Charles Edward Chapman was part of our parish for what seemed like 'forever'. As long as the author can remember - and maybe longer.
Eddie was husband to Jill, father of six, RAF Bomber crew and POW during WWII, a devout Christian, Elder, Warden, a man of prayer, a well known entity in the community, a leader in the dairy breeding community, gardener, lawn mower, a man of peace. We miss him and his wise words.

The Hall Project

The Anglican church hall at Ashhurst had for some time been on the drawing boards for an upgrade, going back decades to the Rev Michael Russell being Vicar in the parish - with the initial thoughts being to join the two existing halls. In timing that can only be described as appointed, with many happenings and circumstances that can only be described as "God-incidences", the project to refurbish the church hall and extend it into a new extension began in 2023, with the old hall being moved out in November 2023.

Under the Guidance of Neil O'Fee as Project Manager and Lyn O'Fee as Lay Minister in Charge of the Parish, and a Building committee, the project went ahead and things fell into place. God-Instances. In December 2024, we were done with building and then worked through the long and frustrating process of Resource Consent and and gaining Building Certificate of Compliance. A Consecration and Blessing service was held on the 21st of December 2024 with Archbishop Justin, family and invited guests present.

On the 17th December 2025, we were granted/notified that we had been given the PNCC Code of Compliance. This is the official end of the Hall rebuild project!

There is a timeline of the process on our Parish of Pohangina website.  

Availability and Hall Hire

As we have in the past, we are making the Chapman Hall available to our community to use. We have an awesome resource available and it should be available to those who could use it. There are some caveats to that.

At the Parish of Pohangina/St Mary Magdalene's, we are part of the Anglican Communion of New Zealand, and part of the Anglican Wellington Diocese, and have standard and beliefs that we will stand for, and any hire or usage would be bound to that. We reserve to right to deny any activity or events that would go against our beliefs as Christians. We cannot and will not go against what is written in the bible, taught by Jesus and the Apostles.

Application

To apply to use the Chapman Hall, please use the form on the Application Page.

Our office administrator, or a parish representative, or our Priest in Charge will be in contact with you, to meet at the site to go over your wishes, our requirements, expectations and Health and Safety. A Hall hire Agreement will need to be signed, and they will arrange for a key for you, or arrange a time to unlock the building at an appropriate time. A bond would also need to be paid before use, and the user (applicant) would be invoiced for the hire.