Carter statue project gets $50k boost

WE'RE THERE: Allan Renall of the Carterton Lions Club is "over the moon" to have received Lotteries funding for a statue of Charles Rooking Carter. PHOTO/FILE

A $50,000 Lotteries grant means a statue of Carterton's founding father can get under way, with the project expected to be completed early next year.

Carterton Lions Club secretary and project organiser Allan Renall said the club learned late last week its funding application for the Charles Rooking Carter statue had been successful. "I couldn't believe it. We are over the moon."

He was pleasantly surprised the club had received the full amount of funding it had applied for. "I never thought in my wildest dreams that we'd get the full lot.

"[We] ticked all the boxes and we'd obviously done a fairly good job of our application - dotting our I's and crossing our T's ... and because Lotteries have been so generous it's brought the whole thing forward."

The Lotteries funding was expected to come through in the next few weeks, allowing the club to pay a deposit to Auckland casting company Progressive Castings, which will create the statue.

The club had been fundraising for the past eight or nine months and had already raised $50,000 through donations and subscriptions, Mr Renall said. Construction of the 1.8-metre bronze statue, which was to be sited in Millennium Park, would take place in Auckland and was expected to take between three and six months. A polystyrene model would be made first, so it could be checked by club members before the final version of the statue was cast.

The Carterton District Council is planning a revamp of Millennium Park, and placement of the statue would be timed to co-ordinate with that, Mr Renall said.

It was hoped the statue would appeal to tourists, as well as offer educational benefits to residents.