News » Leeston New Life opens "THE STATION"
Leeston New Life opens "THE STATION"
The Leeston New Life Centre has run a youth programe, "Teenz" for at least 26 years. The church foyer has served as a base for Teenz for many years, and as we have up to 100 youth attending, this was not always a suitable place to run it from. The church has had a vision for a purpose built youth facility for years, somewhere safe for our youth which provided us with an alternative to travelling to Christchurch for entertainment, so when the seed store across the road from the church became available for purchase, the vision started becoming reality. By Feb 07 the purchase was completed, and The Station started to take shape. Most of the funds for the purchase and refit, which included stripping the internals, new concrete floors, re-roofing, stained wall panels, commercial kitchen and all the many council requirements, were generated from within the congregation. Many contractors and local businesses have also given generously of time and materials. The driving force behind the project was Lyndon Sutherland, father of 4 boys and church elder.
The official opening was November 21-22 2009, with hundreds of invited guests and locals participating in everything from a youth concert, Golden Gumboot competition and Celebration Service.
Now finally, we have our huge facility serving two main purposes. One end is carpeted ( approx 200sq m) and will be used for socialising, meetings, entertaining etc, while the other end is set up for indoor sports - netball, cricket and soccer, with the entire 200 sq metres enclosed with cricket net.
A significant PA system is installed and automatic doors make it the most user friendly venue in the township.
Plans are afoot to use The Station for everything from childrens holiday programs, community events, twilight netball, regular youth activities and social functions to name a few.
This is a very exciting time for Leeston New Life, as they explore ways of using this vessel to reach the community.