Time short for funding

Press, 15 October 1986, Page 52

Time short for funding

The speed at which the artificial hockey surface has become a reality at Porritt Park has caught the board established to oversee fund raising for the surface off guard. Hockey adminstrators had hoped to have a three-year period' to raise their $150,000 share of the cost of the surface, but so rapid has been the progress on the project that the Canterbury Hockey Artificial Surface Appeal Board (CHASA) has only had two years to do its fund raising. The surface was expected to be ready about the end of 1987 and the hockey associations and the Christchurch City Council were targeting their budget towards that period. However, a grant of $250,000 from the lottery board has enabled the project to be initiated earlier than expected. When the surface is opened, probably in February, it is likely the Canterbury Hockey Association and the Canterbury Women’s Hockey Association will be about $30,000 short of their target

Players have been levied for the last two years to raise finance for the project and the final year of the levy will be next season. That will reduce the deficit by several thousand dollars. The board still has a number of five-year tickets to the park at s3*o and it will be mak-

ing a concerted effort to sell them before next season. The board has started progressive payments to the Christchurch City Council and by Christmas will have contributed $llO,OOO towards the construction cost CHASA has received considerable support from outside Christchurch for the project. When completed the park will provide the best facilities in New Zealand. There are two cities with artificial surfaces .but neither will boast the facilities that Christchurch will have. Whangarei has a surface with facilities several hundred metres away, and Wellington has no facilities at its million-dollar surface at Mount Albert park. A festival of hockey is planned for the opening in February but the format has not been finalised yet It would be an opportune time to bring to Christchurch the New Zealand women’s team which was fourth in the women’s World Cup in Amsterdam in August The New Zealand team has been in Christchurch once in the last 15 years. If the C.H.A. was considering inviting the men’s team, in the last week it should have decided; to save its money.

KEVIN TUTTY