Church future hangs in balance as cost of quake repairs tallied up

Thursday, 2 November 2017

Leicester Murray does not want to see St Oswald's Anglican Church demolished, but his family cannot cover the repair work by themselves.

A historic Marlborough church needs either repaired or demolished, and which way it goes may come down to conscience.

The future of St Oswald's Anglican Church, south of Ward, is weighing heavily on Leicester Murray's shoulders.

Engineers say the church can be repaired, but the cost is still being finalised.

Murray, the grandchild of Charles and Jessie Murray, who built St Oswald's Church in 1927, said if he did not accept an offer by the Nelson Anglican Diocese to take ownership of the 90-year-old church, it could become a pile of rubble.

'I can't sleep at night,' Murray said.

The church is not insured for earthquake damage.

St Oswald's Anglican Church, on State Highway 1, is 70km north of Kaikōura.

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The Nelson Anglican Diocese, who ran the church, offered the historic building back to the Murray family.

And whoever owned the church would have to decide its future, Murray said.

He said the diocese was not willing to repair it.

'The Nelson Diocese have said they don't have any money, don't have any insurance. Basically, would the family like it back?'

However, Murray was hesitant to accept the offer before engineers checked it over.

'We have said right before actually accepting that offer, we better do due diligence and go 'what would it actually be that we are taking on?'' he said.

Engineers had told Murray the church could be repaired.

'They have now come back and done their second phase of investigating to prepare a cost strategy,' Murray said.

Murray said he really did not want to see the church destroyed.

'We are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place,' he said.

Nelson Diocesan Trust Board trustee David Allpress said it was not their intention to demolish the church.

'We would be loathed to see it demolished,' he said.

He said if Murray did not want to accept their offer they would love to see the church still standing, despite not having the resources to restore it themselves.

'I am exceedingly optimistic they can gather around a group that can see it stand.'

The cost to repair the church had not been finalised.

'If the engineers come back and go 'look you are staring down the throat of a minimum of $1 million then we will have to go hmmm, how are we going to raise that sort of money?'' Murray said.

The family would need to raise funds if they had any hope of repairing the damage.

Murray said he believed the community would chip in to help raise some of the money, with $1000 already donated from a 'stranger' in Southland.

'I had no idea who the beautifully written letter and cheque came from.'

But moments like that made him realise what the church meant to the wider community, Murray said.

Murray said he hoped to find out what the cost of repairs would be by mid November.

A Givealittle page has been set up to help cover repairs.