's School in Raine St, puts it down to one thing - passion.
Mr Zimmerman is a member of the action group that's trying to find ways to keep the pool operational.
St Anne s School principal Karl Zimmerman with Year 7 pupils Saige Zimmerman, 11 (left), Anthony Sellers, 11 and Sarah Hugo, 11. All of them are regular users the Wanganui East pool.
He has headed St Anne's for about four years and his family moved into the suburb late last year.
Mr Zimmerman says while the two issues are different, they have galvanised the locals "to put their foot on the ground".
His interest in pool especially is driven as a school leader but, most importantly, as a father and acutely aware the school's children are users as well.
"And in there's that trust that's been running the pool, who've driven that place for a number of years and held on to it. It takes a lot of passion to do that. That's when you think you don't want to give up something people have held on to for so long.
"It's something that's got an historic link but provides a facility for the whole city. This is not just about Wanganui East, it's an outdoor pool that can service the city and country.
"You look at towns and see suburbs that have different catches that create that community. You take any facility away and you lose that community.
"Taking a bridge away can straightaway remove a community. Suddenly motorists don't want to stop at the Wanganui East shops. So you want to support any initiative like these two because we're talking peoples jobs as well," Mr Zimmerman said.
He said for the schools in the suburb and beyond, the pool served a hugely important role in an age when schools no longer had their own pool.
"Once you close these things, it's hard to get them back. So it needs people to stand up and make a stand. All those people that attended to two meetings over the pool are passionate people. The same could be said for the meetings held in the Wanganui East Club about the Wakefield St bridge.
"A decision has to made about the pool and we know the complex does need some work on it. But if you've got a group that wants to do something with the council, and the council believes in creating a family friendly city and creating partnership, here are two areas which this facilitates.
"Sure, there's the Splash Centre but that's got its issues and not everyone can afford to use it. But if you can create a cheaper facility, you're going to get children and families that are going to use it.
"It may not be at the current site but I believe a facility needs to be retained in this suburb."
Like the Wanganui rugby team's mascot, Merv Roebuck is a butcher boy through and through and has been the face behind the counter at Wanganui East Meat Market for 35 years.
He started off working there with his dad, Ron, who began the butchery, and is now running the business on his own account.
He was born and raised in the suburb and says he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Wanganui East is the biggest community in Wanganui and it's definitely a really caring one. And when something like this happens they really unite. It's the way we are."
He said it was disappointing the council had shown a tendency to ignore the community before it made some significant decisions that could affect the pool and the Wakefield St bridge.
"It's only been after the event that they've bothered to talk to us about it.
"Why did the bridge action group have to go off and get it's own pricing for a replacement bridge and how much did that cost them? Isn't that something the council should have done anyway?"
Mr Roebuck says he hasn't heard a bad word from the people about bids to save the pool and the bridge.
"Closing that bridge will affect all the businesses around here, nothing surer. And to make them go around Eastown Rd and past Wanganui East school, where's the sense in that?"
Peter Clarke has opened door at his Eastside Dairy in Jones St nearly every day for the past 18 years and he and his family have lived in the suburb since 1984, a stone's throw from the dairy.
But Mr Clarke said Wanganui East was special for a number of reasons.
"It's a tight knit community and very loyal. A lot of people here don't go anywhere else. There's everything people need here in terms of their shopping."
He says everyone coming to his dairy has been talking about the bridge and especially the pool.
"The pool didn't have a particularly good season this year but not being able to use the pool heater probably had something to do with it," Mr Clarke said.
But when the petition to save the Wakefield St bridge was launched, he displayed it in the dairy and said signatures were filling up about a page every day.
"I think the community reaction's made the council much more aware of our suburb."
His view on the bridge is to strengthen it to at least to be able to handle cars.
Further along in the shopping precinct, Lindsay Rehm, owner of Lindsay's Lotto, Post and More, said the way the community had reacted did not surprise him at all.
"It's a horrible feeling that someone at council just went through that budget and thought 'That can go, that can go' and thought no further about it," Mr Rehm said.
He's been in business for a long time and in a variety of businesses too, but said he had never struck the same strength of community spirit before.
"I grew up in Warkworth and this place has got that same village feel about it.
"It's a very close community. The people are extremely loyal and they are unbelievably caring. I've often had people pop in here with some morning tea or a coffee because they've seen l've been busy and haven't had a break. It's very special."
Mr Rehm said the river divided Wanganui East from the rest of the city and he's convinced it has the best suburban shopping centre.
"What a lot of people don't realise is that between the Dublin St Bridge and the Wakefield St bridge there are 28 businesses and that's a lot."
He said there was a big chunk of the city's population living there and that took in Bastia Hill, as well as the rural spread through Okoia and Fordell and north up SH4.
When Eleanore Barry arrived at Wanganui East School in 2005, she said the community "opened their doors to me and I'll never forget that".
Eleanore Barry Photo/File
Now principal, Ms Barry says it's that spirit that stands a very good chance of changing the council's position.
"There's a diverse range of social demographic in our community but we all have the same vision and it's about making our community work.
"When we're faced with losing two important features we'll react. Close that bridge and it will immediately change the way our community connects. This is about taking away things that are important us and we don't have a lot over here to begin with."
Ms Barry said her school was a regular pool user just as the children and their families were.
"We use it all day in summer and for special events when it's open. The children go there for swimming lessons because it's cheaper (than the Splash Centre).
"I'm expecting it to be rebuilt but as long as it's somewhere in Wanganui East."
She was hopeful council would respond "positively" to the feeling in the suburb.
"I take my hat off to them (council). They attended both meetings for the bridge and the pool and answered questions so I've got faith they will listen to what we're saying.
"This is the council that came to us and said 'What can do for your community'. They were driving the effort to build up community spirit. I think their hearts are in the right place. That's why I've got confidence."
