Pukehiki church marks 150 years

Preparing  afternoon tea for the 150th anniversary of the Pukehiki Community Church yesterday  are Pukehiki Hall Society members  Janice Aldis (left) and Lynn Samuels. 

About 130 people packed into the historic church for a special service that was also attended by descendants of the church’s builder, Walter Riddle, and its first minister, Alexander Grieg.

Church trustee Maarten van Eerten said the Pukehiki community was very fortunate to have the original library, church and community hall still standing. 

Since the early 1990s the church had been officially a community church run by a trust and  held about five services a year, Mr van Eerten said.

It was a very popular location for weddings and was still used regularly for funerals, he said.