A record grants budget of $12 million sees two Central Otago heritage buildings receive large grants in the current CLT round.
Teviot Museum receive $80,000 towards the purchase of Roxburgh’s Masonic Lodge on the town’s main street. The lodge is to be repurposed into a much needed larger and more prominent museum for the district, to add to the current early settler museum.
Teviot District Museum secretary, Barbara Fraser says the chairman, John Rowley and the committee were delighted to learn of the news.
““The museum’s current location is tucked away on Abbotsford Street. The small stone cottage
is full to overflowing, and has no running water or bathroom facilities. Expanding the current
site would be double the cost of purchasing the Freemason’s lodge to repurpose. It is also in a
more prominent location, which will attract more visitors,” she says. “We are just working
through agreements with the Freemasons now, and once we have all the funding lined up, the purchase will go through. Thanks to CLT we are a good way there.”
The other big grant went to our local Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust, who received $62,500 towards the purchase of the old Methodist Church, a registered heritage building in Cromwell.
The Heritage Trust’s offices are based out of the building, as well as the local movie theatre.
“Securing the purchase of the building means we can look to preserve and restore it for our future generations and the community’s use,” says Odette Hopgood Bride, Heritage Trust treasurer.
“We have now secured 50% of the funding required for purchase. While the church is protected
by the district plan and The Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 we have applied to
Heritage New Zealand for the church to become a category listed building,” she says.
The purchase of 4,000 more predator traps is that much closer with funding going to the Southern Lakes Sanctuary Trusts predator trapping programme.
Chairperson Greg Lind says, “The funding allows SLS and our partners the predator trapping expansion to operate at a landscape scale – the goal of the project.”
CLT Chief Executive Susan Finlay says,
“The Trust supports projects and organisations that preserve and promote the physical and
cultural heritage of our region and that protect and enhance the environment in which we live.
This funding round highlights the work our community is doing to preserve our heritage and environment.”
