History and location
The Awakaponga Community Hall was built in 1954. and due to a fire, rebuilt in 1993. It is an important facility supporting the wider rural area of Awakaponga. The hall is 25 minutes from Whakatane. It is located on Department of Conservation land but the actual hall building is owned by the Awakaponga Community.
The original hall was built using timber grown on the Jennings family property and milled specifically for the hall. It took a huge effort on behalf of several families to build it. There were regular dances and balls. The fire was in 1990 and in 1992 the Board decided to rebuild the hall. In 1993 the new hall was completed with huge input from the community and local tradespeople who donated time and materials such as the Withy brothers who donated the roof. The Awakponga Public Hall is the only rural district hall that does not have a school closely adjacent to it so it is the focal point of our Awakaponga area. It is also believed to be the only hall that is not under the auspices of our local Council, being completely community owned and operated. It is hired out at the discretion of the Board. In July 2004 the hall was used to accommodate evacuated residents from Edgecumbe due to the floods. In 2014 the local community celebrated the hall's 60th birthday and in 2015 the Awakaponga Seasonal markets began. Our new sign was erected on the State Highway, the image of which reflects the meaning of the name, Awakaponga. Further below on this page are some recent historical events concerning the hall.
If anyone has any photographs or newspaper cutting to share on this website, please forward them to Caterina Murphy on a[email protected] for uploading onto the website. Interesting stories of the old days of the hall particularly welcome. People recall history in their own way and it is hoped that the oral histories of many will be recorded and eventually uploaded onto this site .
Hall news
In 2014, we had our leak in the kitchen fixed and the floor replaced thanks to a contribution from the Rangitaiki Community Board to the value of $3000.
In 2015, our new sign went up on the highway advertising our hall and our website. It depicts the meaning of the name Awakaponga with our fern and river representations. The Seasonal Market commenced as a new initiative .with four highly successful markets raising solid funds for our hall. Our meet and greet night was a quiz night and supper.....lots of spot prizes and fun was had.
In 2016, we focused on another three seasonal markets, our mid winter 1970s shindig, our meet and greet pot luck dinner and landscaping our grounds. You may already have noticed the mound that has been formed. Trees were planted to improve the outside aesthetic of the hall.
In 2017 our hall took a battering over Easter Thursday with the arrival of Cyclone Cook. We lost guttering and down piping. We had a lot of heavy rain that year and realised that serious work had to be undertaken concerning drainage to protect our hall timber. The outdoor BBQ table concrete pad was laid ready for the BBQ table installation. We also trialled a twilight Christmas market. The Awakaponga cookbook project commenced.
In 2018. we kicked off the new year with the installation of the outdoor BBQ table and plans to have two twilight markets and a Sunday day time market this year. The cookbook project continued and the Board starting looking at ways they could access funding to do a large list of major repairs at the hall.
In 2019, we started the year focused on the replacement of our hall floor and renovations to our outside drainage system. We successfully obtained funding the the Mayoralty Floor Relief fund and the Rangitaiki Community Board to help us. Three working bees were held to shift and compact sand under the joists and ensure that a vapour barrier was installed prior to the new floor being installed. Other working bees involved the outside drainage at floor level to ensure water flow moved to the drains and did not collect under the floor. This was Stage one of the hall renovations completed. Stage 2 involves the roof, ceilings, insulation, lighting and heating and John Puller was seconded as our project manager and the work was completed through several working bees. We now have air conditioning/heat pump units and far superior lighting to what we had before. A huge thank you to the Lion Foundation and Energy Trust for funding assistance. Our Awakaponga cookbook was developed and for sale at $12 per copy or $10 for more than one copy. A huge thank you to Andrea Cooper our cover artist and all the Awakaponga residents who contributed their tried and true recipes from their family tables. Our Hall Board were invited to Iramoko Marae - several Board members attended and it was wonderful to listen, learn and strengthen connections.
2020 has seen the plight of Covid 19 globally. This has meant that until late May 2020 our hall has been closed for hire and any other further developments. The Hall Board continued its monthly meetings via Zoom conferencing. Hall hireage rates are being reviewed this year. We were able to get the interior of the hall painted this year.
2021- the Hall Board will be meeting bi-monthly and deciding on the next priority area for the upkeep and ongoing maintenance of the hall.
