For more than a century, St Andrew’s of the Glen has watched over Glentunnel and the building remains one of the village’s most recognisable heritage landmarks, thanks to persistent effort by local volunteers and support from the Selwyn District Council Heritage Protection Fund.

The small Arts and Crafts Gothic Revival church was built on land donated by the Deans family and opened debt-free in 1915.

Barbara Broughton has been part of the church’s story since marrying into the district in 1980. From first attending her husband Gordon’s family church, Barbara’s connection deepened through the long-time locals she met, whose lives were intertwined with the little church.

“I met some really interesting people through the church, mostly elderly, who I had a lot of respect for, like Lewis Wilson and his brother Challice, as well as Natalie MacArthur and Violet Baker, people who had all lived in the district for a long time,” says Barbara who discovered that the church over the years provided community support far beyond the Sunday worship.

“I've got a real heart for this little church. Lewis told me how his mother had died in childbirth when she was only 33 and the ladies in the church had looked after the two little boys when their father had to go back to work.

“It wasn’t just a building. It was part of how the community looked after itself.”

Getting to know the community created a determination to preserve the church not simply as a place of worship, but as a reminder of Glentunnel’s shared history.

That determination was tested after the Canterbury earthquakes. An initial engineering report commissioned by the Presbyterian Church left uncertainty about the church’s condition, and Broughton said builders struggled to interpret exactly what work was needed.

Without clarity, the congregation could not confidently reopen the building for services or wider community use.

Funding from the Selwyn District Council Heritage Protection Fund made a crucial difference by enabling a second engineering assessment that found the church was not earthquake-prone, giving caretakers the confidence to plan for reopening and renewed use.

“That was a huge relief. It meant we could start thinking about the church being used again.”

After the earthquakes, some in the wider church community questioned whether the maintenance cost of the church was justified for such a small community.

Instead of waiting for others to determine their future, Broughton and the late Violet Baker started baking and launched the Little Glen Café, opening the church on Sundays for coffee, baking and conversation. In the process they raised enough money to upgrade the kitchen to commercial standard and help with the church’s upkeep.

“With the Wilson brothers in mind, Violet, Natalie and myself decided to work really hard to make sure we can afford the upkeep,” says Broughton, who has also started repainting the 1970s brown exterior of the church in a traditional off-white, with some help from her brother.

“It’s one of those jobs where there is always something that needs doing. But if you keep on top of it, you stop the little problems turning into big ones.”

This year, Broughton again turned to the Selwyn District Council Heritage Protection Fund after a builder identified that a rotten piece in the belltower posed a risk.

“The council generously granted enough money to take the belltower off to have it repaired. And I will paint it when it’s down,” says Broughton, who will also paint the new wooden section before it is installed.

“That saves us hiring the cherry picker twice,” says Broughton, who believes St Andrew’s is worth all the effort as the only early Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian church in the Glentunnel-Coalgate area to survive on its original site and remain in church use.

For Broughton, restoration is about more than timber and paint, and she wants to see the church used by the whole community.

“We have started using it for gatherings and birthday parties and later this year, we are planning our first church service since the earthquakes.”

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