The Bay of Islands Recreation Centre is to receive critical facility upgrades, thanks to a new funding grant from Pub Charity.

In a collaborative effort between local community groups and Sport Northland, key investments include new ‘Swiss Timing’ Start blocks and a state of the art water filtration system.

Located in Kawakawa, the Bay of Islands Recreation Centre serves as a multisport hub for both participation and competition activities. The sourcing of $25,000 through Pub Charity for gym equipment upgrades, as well as the additional investment for the swimming facility was the result of the combined efforts of many local and regional groups working together.

The Te Papawai Community Pool services water sports in the Mid-North and the importance of the upgrade is not lost on the Bay of Islands Swimming Club.

“With a wide range of swimmers from ‘Learn to Swim’ to competitive swimmers competing at national championships, this investment will finally bring our training and competitions in line with other regions around New Zealand” states Matt White, Vice President of Bay of Islands Swimming Club.

“Swimmers Northland-wide will greatly benefit from these new starting blocks, as the majority of Northland’s swimming carnivals are held at the Kawakawa Community pool.” said White.

Coinciding with these upgrades is the renovation of the Centre’s reception via funding sourced by the local business association, as well the grant received to upgrade the small fitness centre’s gym equipment, was also funded by Pub Charity.

The funding is a key achievement for Sport Northland, who’s recent acquisition of the facility saw them play a key role in securing the Pub Charity grant.

“One of Sport Northland’s strategic objectives is to ensure the right facilities in the right locations are operating effectively and motivating more people to participate” states Brent Eastwood, Chief Executive for Sport Northland.

“As Northlanders, water is our natural platform for outdoor recreation and participation. It is fundamental that we continue to support our regions in providing quality opportunities where locals can participate and thrive within these activities. We are extremely pleased that we were able to partner with Pub Charity and other groups to make this happen for the local community,” said Eastwood.

With the updated technology upgrades set to be installed over the next few months, renovation work on the facility has already began and will mark an exciting milestone for sport and recreation in Kawakawa and the surrounding area.

About the Bay of Islands Recreation Centre

The origins of the Bay of Islands Recreation Centre can be traced back to the 1970’s when an outdoor 25m pool was constructed by the Bay of Islands College.

In 1990 a huge community effort resulted in the successful funding and development of a community recreation centre, which included covering and heating of the Te Papawai Community Pool, as well as joining up the pool with the school gymnasium through the construction of a weights/fitness room, a group fitness room, offices, two sets of changing rooms/toilets and a mezzanine floor/seminar room. A squash court was later added in the mid-1990s.

The centre was originally governed and operated by a charitable trust, which operated until 2003, when it was forced to wind up and hand the facility back to the college.

In 2010 Council stepped in financially to offer Community Business and Environment Centre (CBEC) a contract to manage the pool side of the facility. CBEC was offered the contract on the back of their management of the Kaitaia outdoor seasonal pool since 1990 and the Kerikeri outdoor seasonal pool since 2005.

However, management of the fitness/weights/squash side of the facility remained with the college post 2010 and they continued to struggle to manage it to the standard demanded by the community in out-of-school-hours use.

Sport Northland was first approached by a local Steering Group in late 2014 with a proposal for transferring the ownership and governance of the facility to Sport Northland, in order to secure the sustainable future of the facility going forward.

After 3 years of due diligence and work with the Ministry of Education and the Far North District Council, a final proposal was presented to the Sport Northland board in September 2017 and the sale and purchase agreement was approved. Sport Northland took over ownership of the facility in October 2017 and with it a management contract for CBEC to manage the entire facility through until November 2018.