Football club to the rescue2 min read

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The Onehunga-Māngere Football Club has come to the rescue of the Onehunga High School Building School.

With pupils unable to attend school in recent months, construction had fallen well behind schedule, so to ensure the school’s house would be completed on time for delivery to its new owners in January, Onehunga-Māngere club members formed a working bee. They spent the day installing the indoor Gib and finishing as much of the interior work on the building as possible.

The working bee was organised by OMFC committee member and local plumber, Ian Brierly, after he had visited the site to find Building School leaders, David Eastwood and Ernie Meyers, trying to finish the house on their own. Ian says he took one look and said to himself “Oh nah, that’s not happening.”

As soon as he got home, he put out a message to the football club’s members and says that within 10 minutes he had 10 volunteers, all but one of whom are former OHS pupils. “They didn’t have to be talked into it,” he says.

Six of the volunteers are either qualified or apprentice builders, plus there were two plumbers; the rest were employed as the catering team for the day. Ian says they are all Māngere Bridge locals and he has known some of them since they were eight years-old. He says they are the backbone of the club and always willing to put something back into their community. 

The OHS building school was started seven years ago, and each year they build a three or four bedroom home which is sold and transported to an empty plot. Ian has been involved with the school since its inception, teaching basic plumbing.

 

The team on site with David Eastwood (white shirt) and Ernie Meyer (Hi-Vis), Ian Brierly is in the black shirt on the right