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Trying out a new barbecue recently installed by the Upper Clutha Lions Club at Wanaka's Bremner Bay this week are (front from left) club president Bronwyn Bain, the project's instigators Ann Saunders, Yvonne McLeod and Judith McLeary, and Edgewater executive chef Neil Ward, with other club members at rear. Photo by Lucy Ibbotson. |
A Bremner Bay communal barbecue facility - repeatedly put on
the back burner for the past six years - sizzled into action
in Wanaka this week as the women responsible for its
instalment gave it a test run.
The barbecue is an Upper Clutha Lions Club project funded
mostly by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, in lieu of
the group's former perfumed garden at Pembroke Park.
The $10,000 garden was built and paid for by Wanaka's Lions
ladies in 2001, but was removed on the council's instruction
in 2004 after "many repairs from vandalism", club member and
barbecue project co-ordinator Ann Saunders said.
The group was asked to come up with an alternative project of
similar value for the council to fund, and in 2006, a
lakeside barbecue was proposed.
The next six years brought "lots of red tape" and endless
obstacles to building the barbecue, before it was finally
installed about six weeks ago. A picnic table will be added
soon and the women have also fundraised for a barbecue
shelter, which will be built by men from the Wanaka District
Lions.
Mrs Saunders said Bremner Bay was the ideal spot for the
barbecue to get maximum use.
"In the summer there's lots of young families down there
because it's shallow and it's safe for children to play."
lucy.ibbotson@odt.co.nz
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