10 INTERCLUB • VOLUME 29, ISSUE 2 - 2023 REACHING CLUBS SINCE 1995 Waipukurau Club celebrating 110 years CLUB LIFE: WAIPUKURAU CLUB The Waipukurau Club celebrations included people dressing up from the 1910-1950 era, ve vintage Model A Fords and a band playing music from the Art Deco era. Sue Russell Call in to see our friendly, experienced team for all your vehicle servicing/issues/repairs and get your vehicle back on the road to get you where you need to go. 9 James Street • Phone 06 858 9777 Locally Owned & Operated Call in and see our friendly, experienced team for all your vehicle servicing issues & repairs and get your vehicle back on the road to get to where you need to g . Waipukurau 06 858 9961 | Hastings 06 876 5005 www.waicon.nz LICENSED BUILDING PRACTITIONERS Building confidence Celebrating 110 years old was a very special moment for everyone connected with Waipukurau Club. Especially in this day and age when many club’s are struggling and some have closed, to be able to ask the longest serving members to cut the cake was magic! Club Manager Kendell Jones says the celebrations on May 20 were very special and while the club acknowledges how wonderful it is to have already been a decade into its second century, just as much, it is very much about looking forward, adapting to new times and thriving into the future. Kendell has been in the role six months and before that worked casually behind the bar. “Our longest serving member Terry Peacock has been part of the club for 60 years. It was a fabulous day! We dressed to the 1910-1950 era and everyone got dressed up.” Vintage cars parked outside the front of the club added a special touch and took visitors back to how the street would have looked like back in the day. “Having ve Model A’s was just amazing and we had a band play music of the Art Deco era.” Kendell says pulling the celebrations off in only two weeks is something she’s really proud of and so many people got behind the idea to make the event amazing, it was always going to be a success. "The gentlemen all wore suits and the ladies really made a special effort to dress up. “You have to remember that this club goes back, like many, to the time when it was only a gentlemen’s club. It’s hard to believe now that this was common in the day.” Another thing that makes Waipukurau Club so special is that it has been at the same location its whole life, so the building carries literally a century of history in its bones. “It's still got all the old wood and you really feel like you are in a pretty special place when you come through the doors.” Membership is growing too and at just under 300 Kendell says it's poised to continue to thrive. "Enthusiasm" is the word she says best describes how the members feel about the club. “We’re always looking at ways to add value and an example of this is we have a ‘tradie night’, when its perfectly ne to come in wearing your work gear to enjoy a social drink on the way home.” Three massive snooker tables are ‘absolutely gorgeous’, Kendell says, and each August the club hosts a snooker tournament which is really well patronised by locals and those further a eld. “They come from all over the North Island, in fact, and it's one of the highlights of our year.” The club’s kitchen is leased by a caterer and the building is really divided into two spaces which lends itself to providing meeting and event spaces, along with the day-to-day activity. The Returned and Services Association is in the process of building a museum space where the pokie machines once were, which will provide members and guests with an opportunity to see the districts defence force history and engagement. Through Cyclone Gabrielle, Kendell says, the club came off unscathed though she says when periods of solid rain happen, there’s a nervousness members experience. Recently tenanting the Club House provided an opportunity for members to display their generosity. An international family moved into the Club House and had limited furniture and many within the club pitched in to provide them with household items to begin their life in Central Hawke’s Bay. Waipukurau Club is open every day from 3pm except Monday and Wednesday and Saturday from 1pm. Kendell says a unique space Waipukurau Club offers visitors in the Hawke’s Bay is a covered outdoor area with eight tables, sheltering blinds and heating. The club also boasts a massive private carparking area. In the future, the club plans to sponsor an ‘underdog’ sports team. “The thing I love about this club is that it is very welcoming; it just feels like a second home and it's very family friendly. We are always looking for new members to join and everyone is welcome to join, young or old.” Paper Plus Waipukurau 77 Ruataniwha Street, Waipukurau 4200 E: waipukurau@paperplus.co.nz Find us online: paperplus.co.nz Locally owned. Friendly people. Great advice.
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