ARAMOHO CHURCH ON THE MOVE

The Lord moves in mysterious ways, but his house moves by truck.

More than the hand of God was needed to relocate the St Joseph's  Church in Aramoho.

In a massive operation the 36 metre long, 12 metre wide building was moved from its original site on the junction of Kaikokopu Road and Balance Street to the Cullinane College site at St. Augustine's in Peat Street.

As a measure of the enormity of the operation, Powerco employed 37 of its staff to dismantle overhead power cables to enable the church to be transported to its new home. The Powerco staff were trucked in from New Plymouth, Hawera and Palmerston North to join Wanganui workers.

The operation was substantial and involved planning for some weeks prior to the move.

The majority of the work involved moving power lines in the path of the church as the church was substantially higher than many of the cables.

Assistance for Powerco's part of this project came from many different groups, including local businesses who supported them by allowing temporary lines to be built on their properties and by working with them to manage the loss of supply to their businesses.

To relocate the church 411 customers had their power supply interrupted, although the number was minmised by offering portable generators to local businesses and temporary lines which were dismantled after the shift.

The church was moved after being gifted to Cullinane College.

It wasn't being used frequently at its original site on the corner of Kaikokopu Road and Balance street, so was given to Cullinane College to be used as a sacred space and will also be available to the community.

Power was cut to parts of Aramoho between 12.30pm and 4.30pm and the church made a surreal image for the large crowd of onlookers as Britton Housemovers trucked it to its new home.

How does the chapel look now?