Ashburton Courier: June 18, 2020

Local news at www.starnews.co.nz Ashburton's The Courier, Thursday June 18, 2020, Page 3
Free lunch, fellowship back on at church
By ToniWilliams
Covid­19 may have stretched
resources in some Mid Canterbury
homes but ahot meal and friendship
is back on the menu at Ashburton
Baptist Church.
Lunch this week under the
guidance of George Rendall, in
charge ofthe kitchen and its
14­strong roster of volunteers, was
vegetable soup, spaghetti bolognaise
with carrot cake to finish.
The once­a­week, free offering
which changeseach week, was well
supported before Covid­19, and
organisers are expecting there could
be more interest if people face
hardships or financial pressure in the
coming months.
But they are more than readywith
not just their community lunch, but
with pastoral support, advice or just a
listening ear.
Interim seniorpastor Bill Avenell
said the church offered arange of
Grain store
stays on
heritage list
The Environment Court
has declined an
application by Ashburton
business Redmond Retail
that would remove the
heritage listing of the
former Peter Cates Grain
Store on West Street.
Redmonds owns the
building, which lacks
structural integrity and
has been identified by the
Ashburton District
Council as earthquake
prone. It wants to
demolish the old building,
saying the cost of making
it tenantable is prohibitive
and unrealistic.
The grain store is in two
parts, with the front
curved part valued for its
history and links to the
district’s early farming
days.
Redmonds had asked
council to change its
district plan to remove the
heritage listing but that
was opposed by Heritage
NZ and local history
buffs.
The court, in adecision
released on Tuesday, said
the parties in opposition
had awealth of
knowledge about the
history of the building and
its place within the
economic history of Mid
Canterbury. This was
accompanied by astrong
desire to preserve and
protect the building, not
only because of its values
but also because it is one
of adiminishing number
of historic listings in
Ashburton.
The oldest part of the
building was constructed
in September 1878 and it
was used as agoods and
grain store, with the
ground floor converted to
office space in 1865. It has
been listed as ahistoric
building since 1981.
Peter Cates sold the
building to Redmonds in
services including apastoral care
team who were able to help peoplein
arange of needs.
They offered meals, assistedwith
clothing or household items in
emergency situations or just a
friendly face and fellowship.
‘‘We endeavour to cater to the
needs of thecommunity,’’ he said.
The family­friendly church, able to
feed people’s bellies as well as their
souls, has an open doorpolicy and is
not just restricted to those within the
church.
They promise not to bombard
people with aBible when they walk
in but do offer arange of activities
for people to join, on top of their
regular Sunday service with
fellowship afterwards.
They include aknitting group for
any skill level, amums and bubs/
preschoolers group, youth bible
study forYear 7toYear 13 students,
home connect bible study groups and
aChristianRejoice Group especially
2015. Reports would later
say the cost of bringing
the building up to code
would be around $2.6
million.
Judge Melanie Harland
said the fact that the
heritage listing in the
district plan covered the
entire building had
caused considerable
disquiet to those deciding
the matter, as the
Heritage NZ’s listing was
amended in 2018 to relate
only to the original front
of the building.
She said there were
some reasonable uses for
the rear of the building,
but fewer for the front
because significant
changes would
compromise the heritage
values of the building
interior.
“We appreciate this
decision will be agreat
disappointment to
Redmond Retail, which
faces significant costs to
bring the building up to a
standard where it is able
to action the reasonable
uses that we have found
exist under the District
Plan provisions. We hope
that there will be a
solution reached outside
of this process that
recognises this.”
The judge said the
award of costs against
Redmonds was not
appropriate but council
and Heritage NZ had 15
days to apply for costs if
they were to do so.
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for peoplewith disabilities. But there
are resthome services and plenty of
social gatherings too.
There is also the Christian­based
Girls’ Brigade, run on site, and Boys’
Brigade which is run off site. Both
organisations, for childrenaged five
$6.18 weekly
DISHWASHER
• 850mm H, 596mm W, 625mm D
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of dishes
• 30minutequick wash –fast forlightloads
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to 18 from any denomination, give
children achance to meet others in
the district, doing fun activities and
learning about life skills.
Mr Avenell said the pastoral care
team have people who can cook and
freeze meals for people in stressful
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John Mowatt (left) seeking
fellowship and acatch-up with
mates, gets acuppafrom kitchen
crew George Rendall (front), Barb
Cochrane and Steve Bevin at the
first Baptist Church free lunch
since restrictions eased.
situations whether its those who are
sick or have newborns in the house.
They can also help in times of need
such as losses from ahouse fire or
those seeking financial assistance;
Christians Against Poverty is based
at the church during the week and
can help with budget advice and debt
counselling support.
He said anyone was welcome to
pop in to the office, which is open
five days aweek, whetheritbe
peoplewho are just lonely, those
lookingtojoin agroup or others who
have lost their job and are
considering the next course of action.
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