“Don’t let us down now, Timmy Boy!” A refreshed and rebranded fundraising campaign for the long-awaited Motueka aquatic centre was launched last Wednesday at Motueka’s RSA, with speeches, bonhomie and plenty of reasons to celebrate for the project’s committee and supporters.
The Motueka community needs to raise $4.4 million as its share of the $20 million build, and it was announced at the launch that two sizeable anonymous donations, worth $250,000 and $20,000, had been added to the pot.
Since then, a further $12,000 has been given by the community. These donations are steadily boosting the approximately $1 million already raised over the project’s 30-year campaign.
Campaign launch emcee Tim Morice noted that the project had secured both land and money from the Tasman District Council, before sending a light-hearted plea to Mayor Tim King to follow through.
In reply, Tim reconfirmed his commitment for the project, joking that he could pledge his support “for the next four days” – until the election results had been counted.
Swimming pools, he told the crowd, provide something for all age groups and “are a fantastic asset.”
The aquatic centre project has faced many false starts over the decades, and the now re-elected mayor acknowledged there was “no perfect time to start” a project of this scale.
“This is the single biggest opportunity Motueka has to get this pool over the line.”
The crowd also heard from 17-year-old swimmer Zac Woods, who travels from Motueka to the Richmond Aquatic Centre five times a week to train.
The top tier athlete reckons he has swum almost 5000km in the five years, but to make that possible, his mother Lis has had to drive 96,000km.
“She did encourage me to get my driver’s license as soon as I could,” he quipped.
He said the distance to a year-round pool is disadvantaging local children.
“I feel Motueka kids are missing out on competitive swimming,” he says. Fellow athlete and former Olympian Rod Dixon congratulated the committee on its hard work and said he was looking forward to seeing the project’s completion.
Committee members Fred Hickling and Ross Loveridge reflected on the project’s long history, with Fred referencing the “blood, sweat and tears” poured into it so far.
“I want to bloody swim in the thing, and the sad thing is, there’s a lot of people gone who wanted to as well.”
Ross outlined two key ways the public can support the campaign from here – with money or with time. “In any sized drop you can – after all, every drop counts.”
