Greytown Society Loses Funding, Shuts Down

Friday, 26 September 2025, 6:38 am
Article: Emily Ireland - Local Democracy Reporter

Lucy Cooper and Emily Ireland

A Greytown organisation, which says it has a 25-year track record in boosting community participation in sport and recreation, is shutting down after missing out on funding. In a closed-door meeting, South Wairarapa councillors recently voted to grant a Masterton-based provider money to deliver a sports and recreation service in South Wairarapa. 

The Greytown Sport and Leisure Society provided support services to 14 sports and recreation clubs, including 1st Greytown Scout Group, Greytown Swim Club, and the Wellington Wairarapa Gliding Club. Gavin Hodder, its chairperson, said he was “obviously disappointed that a long standing Greytown organisation can no longer exist because it doesn't have any funding”. “It’s been 25 years of providing a service to the community and lots of good work done by some really talented volunteers,” 

Hodder said. “Not just the current people involved, but all of those that came before us.” The news followed a recent South Wairarapa Strategy Working Committee, at which the majority of councillors voted in public exclusion to award a grant of $80,600 each year for two years to Masterton-based Kia Hākinakina to deliver a sports and recreation service for South Wairarapa. 

It had previously granted the Greytown Sport and Leisure Society $5000 a month until a district-wide service could be established. Greytown ward councillors Alistair Plimmer, Aaron Woodcock, and Martin Bosley voted against awarding the grant to Kia Hākinakina. They, along with Mayor Martin Connelly also voted against entering public exclusion for the decision. 

“What we are talking about here is very much in the public interest,” Plimmer said at the time. “I think the public deserve to hear the conversation.” 

The report from the public excluded part of the meeting, which has recently been released, showed Kia Hākinakina scored higher than the Greytown Sport and Leisure Society did against set criteria. Minutes from the public excluded session said “some members did not agree with the evaluation and were concerned that a Masterton-based organisation would not be ready to go and start working with clubs, assuming that relationships were not in place already”. 

“Furthermore, members noted that Greytown Sport and Leisure was established within South Wairarapa, and believed that a local individual with relationships and understanding of the area should run the service.” The minutes said Connelly noted that Kia Hākinakina were involved in South Wairarapa sports, including Kuranui College, and stated it would be an unnecessary risk to ignore advice from officers. 

The report to councillors said Greytown Sport and Leisure had particularly strong evidence of already delivering a similar service within a more localised setting, strong representation among sports clubs and very positive feedback from the clubs it worked with. It said Kia Hākinakina demonstrated strong existing relationships with regional and national strategies, initiatives and agencies, and provided information on how it would resource and scale up its operation, whilst reaching and engaging with a broad range of people, clubs and groups from across the district. Kia Hākinakina scored higher than Greytown Sport and Leisure in the following criteria: governance, stakeholder communications, audience, and kaupapa Māori. Hodder told the Wairarapa Times-Age the society’s doors would close next week and it “was in no position to do a handover” with the new entity.

“We only have certain funds and we run on a fairly small budget,” he said. “No funding, and the organisation basically ceases to exist immediately.” Hodder was concerned that once the society was wound up, the administration of facilities, such as the new sports pavilion in Greytown’s Soldier’s Memorial Park, would become the responsibility of individual clubs. “Who's going to take over our administration of that fairly large entity?“ Hodder said. “That's probably going to fall on one of the clubs, which just adds even more pressure on them.“ Greytown Bowls Club was one leisure organisation that had benefited from Greytown Sport and Leisure’s services, club president Darren Meyrick said. It had helped secure a 99-year lease and peppercorn rent following protracted negotiations with Greytown Trust Lands Trust. 

“They really stood up for us,” Meyrick said. “None of us really knew what was going on ... but they really went into bat for us during that period, and common sense came through, and now we have a 99-year lease on both the bowling greens.” 

Simon Casey, a member of the Wellington Wairarapa Gliding Club was also complimentary about the society. “Rosie (Swanson, executive officer) was very involved in helping us put in a bid for a grant to get funding for two defibrillators at the club,” Casey said. “And she succeeded, so we're very grateful to them for doing that.” 

From Wednesday, October 1, Kia Hākinakina Wairarapa would work with and on behalf of South Wairarapa District Council to offer a wide range of support and opportunities to all sections of the South Wairarapa community. Its website said that under the banner, Raising A Region, Kia Hākinakina would utilise its leading approaches to broaden the scale, involvement and enjoyment of sport, play, physical activity and recreation for anyone and everyone. 

“Underneath and interwoven within all of this will be our focus on values, inclusion and whanaungatanga, self-exploration, discovery, and achievement,” its website said. “With a history of close relationships with Nuku Ora, a range of Wairarapa-based regional sports organisations and a number of links to national entities, Kia Hākinakina will facilitate understanding of best practice in a range of areas, including the supply of a number of useful resources.” 

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