Town Hall may be ‘convention centre’

Press, 20 September 1980, Page 7

Town Hall may be ‘convention centre’

The Christchurch Town Hall board of management will apply for membership of the international Congress and Convention Association.

The manager of the Town Hall (Mr B. P. Connell) has told a meeting of the hoard that four New Zealand companies belonged to the organisation, which had 200 members in 67 countries. They aimed to attract international conventions to New Zealand.

The Town Hall would become a member under the category of “convention centre.”

Membership would help attract, “lucrative” convention bookings, because the Town Hall could not bid for conventions on its own. Promotional costs would be shared by the group, and full servicing would be available through member organisations. Government support was also anticipated, he said.

The application would be considered by the association in November, said Mr Connell. It would cost 2000 guilders (about $NZ1000), to join.

Cr Mollie Clark said it would be a big lean forward to get into the international convention circuit. Moving the recommendation, she said the Town Hall had everything to gain and nothing to loose in the move. Jaycees The . board decided to waive $5OO in rental after a charity concert by the North Christchurch Jaycees incurred a loss of $1290.

Mr Connell said that the Town Hall had allowed an initial reduction of $450 on the base rent charged. The amount required to cover costs was $3157, and the actual rental after costs was $464.

He said the “Newz Flash” concert did not receive the support expected by the group. Members of the board

supported waiving $5OO, but Cr R. W. J. Skjellerup said the Town Hall could not always be expected to be a “back stop.” Booking fees Mr Connell told the meeting that he planned to increase Town Hall booking fees from 25c to 30c next year. This would bring them into line with fees charged in Wellington and Auckland.

Storage The board agreed to rent from the Christchurch City Council a building at the corner of Durham Street and Victoria Street for storage. The rent would be $275 a month. Mr Connell said the advantage over the present (site, a property owned by [the Vanderlay Trust on KilImore Street which cost $325 la month, was that the new :site was available on a long-1 iterm lease. The Kilmore Street, site had only a monthly lease.