Punt service to make comeback in Chch

Press, 10 November 1988, Page 7

Punt service to make comeback in Chch

By

NIGEL MALTHUS

The Canterbury Promotion Council is inviting staff and management of hotels and restaurants along the Avon River to “roll their sleeves up and give a helping hand” in a working bee tomorrow to dredge sections of the riverbed. “Hl be there,” said Mr Bruce Dunstan, the Promotion Council’s chief executive.

The working bee was aimed at preparing the river for the return of punts, to restart on Saturday.

The service was previously run by the Christchurch Punting Company but stopped when the company went , into Receivership with£ the

company’s Thomas Edmonds Restaurant.

The Canterbury Promotion Council, believing in the punts’ tourist value, has arranged with the receiver to run the service until the business is sold. Mr Dunstan said that the service would ply between the Worcester Street bridge and Madras Street, with three main landing areas — at Worcester Street, opposite the Town Hall Restaurant, and at the original base by the Thomas Edmonds Restaurant. The water at those points was a little shallow, however, and so the working bee would deepen it. Mr Dunstan invited businesses along the route — those most likgif to

benefit from the tourist spin-off — and anyone else interested to gather outside the Thomas Edmonds Restaurant at 8.30 a.m. tomorrow, bringing suitable implements, such as picks and shovels.

The Christchurch Drainage Board was prepared to consider deepening any other trouble spots along the route, he said.

Two of the four punts were being refurbished for use, and the council would employ five students to wield the poles, on a roster system.

The service will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, each day except Christmas day. Special bookings will be accepted outside these hours.