Tourism Runs Riot In Lake Tekapo Church

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32232, 26 February 1970, Page 12

Tourism Runs Riot In Lake Tekapo Church

The Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo has become a major tourist attraction—“something its builders had never envisaged,” said the vicar (the Rev. K. T. Davy) yesterday. Although there have been no serious acts of vandalism, that which has taken place is regarded as sacrilegious.

Mr Davy said an average of more than 200 persons visited the church daily, necessitating a major cleaning job weekly for the women of the church guild. It also meant a good deal of interference with the furnishings of the church, especially the organ, which was now in a poor state of repair, he said.

“People just do not seem < to be able to leave things 1 alone. They do not like things as they are. They change i round the cloth and candles, i and fling cushions about, i Locks have been fitted to the I historic organ, but have been ■ smashed almost immediately, i and it is safer to leave it un- : locked. An ordinary harmonium, it cannot play a de-1 cent tune because it has been | bashed round so much,” saidi Mr Davy. Influx Of Visitors About half a dozen tourist' coaches a day included the church in their itineraries, and he suspected that the culprits responsible for the “irritating” instances within the/ church were children, whose parents exercised little or no!

control over them, said Mr Davy. “It is annoying. The church is dirty within 24 hours of its having been cleaned, and it has become a full-time job for the dozen or so women who work on a roster system to tidy up the place," said Mr Davy. ■ The church has a wooden I floor with a carpet runner, I and it takes a woman two I hours and a half to return the chureh to its spotlessness. Alterations Planned Mr Davy said proposals were in hand for minor alterations to the interior of the church which would in no way alter its peculiar charm. The architect, Mr Paul PasIcoe, of Christchurch, has pro-

duced plans which provide for a small extension to the vestry area and the rebuilding of the vestry in wood to protect the organ. “Wooden shutters would be opened when the organ was needed for service,” said Mr Davy. The church, built of lakeside boulders and situated on the sunny slope of a valley, was erected as a memorial to the pioneers of the Mackenzie Country. The plateglass reredos above the altar provides a striking view of Lake Tekapo.