Life Members Open Harlequins clubrooms

[Al Williams - Timaru Herald 14.3.2009]

HarlequinsHarlequins Rugby Club celebrated a milestone last night with the opening of their new clubrooms at the former Methodist Hall on Church St.

The club bought the building in June last year. It's taken six months to prepare it for opening.

Extensive work has been done in the main hall which now houses a bar, kitchen and conference rooms.

About $500,000 has been spent on the combined purchase and renovation of the building.

The new venue measures 521 square metres and is a Historical Places Trust building of interest.

It is 102 years to the day since the building was formally opened as a Methodist Sunday School. No structural renovations have been made to the old church.

Club president Gareth Burgess said the aim of the project was to have a base for the next 150 years.

He said the club was pleased to finally own a venue after sharing facilities for more than 10 years.

"It's hard to run things when you haven't a base."

Mr Burgess said there had been plenty of assistance from club members with the renovations.

"That in turn has saved the club money. They have taken ownership of the building through their work."

Harlequins sold its Morrison Park grounds last year for an undisclosed sum, but has a leaseback arrangement for four years.

The club had planned to build clubrooms at Morrison Park before the sale of the grounds.

Harlequins is an amalgamation of the former Zingari and Star clubs. Since forming just over a decade ago, their senior rugby side have won five championship titles in 10 years.

Lifetime member Neil Wakefield was at yesterday's opening ceremony.

He played rugby for Star between 1945 and 1952 before serving as a member of the committee and eventually taking over as the club's president. The Star Rugby Football Club committee minutes of October 1962 show that Mr Wakefield and George Adknins were given authority to buy the 12-plus acre block at Seadown Rd up to the value of 3500.

The land was named Morrison Park after Tom Morrison (All Black and Rugby Union chairman) who played rugby for Star during the 1940s.

23/06/2008

The Harlequins Rugby Club have taken a huge sidestep and purchased a new inner city home.

The Harlequins have bought the former Methodist Hall, beside the overbridge on Church St, for an undisclosed sum.

The club has also sold its Morrison Park grounds but have a lease-back arrangement for four years.

Harlequins were well under way with plans to build clubrooms at Morrison Park next year but a very good out-of-the-blue offer caused a change of heart.

Harlequins is an amalgamation of the former Zingari and Star clubs and since forming just over a decade ago their senior rugby side have an envious record of winning five championship titles in 10 years but they have had no luck finding a suitable social base.

The purchase of the hall, with its variety of rooms, suits the rugby club perfectly.

Harlequins spokesperson Murray Roberts said the Harlequins asset managers and board deliberated over the substantial offer made and in the end decided to sell.

One of the main reasons was the fact the grounds were out of town and used for training and only a few games only over five months each year, so it was unrealistic to turn down such an offer, he said.

"The offer came completely out of left field as the club had intended building new clubrooms at Morrison Park to be ready for the 2009 season."

Harlequins did not wish to disclose the buyer or the price.

Roberts said the deal also sees the Harlequins able to use Morrison Park over the next four years before finally vacating.

"Also taken into consideration was the historical value of the grounds built up over the last 46 years -- 36 years of history of the Star RFC and more recently 10 years of the Harlequins RFC."

Roberts said with the sale of grounds, the Harlequins have purchased a building that will be become the club's headquarters from the 2009 season.

"The newly purchased building at 34 Church Street was formerly owned by the Timaru Methodist Circuit and is correctly zoned for use as clubrooms.

"The building measures 521m and will be fully renovated over the next six months to meet the needs of the Harlequins, for all past, present and supporting members to use and enjoy."

As the building is of interest of the Historical Places Trust, no structural renovation will be made, he said.

Roberts said it was intended that the history of both the Star and Zingari Rugby Clubs will be prominently displayed.

Harlequins have asked the South Canterbury Rugby Union to play senior and development grade games at Morrison Park from 2009 but Roberts said that they had rescinded that request and that the status quo of playing games at Alpine Energy Stadium remains.

Ad Feedback "The Harlequins, with agreement from the Timaru District Council, will continue to lease grounds at Ashbury Park where there are already training lights and changing rooms established with the view that they become the training grounds for all teams post the Morrison Park era."

Harlequins' 140 schoolboy players have used Ashbury Park since 1998.

The Star Rugby Football Club committee minutes of October 1962 show that George Adkins and Neil Wakefield were given authority at the time to purchase the 12-plus acre block on Seadown Road up to a value of 3500 pounds ($7000).

The land was duly purchased and named Morrison Park after Mr Tom Morrison (All Black and NZRFU chairman) who played his rugby for Star in the 1940s.

The clubrooms were built by members soon afterwards.

The building and a small part of the land was sold in 2001 as it had not been used since 1998 after the formation of the Harlequins

Mr Wakefield, who conducted the original Star deal and remains on the Harlequins board, said that rugby has moved on and it was inevitable that an offer would have be made on the land at some stage and the very difficult decision would have to be made whether to retain or sell.

Zingari's Turnbull St clubrooms were sold in 2002 after being on the market after the merger

FACILITIES

Clubrooms:

THRFC purchased their current clubrooms building in 2008 and completely outfitted it throughout. It now contains a Large Hall with Full Bar Facilities, Commercial Kitchen and Dining Room, Meeting Room, Memorbilia Rooms, Kids Play Room, Office and Storage Facilities. Modern sound system and large 4m x 2.5 screen for viewing all sky sport and information from a laptop.

The facilities are situated at 34 Church Street, Timaru ( just before the main road overbridge ).They are avaliable for hire for all your parties, functions, meetings, gatherings by contacting Grant George on 021 154 1792 (grant.george2022@gmail.com), or making an inquiry at the clubrooms.

Open every Friday and Saturday home games during Winter from 4.30pm the clubbies are a great place to meet, relax and socalise.

Ashbury Park:

After moving from Morrison park, at the start of 2012 THRFC have just recently finished their upgrade at Ashbury Park. Building onto the existing Timaru Cricket Pavilion, we now have 4 large fullsize changing rooms, gas showers, toilets, a 6m x 6m gear room, upstairs storage,  3 full size rugby fields and new lights. The facility caters for all our teams from U/6 through to Senior and are avaliable for all to use.

PAINT

Score! - Harlequin Rugby Club
The 101 year old building housing the Harlequin Rugby Club and rousing sports games was formerly home to the more hushed tones of a Methodist Sunday school. Today it sports a fresh new look.

The rugby club iconic colours are yellow and red and these are carefully incorporated into the new look while still paying homage to the traditional heritage styling of the building. The previous look was old and grey, making the building less than memorable and easy to drive straight past. Bearing this in mind, the design focus was to retain the integrity of the building but give it a more striking appearance, pick out its best features and restore it to its former glory.

Resene Colins Wicket (ochre green) was used for the main body of the building with contrasting pillars in Resene Double Colins Wicket (ochre brown). The pointing was accented in Resene Diesel (dark black red) while doors and details are striking in a Resene Lonestar (dark red) finish. The exterior palette is completed with Resene White Rock (green cream) on window surrounds and Ironsand (brown grey) on the roof. The moody complex hues draw attention to the building’s façade, helping to promote the club to new and existing members and reflecting a more vibrant image than the now long forgotten grey.