Hazel Andrews (92) looks through her mother's bible with
fellow parishioner Helen Sinclair after a service at the
Waihola Community Church to celebrate 150 years of
Presbyterian worship in the Waihola district.Mrs Andrews'
parents were married in the original church. Photo by Craig
Baxter.
Church history was not at all boring, as Helen Sinclair
discovered when she delved back through 150 years of
Presbyterian worship in the Waihola district.
The Waihola resident found stories that made her laugh, and
tales of controversy.
"What came through strongly in my research was that the
Church is about people."
Early ministers covered long distances by foot and horseback
as they held services in an area ranging from Waihola to
Taieri Mouth and Milton.
During the 1850s, the Rev William Will travelled on foot,
often through ankle-deep mud and stagnant swamps, for 18
months, until he got a horse.
However, while grooming and saddling his horse gave him great
pleasure, finding and catching it was sometimes a challenge,
reports noted.
The first Presbyterian church in Waihola was opened in 1865,
and a charge was made for seating and a "seat-letting
committee" formed.
Seats in the back were more expensive than up the front,
"presumably to make sure the front rows were filled", Mrs
Sinclair said.
Church life was not without controversy, and when a new
Catholic church was opened in Waihola in 1899, a special
train was put on to bring about 1000 people to the town for
the ceremony.
When the Dunedin Presbytery complained to the minister of
railways the fourth commandment was being broken and the
opening of a new church was no excuse, it was reported widely
in newspapers as far afield as Greymouth.
The present church was built in 1982.
Mrs Sinclair said while the research was time-consuming, it
had been relatively easy as church business had been reported
in great detail in newspapers.
The 150th anniversary was celebrated with a service in the
Waihola Community Church yesterday.
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