Source: Radio New Zealand
The clubroom has no power, running water or bathroom, and not enough room for their roughly 50 members to shelter and socialise. RNZ / Tess Brunton
A Dunedin croquet club has been roughing it for eight years after asbestos was found in their old clubroom.
A shipping container for equipment, a few picnic tables and an old shed repurposed as a clubroom are down one end of the croquet lawn at Tainui Croquet Club.
The club has no electricity; fresh water comes from a hose poked through a nearby fence; a portaloo provides toilet access; and they share kai outside because the shed is too small to shelter everyone.
But the club plans to use funds from the sale of cheese rolls and tea towel fundraisers into a new clubroom.
Member Linda Martin said the current situation was far from ideal but it had not made a difference to the spirit of the club.
“We’re basically camping in a shed that we patch up from time to time just to keep it waterproof. We have no running water, no electricity, inadequate seating. We can’t house everyone so we don’t stop for cups of tea anymore – or not all together anyway,” she said.
Member Linda Martin said everyone used to stop for a cuppa midway through the afternoon but that effectively stopped once their old clubroom was closed off. RNZ / Tess Brunton
Even making a simple cup of tea was an effort.
Club members often resorted to bringing a thermos of heated water or soup from home and their dirty dishes went home with a designated dish washer.
Martin joined the club when the old clubroom was still open.
“We had big tables. Play stopped part way through the afternoon. Everyone just stopped in the middle of a game, everyone came in, had a cup of tea together, a biscuit, a chat, and you got to meet people,” she said.
“Then we went out and carried on playing again and there were big viewing windows and a really nice large meeting space.”
Trish Enright (left) and club president Helen Day want a warm, safe, dry place for players. RNZ / Tess Brunton
When RNZ visited the club, Trish Enright was braving the rain for a game.
Croquet was a combination of chess and war – that was part of the appeal, she said.
The Dunedin City Council closed the clubroom in 2018 after concerns were raised about asbestos in the building following an inspection.
Further expert assessments confirmed asbestos.
The building was then demolished in 2021.
To make tea, they collect water from a hose poked through a fence and boil it using a gas cooker, but they often do not have milk as they have no fridge to store it. RNZ / Tess Brunton
Club president Helen Day said members wanted a warm, safe and dry place where they could have a cup of tea and a chinwag.
The club had roughly 50 members but it was like packing sardines trying to fit into the current clubroom, she said.
“About a year ago we decided that we need to have a legacy for people to leave behind something for new members to the club,” Day said.
“The club’s nearly 100 years old. We don’t want it to end simply because our buildings are falling down around us.”
A prefabricated building was expected to cost up to $45,000 with more money needed for plumbing, electricity, drainage and landscaping.
The existing facility. RNZ / Tess Brunton
Expert cheese roll makers
Vice president Sue Graham said members and their families had been putting in the mahi.
“One of the things that our members can do is make cheese rolls. We can’t chop firewood as we used to, but we can make cheese rolls,” Graham said.
“Last year, we made 1200 dozen which is an astounding number of cheese rolls.”
They were also selling tea towels with their special cheese roll recipe on them.
Sue Graham said their members and families made 1200 dozen cheese rolls last year to help fundraise for a new clubroom. RNZ / Tess Brunton
She described croquet players as a stoic bunch who were often prepared to have a game in all conditions, but they wanted to have a warm place to escape the weather and catch up.
The new clubroom would be a big upgrade, she said.
“In those clubrooms, we will have power for goodness sake and we will have a sink to wash dishes in and we’re very excited about those things that people just take for granted.”
Close to $15,000 had been raised so far, she said.
Day said a new clubroom would also be a boon for their retired members.
“I think if we had a place they could come and sit and watch play and socialise with the players – people they’ve played with in the past … and have the opportunity to encourage and nurture new players, it would be fabulous,” Day said.
But everyone was welcome.
“Absolutely anyone can have a go at croquet,” she said
The Tainui Croquet Club https://www.facebook.com/tainuicroquetclub was preparing for two cheese roll-ups this year to get more money for its new home.
The Dunedin City Council said it had provided the club with support and guidance on the project.
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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/27/jumping-through-hoops-dunedin-croquet-players-on-a-mission-to-end-primitive-facilities/