Boys’ home holiday offer

Press, 8 December 1987, Page 3

Boys’ home holiday offer

By

TONY SMITH

in Nelson

The Garindale Boys’ Home, near Nelson, will be rented to holidaymakers during the summer to help ease the institution’s financial pressures. The principal, Mrs Franziska Contag, said yesterday that the home had been made available for youth camps in the past but this was the first year it was being offered to the general public as accommodation.

"We have a $70,000 debt to meet and we think renting our amenities out to holidaymakers is a good way to raise some money,” she said. Garindale, about 10km north of Nelson, is on a hillside with panoramic views of Tasman Bay and the Boulder Bank. It be-

gan life about 50 years ago as an orphanage called Sunnybank, run by Catholic nuns.

For the last 15 years Garindale has been run as a boys’ home by the Catholic Social Services organisation with some financial assistance from the Social Welfare Department. Twelve boys, aged between 12 and 16, live at Garindale during the school year. Most are from Wellington and have been sent to Garindale by their parents or as State wards. The majority of the residents attend State high schools in Nelson, though some, are taught by correspondence at Garindale and assist on the home’s organic crop farm run by the resident administrator and farmer, Mr Tim Maples.

Mrs Contag said it cost $28,000 to keep one boy at Garindale for a year and the home was required to raise $20,000 from within the Nelson community. Produce from the farm was sold at the Nelson flea market and the leasing of facilities to holidaymakers was another novel way of meeting the fund target, she said. Garindale would be available to visitors from December 21 after the boys had left to return to their homes for the holiday period, Mrs Contag said. Some staff members would stay at the home as supervisors while holidaymakers were there. She said Garindale could probably cater for up to 20 guests at one time but the facilities were not in the five-star category.

“Our standard of accommodation is pretty basic and isn’t for people who expect' anything fancy. But it might appeal to families who could not otherwise afford a holiday. We have a lot of facilities here to suit families, such as a big swimming pool, a tennis court, a trampoline and a table tennis table and we’re very close to the sea and to Nelson City.” Mrs Contag said that the accommodation costs had been aimed to appeal to holidaymakers on low budgets. Two adults with three children could stay at Garindale for $35 a night or $245 a week. “We hope it will attract a few family gatherings, although the place probably isn’t really suitable for very young children,” she said.