Katikati Coffin Club chairman Alan Day takes a photo of the finished boat coffin while another member adjusts the rigging.
Katikati Coffin Club chairman Alan Day takes a photo of the finished boat coffin while another member adjusts the rigging.
Dying doesn’t preclude people from the full benefits of this quirky club.
In fact, the Katikati Coffin Club has been sending its members off in style for the past nine years.
Its latest creation is a cleverly constructed yacht, complete with mast, which has been commissioned by one of its members who is unwell.
Club member John Russell said they were proud of their latest creation and it’s up there with a snooker table coffin they made a year or two back.
Coffins are not sold to the general public but a lifetime membership to the club is just $10. The caskets are made at cost - usually about $400-600, which is significantly less than the usual retail price of a coffin.
“People join and if they want a coffin made they can decide what type or sort and we decide if we can handle it or not. What happened was Peter wanted to have a boat made so everyone sat down and worked it out and made it.”
It’s not just about coffins though, people join for all sorts of reasons.
“We have people join just because they want to say to people, ‘I belong to the Coffin Club’ because it is a shock thing. Very interesting, isn’t it?
“The thing that we have discovered is that the Coffin Club actually opens up the discussion about death and dying and if people belong to that they can talk about that.”
It was founded by Katikati man Dennis Beach nine years ago.
“He put an ad in the Katikati Advertiser and 45 people turned up ... we have got about 345 members [now]. Some have passed on but a lot haven’t.”
The club hosts meetings every Wednesday, with 10-20 people turning up every week to help with making the coffins or just to have a cup of tea.
“We encourage people to give a hand, who can hold a piece of wood or paint. Some people are skilled and we have a team of people who sit down and design it and work it out and away they go.”
He said the latest creation was waterproof but it wouldn’t be going in the water and the mast would collapse down when it was time.
“The whole mast and everything is detachable because you could imagine [the problems] burying a coffin with a 10-foot mast.”
He said they had a good working relationship with the local cemetery and crematorium and all coffins were certified. They used untreated ply because it was good for burials and cremations.
A Katikati Coffin Club member inspects a snooker table coffin he had prepared especially for himself.
In addition to making coffins, members are also popular as guest speakers at various events and venues.
“We go to clubs, retirement villages and places like that. They ask us to talk to groups.”
He said there was no criteria for membership of the Katikati Coffin Club Incorporated and many people joined just so they could get their hands on its Final Wishes handbook, which is where people detail all of their final wishes and specific funeral details in advance.
They can turn a coffin around in a couple of weeks, although something more complicated like a yacht or a snooker table took a lot longer.
“It could be faster, it depends on the circumstances. We have had a person come in on a Wednesday and the funeral was on the following week, but we don’t encourage that.”
John said he wouldn’t know how many coffins they have built over the years but it was a lot.
