|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
- By Howard Upfold
The story of the local halls in Patumahoe begins with the construction of the Mauku Volunteer Hall at 23 Kingseat Road in 1871 for £160.
The timber was sawn in the neighbourhood and carted free to the ground by settlers.
The hall opened in April 1872 with no less than 150 people attending.
This hall was used as a community meeting place until a 1924 petition was signed by 87 locals for a war memorial hall to honour the Patumahoe soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War.
Construction of the War Memorial Hall started in May 1924 on land gifted by Joe Henry to the citizens of Patumahoe.
The opening day was held on July 1, 1925. The cost of the hall was £3000.
Shortly after the opening, the old volunteer hall was moved by traction engine from its site on Kingseat Road to the back of the Patumahoe War Memorial Hall and was used as a supper room for the many dances and functions in the hall.
There were two rooms on either side of the front entrance; one became a library, and the other was used as a hairdresser’s salon.
The Pukekohe branch of the ANZ operated there one day a week, as did the BNZ in the same space on a different day. That service continued until the late 1960s.
The main hall saw dances, concerts, roller skating, church socials, cabarets, and meetings such as the women’s division of Federated Farmers and the Young Farmers Club.
There were also the weekly pictures run by Needham’s Cinema Circuit of Pukekohe from a truck that parked by the front doors and beamed movies onto a screen inside the hall.
About 1956, the Patumahoe School underwent a major building upgrade that caused a huge class disruption for many months, so two classes were housed in the nearby hall and supper room.
Village residents remember the daily ritual of the classes marching through the town reciting their times tables.
However, by the 1960s the hall was little used and started to fall into disrepair.
In 1973, after negotiations with the hall’s owner, the then Franklin County Council, the Patumahoe Rugby Club took on the task of refurbishment and additions including a new entranceway and supper room on the eastern side of the main hall.
The old supper room was demolished in the mid-1970s.
The hall, then became the home of the rugby club, used as clubrooms for their after-match functions as well as other local social functions for the last 53 years.
To book Patumahoe RFC’s clubrooms, please contact kim.furniss@xtra.co.nz.
