Coming together for church and community
HAVING attended a meeting at the Coronation Hall regarding the proposed demolition of the Maori Hill church, I am mindful of the shift in our understanding of ‘‘community’’.
At the thoughtful and insightful meeting, the history of the building of the Highgate Presbyterian Church was presented. The thencommunity of predominantly Maori Hill and church congregation members raised funds, mostly through local initiatives, and the church was built. Now, 100 years later, local community members are questioning if the building has to go.
Some are members of the congregation, many are not, but they still feel ownership of the space, as a hub, as an object of beauty and historical significance, but also as the potential in a new era to be a community space.
I feel keenly for the hamlet of Maori Hill, yet I am not one of the famous wellheeled of that community.
My connection is more to the dancing and socialisation of my generation, which frequented the associated Coronation Hall in the heyday of the quintessential Dunedin Sound era.
Do we not need to respond to the intention of the past locals who wanted a central hub? Would they have ever imagined it would be pulled down when they built it to last ‘‘forever’’?
I can see a new wave of community spirit, and connection that a reconfigured space could provide, for the next 100 years.
I am sure the building is up for it, if the community and synod are.
Alison Spittle
Dunedin