rebuilding the jetty

Seven years is a long time to spend your spare time fundraising to save something you’ve never used.

When Louisa Eades and her family moved to Governors Bay in January 2015, they knew very little about the striking 300m-long wooden jetty that graces the bay, other than it was very long and it was closed.

“Five weeks after moving to Governors Bay, we went to a public meeting about the jetty, held at the local pub, to find out more. Any excuse for a pint,” says Louisa. “The Council representatives at the meeting said they were not going to repair the jetty, which was shocking news. A community-spirited local asked for volunteers to form a committee to save it. I put my hand up – and the jetty has been a huge part of my life ever since!”.

The original jetty committee had 9 members – eight men and one woman. Over the last seven years, the committee (now a registered charitable Trust) has achieved many milestones, travelling a sometimes-rocky road to get where they are now.

Highlights include getting resource consent and building consent, securing funding of $935,000 from the Council, and buying the jetty from the Council for $1. Lowlights include cancelling fundraising events due to COVID-19, vandalism of the gate preventing access to the jetty, and a couple of deliberately lit fires on the jetty.

As well as the jetty rebuild project, the jetty Trust has taken on a project to relocate a small heritage building and put it next to the jetty, where Lionel Jefcoate’s boat building shed once stood. It was originally built as a yacht club house in 1923, and later used as the Lyttelton Sea Scout den for several decades.

The building is in temporary storage on Lyttelton Port Company land and will have to be demolished if it is not relocated. This humble building will be renovated and repurposed as an information centre, training room, kayak storage facility, art studio, and event venue.

Is it worth the effort?

“Yes!” says Louisa. “Governors Bay Jetty is a unique space. It was first built in 1874 and is the same length as New Brighton Pier.

“It can be used by absolutely anyone of any age, including those in wheelchairs or pushchairs. The experience of walking out over water, surrounded by a dramatic volcanic landscape, is something you never forget. I’ve heard many wonderful stories about the jetty; childhood memories, romance, adventure.

“The jetty is a place to reflect, to think, to remember, and to be at one with nature. And, of course, you can jump off it and go for a swim!

“The jetty also connects the land to the sea, so is vital for kayaking and swimming in the area. Without the jetty, access to the water is limited to a couple of hours either side of high tide.

“Many people have spent countless hours volunteering and have given generous donations to save this precious place. They have got us to where we are today. I feel a huge personal responsibility not to let our donors and funders down, and not to deprive future generations of the chance to make their own jetty memories.”

So where is the project at now?

“There are two questions people always ask me,” says Louisa. “’How much is it going to cost and when will it be rebuilt?’. At last, we know the answers to those questions”.

It will cost $3.5 million. That’s a lot of money, but is still much less than the Council’s estimate to rebuild the jetty in 2015 - $7.8 million. The main reason it’s so much cheaper is thanks to community spirit – thousands of hours have been donated by hundreds of volunteers.

To put it into perspective, the jetty rebuild requires around 5.5 kilometres of hardwood planks, 2 kilometres of hardwood beams, 2 kilometres of hardwood rails, 1 kilometre of hardwood piles, and a lot of stainless steel fixings. It also involves 6 months of construction work and specialist equipment.

We have over half of the cost covered so far - $930,000 from the jetty Trust and $935,000 from the Council.

The rebuild is starting in August 2022. We have signed a fixed-price construction contract and ordered the hardwood timber from Australia. The rebuild is scheduled to finish in February 2023.

We’re able to commit to these dates thanks to a line of credit secured through the Council, but we need to fundraise at least $820,000 to avoid drawing on that line of credit (assuming the Council will continue to match the community dollar-for-dollar). If we have to borrow the money, then we will have to continue fundraising until the debt is paid off. It’s worth taking the risk so that we get the job done now.

How are you going to raise $820,000?

Our key fundraiser is “sponsor a plank”. We’ve got 370 planks sponsored so far and need another 1100 sponsors to raise $700,000. Everyone who sponsors a plank (for $600) gets a name or short message of their choice on their plank on the new jetty.

“We’ve got plenty of memorial planks, but also planks commemorating weddings and planks with the name of someone’s children or grandchildren,” says Louisa. “There are some uplifting messages too – ‘Eat some ice creams and do some bombs’, ‘Smile more’, ‘Our happy place’, ‘Take 15 seconds to enjoy the view’, ‘Don’t take life too seriously’, and ‘Let your past be your compass, but never your anchor’”.

These days, the Trust Board is much more balanced, with four women and four men. This volunteer leadership team has a great mix of skills and experience – the chair is a construction lawyer, the treasurer is an engineer, and the secretary (Louisa) is a professional writer.

“Once the jetty is rebuilt, I’m not sure what I’ll do what my spare time,” says Louisa. “But I expect my garden will be tidier and my house a lot cleaner!”.

For more information or to sponsor a plank, go to www.savethejetty.org.

The power of community spirit

rebuilding the jetty