The Grand Master cuts the ribbon.
of a very disturbed individual who had no idea of the reasons for, or consequences of, his actions. Speculation that it was some sort of assault on Masonry is even more ridiculous, as his attempted explanations to the courts made obvious. Early and prompt financial contributions from fellow Lodges in the Waikato and in general made a huge difference to the resolve to re establish the home of The Waipa Lodge. It made us realise that we had a duty to Freemasonry itself to do so. A fundraising dinner held at Wintech in Hamilton, principally organised by brethren from outside Waipa, and supported by brethren from far and wide made sure that we knew that we had the backing to do so. Many people helped us on the road back and I thank them all. I hope that their real sense of satisfaction comes from what they have seen of the finished work. Once the resolve had been strengthened the process started, subject to the sorting out of insurance. While this was not an easy process, in the end I believe that we were well treated by our insurers and we had much cause to be thankful for the professional assistance that we received along the way. Early on we considered alternative sites or premises and, no doubt, we could have gone down that trail. However, a really good look at what we were left with established that, while the refectory area of the old building was certainly beyond any sort of salvage, the Lodge room itself and the service areas, which were part of a 1980s rebuild,
were mostly smoke and water damaged, therefore potentially salvageable to the experienced eye. At this stage we took the most important and significant step in the process. We approached building consultant Ross McGowan, to guide us through the rebuild. Apart from being a thorough professional Ross is a long time local citizen of the Te Awamutu district with a deep interest in his community and its people as well as having a caring approach to his craft. In the course of completing this building, generally on time and more or less within budget, Ross dug us out of every hole that we dug for ourselves along the way. A lot of measuring and agonising took place within the lesser damaged part of the Lodge rooms. Eventually we decided that we could do without the
old refectory area and incorporate this within the very abundant foyer area left standing as well as providing a kitchen quite satisfactory for our purposes. A lot of measuring and agonising also went into the area available for assembly prior to entering the Lodge room. We also became aware that there would be other issues with refurbishing, beyond those directly associated with the fire. The roof, in particular, had been causing concerns for some years. With the further damage resulting from the fire the prudent course was to reroof the whole of the building, re pitch some of the old roof and replace guttering, to improve watershed thus making a huge difference to the soundness of the building. Internally, replacement of the ceiling within the Lodge room, replacement of wall linings and carpet, cleaning, electrics and repainting have all been attended to. The decision at the beginning of the process to appoint a Project Manager to manage the work, rather than tendering for a lump sum contract meant that the need to attend to each part of the work could be assessed and tested as we went along. This has made for considerable savings along the way Early in the restoration consideration was given to enhancing the sound within the Lodge room. The most common complaint these days being ‘I can’t hear.’ In the end this was put aside as being too expensive and we were prepared to wait until the renewed space was tested and a need re-established.
The Mayor of Waipa, Mr J Mylchreest with MWBro John Litton.
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