Quick thinking and community spirit brought the Bannockburn Hall committee president to the Cromwell Community Board public forum last month.
Mark Christie said the committee had been granted $11,270 by the board for refurbishing the hall floor and repairing and painting the church bell tower and cross.
The floor was completed but the money allocated for the tower work had not been used as the work was done free of charge, Mr Christie said.
Past-president Kerry Stanton-Herbert spotted Sky High Painting and Restoration in Bannockburn who crucially had a cherry-picker in tow.
‘‘Kerry managed to twist his arm, their arm, and they came and painted the bell tower and cross at no charge, including the paint and so forth.’’
The generosity of the painters saved them $3000 in scaffolding costs alone, he said.
The committee wanted to use the $4220 saved from the grant to repaint the interior of the hall. A quote had been obtained for $4910 and the committee could fund the balance.
As well as a church hall the building was used by many other groups, including most recently for the Bannockburn arts weekend. There were plans for it to become an emergency hub for the community, he said.
It had been assessed at well over the required 80% earthquake strength and would be needed in the event of a major natural disaster damaging the bridge, Mr Christie said.
Board chairwoman Anna Harrison commended both the committee for its luck and the community-minded contractor. The board agreed to the redirection of the grant.
The board agreed to a request from the Central Lakes Equestrian Club to access a bore at the Cromwell racecourse and develop the associated infrastructure needed to irrigate the race track.
