It reluctantly closed its doors last week after 40-odd years of trading – first in Bow St, then in Wallis St – but Whaingaroa’s venerable Lions op shop hopes it can reopen in a new location soon.
Forced out by a recent rent rise, the Raglan Lions Club is now on the lookout for new, more affordable premises from which its small team of loyal volunteers can carry on their good work.
Income from the unprepossessing op shop is vital to the service club’s work in the community.
“We want to keep contributing to the community at the rate we’ve been doing,” long time committee member Wendy Coxhead told the Chronicle, “and to do that we really need a shop.”
Raglan Lions Club has backed the local community now for more than half a century, ever since its original charter was drawn up with 27 founding members.
“We’ve been active here a long time,” Wendy explained, listing myriad ways in which Lions have financed or instigated community projects – like the annual New Year’s Eve Parade – embodying the club motto ‘We Serve’.
And virtually all of it has been possible solely through the proceeds from the sale of second-hand goods at the op shop, she said.
Club president Bernice Richards was adamant on the shop’s final day of business last Thursday that the Lions would stay active in the community. “We’re moving forward into change,” she insisted.
She was grateful for the years of low rent and confident another opportunity for a new space within the community would come up.
Meantime the charity will continue its regular “garage sales”, weather permitting, out of the old Coastguard shed alongside the police station. And there’ll be “pop-up shops” from the Lions room – where donated gear gets sorted – at the back of the Old School Arts Centre to coincide with monthly creative market days.
Bernice said the Lions had often donated generously to the Old School, including to functions like the recent Raglan Arts Film Festival Awards and the biennial Art To Wear show of which it is a main sponsor.
“Don’t ask me how much money we’ve given out over the years, but it’s a lot,” she adds.
Other causes supported by the Lions include the Feed the Kids campaign which runs out of Raglan Area School. Long before that, the club got behind Te Uku and Te Mata Schools fundraisers to get their old swimming pools relined and up to safety standards.
These were “massive” projects, Wendy recalls.
Raglan Lions continue to sponsor young people to the likes of world surf champs or onto Spirit of Adventure voyages.
Members of both Raglan Surf Life Saving Club and Raglan Volunteer Coastguard have also been supported, and there have been recent contributions to everything from the World Rally Championship – when it came to town recently – through to Raglan’s first Matariki street celebrations.
The club has also helped local waka ama duo Christine Walters and Wayne Trott make it to the world sprints, while anyone from new mums who may be struggling or destitute backpackers who’ve had their gear stolen have likewise had assistance.
“We help whoever needs help in our community,” Bernice said.
Ironically it’s the service organisation itself that could now do with a little help – in the form of an affordable retail space to keep on keeping on.
*Please contact Bernice or committee treasurer Paul Masters at Raglan Book & Gift Centre if you can assist with the search for premises.
By Edith Symes
