Communities throughout Central Otago, particularly the folk of Roxburgh, are trying to come to grips with the loss of their beloved historic town hall before its flame-licked bricks have barely cooled down.
The fire on Waitangi Day burnt much of the complex to the ground but left its brick facade standing, though its future too is uncertain and engineers are assessing whether it can be saved.
The building, an Art Deco beauty opened in 1931, did not have heritage status or protection.
The earlier Athenaeum Hall was moved to the back of the section, allowing the town hall and cinema to front on to Scotland St.
As well as struggling to come to terms with the loss of the heart of their town, locals will be grieving for the good times they have spent there over the years, the tangible loss of where future events were going to be held, and the uncertainty of what may now lie ahead.
It is undeniable that such a facility is for an entire community to make use of, if they can be bothered.
Few in the area will not have been at a function, a wedding or a funeral, a prizegiving, a film or a meeting inside at some stage. Then there were the myriad flower shows, auctions, musicals, and fundraisers.
The energy, emotion and exhilaration of innumerable gatherings of family and friends will be etched into every single brick of the place, which makes the region’s loss even more heart-breaking.
The South has also lost a home for a grand olde "picture palace", which began in the old Athenaeum in 1897 and is now said to be the second-longest continuously operating cinema in the world behind one in Iowa, which has proof of screening films seven months earlier than Roxburgh did.
Roxburgh Entertainment Centre and Improvements Committee chairman Curtis Crawford is steadfast in his desire to keep screening movies on site regardless of the blaze, and hang on to that second-in-the-world ranking.
The intention is to screen films in the carpark in the meantime, using a half-sized digital projector, the back of his ute and a truck with a curtained side. People can bring their own seating.
Another group badly affected by the fire is the Roxburgh Musical Society. The fire burnt collections of costumes, hats, musical scores and programmes.
In a poignant touch, life member Wendy Turner was holding a bonnet during her inspection, believed to be the only wardrobe item which survived the blaze.
It had been borrowed from the wardrobe a week earlier.
Roxburgh, like many small towns and population centres around the South, is a resilient community, full of practical and phlegmatic residents who aren’t going to let something like a fire put an end to one of their treasures.
What is undoubtedly a terrible tragedy for the town will be put right somehow and made better.
Money, time and determination are all that is needed.
Perhaps one of the many gold companies now pouring in to make their fortunes from our region could turn their munificence Roxburgh’s way, and support a rebuild of the town hall and cinema in the Art Deco style to which the region has become accustomed?
Oh, how happy we are
There has been a good deal of understandable grumbling from Dunedin residents recently about the new hospital and concerns about the effects of the new Christchurch stadium.
It was a balm then that the most recent Quality of Life survey determined that of eight cities, Dunedin was the happiest, with 83% of the residents saying their quality of life was extremely good, very good, or good: 81% of Wellington and 80% of Christchurch folk reported the same.
Interestingly, according to the Dunedin City Council, there has been a consistent decline in the quality of life in the other seven centres surveyed since 2020.
However, Dunedin seems to have bucked that trend, with 27% reporting a rise in their quality of life compared with 24% who said they had experienced a decline.
This should not come as a surprise. We have our challenges, but our lifestyle is the envy of the country and the world.
