Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Local Focus: The club helping lay loved ones to rest

Jie Pang
By Jie Pang
Hawkes Bay Today·
9 Jun, 2023 02:47 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Volunteers at Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay have been making baby coffins since 2015.

It’s a truly heartbreaking sight in the decorating room of Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay where hundreds of baby coffins, made by volunteers, are sent to maternity wards around the North Island.

“We supply baby coffins to the hospitals in Hastings, Gisborne, Wairoa, and Wanganui, also any member of the public that has a need for a baby coffin,” said club treasurer Cherie Hames.

Materials for the coffins are donated and volunteers come to help every Tuesday morning.

Volunteer Christina Ellison knows first-hand how important the work is: “I lost my little girl, many years ago. She’d have been in her 50s now.

“They took her out to the hospital, tried to resuscitate her, but it didn’t work. It happened too fast.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Hastings resident Hana Stevenson shared a similar experience: “Twenty years ago, I miscarried my baby. I was in a lot of pain because I didn’t understand at such a young age. I was 21. I never understood what it was like to lose a baby. It’s devastating.”

Hames said there’s a huge need in the community for baby coffins.

“It’s actually a higher turnover than anybody ever imagines. But it’s something that we don’t really discuss in the community.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
The Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay has made baby coffins since 2015, sending them to hospitals in the North Island.
The Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay has made baby coffins since 2015, sending them to hospitals in the North Island.

Each Tuesday morning, 30-to-40 people volunteer their time and the club estimates it’s given away around 1000 coffins to date.

Underneath the decorating room is a workshop for carpentry and painting.

Eighty-eight-year-old Peter McCormick is the club’s oldest member.

“I joined about three years ago, and I was a bit surprised to think that there was even a coffin club. I came and had a look and I was very impressed.”

Volunteer Ted Bos wrapped his own coffin in the Campbell of Argyll tartan pattern, the same as the Hastings Pipe Band.

“I know a coffin has 58 screws holding it together. So the bottom is not going to fall out,” Bos said.

The club gives members the opportunity to have some control in preparing their final destination.
The club gives members the opportunity to have some control in preparing their final destination.

As well as being able to fully customise your coffin, the cost is also more affordable.

“For your coffin, and your membership it’s $700, what that does is you’ve got your coffin. It’s already put together, it’s already under curtains,” said Hames.

When it comes to conversations at the club, it isn’t all doom and gloom.

“We laugh, we talk, we play, we tell stories. Nobody here is scared of death,” said Bos.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Coffin Club opens its door to the public from 9am to 12pm on Tuesdays at 707 Sylvan Rd, Parkvale, Hastings.

Public Interest Journalism Fund
Public Interest Journalism Fund
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

07 Jul 04:25 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

07 Jul 04:10 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

07 Jul 04:03 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

07 Jul 04:25 AM

The winners will be celebrated at Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts and Events Centre on July 31.

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

07 Jul 04:10 AM
One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

07 Jul 04:03 AM
'Massive cleanup': Fire damages Napier cocktail bar just months after opening

'Massive cleanup': Fire damages Napier cocktail bar just months after opening

07 Jul 04:03 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP