The small South Taranaki town of Kākaramea, 8 km north of Pātea and close to the Pariroa Pā Marae, is steeped in local history.
“There’s been a hall on this spot for 150 years. The first one was built in 1875, and our current hall celebrated its centenary last year.
“The village itself includes an engineering business, an old pub and about 40 houses, and of course the local school opposite the hall. In total, the Kākaramea area has about a hundred houses,” said Marie Dwyer, who’s been the Hall Committee’s Secretary/Treasurer since 1984.
“We have an active hall committee of 21 people, and four years ago we decided to upgrade the hall in time for the school jubilee in 2026.
“But with a total cost of $120 000, it was a huge undertaking, and one of our biggest challenges was to get everyone on board with raising and spending such a large amount of money,” said Marie.
A $30,000 grant from the Toi Foundation allowed the committee to add a much-needed storage room this year, to house the furniture that had previously been stacked in the supper room.
Marie says the hall is very well used, hosting a weekly keep-fit class, a wide variety of meetings, funerals, weddings, fundraisers and community events.
“We have district dinners twice a year where 80–90 people turn up. Like the curry night we held after Covid to get people back together, hamburger nights where the hall committee cooks the burgers, and whisky tastings every couple of years because a lot of people around here are into top-grade whisky.
“The school uses the hall too, with kapa haka practices, school productions, and they have ‘Kak’s Got Talent’—and that’s always an interesting afternoon.”
