Support for camp upgrades needed
The Raincliff Youth Camp & Conference Centre opened in 1971.
Plans for a 50-year jubilee celebration had to be put on hold due to Covid.
Instead of a party, the camp's trust board decided to embark on a "not so glamorous, but kind of necessary" legacy project to mark the milestone.
After two years of planning and fundraising, work began last month on a $200,000 project to redevelop and upgrade the ageing men's and women's toilet blocks.
Raincliff Trust Board chairman Dave Carter said the first stage of the project focused on upgrading up the men's area.
"We're tidying all the walls, the showers and the toilets as well as redoing the floor, repainting all the ceilings and getting a heat pump in. By the time we finish it's going to be primo.
"It's a two-stage project, so next year we will be looking to do the women's side but we're spending money as and when we have it and require it. It's a big project."
Since opening, the camp has hosted over 100,000 adults, youth and children, with more than 2300 people from 47 different groups staying at the camp within the last year.
"It's a lot of bums on seats," Mr Carter said.
"The theory that we're working on is we've had good occupancy for years and years because it's a great place to come.
"We want people to continue to feel comfortable coming here and that the facilities are up to the mark.
"We're into week three and we've got a big stick that we're waving to get it done because we've got bookings on August 8, so we need to have our ducks in a row and everyone gone by then.
"At this stage we are probably ahead of schedule which is unusual."
Part of stage one was a family-friendly baby changing space, the upgrades to the disability area, and a keyless second toilet is being added that will always be accessible from the outside of the building.
Fundraising co-ordinator Martin Stewart said there was still a bit more community fundraising needed to get things over the line.
"The trust board put in $50,000 to kick-start things and that's also us saying we've got skin in the game.
"We are approaching a lot of funders and some of them have come through already.
"Our big thing is to go to the community itself and we're hoping the community will match the $50,000 the trust board put in."
The trust felt very strongly that it was a community-owned facility, that it held it for the community, he said.
"It's a unique kind of outfit in South Canterbury and we want people to know about it and continue to make use of it in the future.
"We went through the list of the schools that have used it in the last 18 months or so, and there was a list of 27 or 28.
"It's in our constitution that we have to keep the fees at a level where everyone has the opportunity to come and use the place and by doing that, we don't have the excess money to do things like this."
He said being able to provide a place where people of all ages could have an outdoor camping experience was as important as ever.
"You come to a place like this, the connections and relationships, the pace, the landscape and engagement with the land just does something to us that you don't get from sitting in front of a box with a game on it."
Anyone interested in contributing to the project can contact Mr Carter at carterinstallations116@gmail.com or Mr Stewart at marttherev@gmail.com
connor.haley@timarucourier.co.nz
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