The hammer has fallen on the old club rooms at the Mount Maunganui Surf Lifesaving Club.

Life member and local builder Kent Jarman landed the first blow on the old building, having spent the last 30 years helping maintain it in a 53-year lifeguarding career.

Kent was joined by several other club identities to mark the start of the demolition work.

The club rooms started in 1929 with a few young adventurers, some wooden planks and a surf reel and line rescue.... for nearly 90 years the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service has been a loyal part of the Tauranga community.

Initially, as the Mount Maunganui members of the Royal Life Saving Service, the association of volunteers patrolled the ocean beaches over the peak holiday periods.

Club chairman Paul Manning says while in some ways it's sad because it's the end of an era, but in other ways it's quite exciting.

'We're going to move onto something new, fit for purpose and future-proof the club to help us keep the beach and the community safer.”

Paul says once the entire building is demolished and new building will be constructed on the existing footprint.

He says the new club rooms will have the same footprint but will be higher.

Demolition will officially start tomorrow.

The new club rooms are expected to be ready by around February next year.

Club development

The call for a larger rescue base was generously replied to by local businesses, the public and hammer-wielding volunteers. The basic form, for what is the present building, was erected to provide a home for the service as it matured into the organisation it is today.

When the surfing craze dawned, club members were called upon to perform an ever-widening range of actions. The lifeguards rescued many ‘surfies' from rips along the coast and many surfers became respected and long serving active members of the Service.

In 2004, the club celebrated its 75th Jubilee, while notable events in recent years include the response to the Rena oil spill in 2011 and the three-week search for 5-year-old Jack Dixon, tragically washed off rocks near the base of Mauao in 2014.

While ultimately unsuccessful, the search for Jack shone the light on the lengths local clubbies go to, with a massive community outpouring of support.

Notable achievements through history

• The first fully operational dedicated beach patrol vehicle;
• The implementation of an year-round, 24-hour rescue call-out squad;
• The implementation of a patrolling rescue boat;
• The first club to install a 'can buoy' rescue system along the beach;
• The first club to establish a rescue radio network.