Menz Shed to have its day in courthouse

NEW HOME: A lot of work will transform the old courthouse into the Martinborough Menz Shed.

MARTINBOROUGH'S old courthouse is set to be brought back to life as the Martinborough Menz Shed.

The historic building, unoccupied since the mid'90s, was offered to the group by the South Wairarapa District Council.

Mayor Adrienne Staples said she was delighted a suitable site had been found for South Wairarapa's third Menz Shed.

"We didn't have a lot of spare buildings that we can offer and the old courthouse was one building that was used for storage but didn't have a lot of purpose on the horizon," Mrs Staples said. "We have been using it for storage for years and there has been all sorts of talk about shifting it or using it as an information centre, but it remained as a storage facility."

The old courthouse would give the Menz Shed a good base to start with, she said.

"Obviously, we're very supportive of the concept. We have one in Greytown and Featherston, so Martinborough was the icing on the cake.,"

Inaugural Martinborough Menz Shed committee chairman Ric Geisler said getting the historic building up to scratch would give members something to focus on.

"We are obviously going to be careful in our restoration so it still looks like the courthouse because it's not a matter of going in and knocking down walls - it has to be done carefully," he said.

"We want to restore it and bring it back to life."

Since Wairarapa's fourth and newest Menz Shed was launched in June, members had been meeting in a storage facility the district council had loaned them.

Mr Geisler said the initial membership of 19 men had jumped to more than 70 and the first Martinborough Menz Shed annual meeting was scheduled for October.

The old courthouse needed a lot of work and members would do much of it.

"We'll have to come up with a plan to reconfigure the insides so we don't lose any of the character."

Mr Geisler said the site's central location was ideal.

"It's walking distance for people living in town and easy access for the people coming from the retirement home. It will be a real asset having it next to the new community hall."

A working bee this Saturday will be held at the storage facility, across the road from the council.

"We have been making it secure and tidying it up and putting donated tools in there.

"On Saturday we are tidying up the grounds and having a discussion on site about what we need to do in the [storage] facility, so we can actually do some projects and people can get involved in using some of the equipment before we move in to the courthouse.

"Because there's still a fair amount of work to do," said Mr Geisler.

"The building itself gives us a focus, we now have a facility, which will ultimately become a Menz Shed."

Sitting on a quarter-acre (1012sq m) section, the building was pressed into service as the borough council chambers once it was no longer required as a courthouse.