'It's part of history' - generosity helps Te Puke re-home Lancaster Park seats

The legacy of the much-loved stadium is living on in rural Bay of Plenty.

A small Bay of Plenty community is thrilled following a mammoth effort to transport 400 seats from a much-loved Canterbury stadium.

More than 20,000 seats from Lancaster Park were offered up for auction, as the stadium nears demolition following the Canterbury earthquakes.

The Te Puke Sports and Recreation club managed to secure 350 of the seats, but had no way of transporting them to Tauranga.

That caused a chain reaction in generosity resulting in shipping and transporting costs being covered.

Rick Hannay told 1 NEWS the project could "never have been viable unless we had a number of parties that came to assist us".

Zespri, Fonterra and the Port of Tauranga were just a handful of companies who helped reduce the cost from about $70,000 to $3000, Hannay says.

Ash Peat, the rugby club's president, said Christchurch Council threw in another 50 seats which will form the foundation of the club's new stadium.

"It's a part of history and what they've been through down there, none of us can ever imagine what it was like.

"We're really happy to preserve some history and build on it, part of Lancaster Park will be in Te Puke", he says.

The club hopes to build its new stadium by the start of the 2019 season.

SHARE ME