The playground is not far from where the Island Bay Presbyterian Church has opened its grounds to people looking for a place to pray or play, developing a small garden on the southern side of the church.
It’s named the Nordmeyer Garden in memory of church members Frances and Arnold Nordmeyer. Sir Arnold Nordmeyer was a member of the first Labour Government and later the long-serving MP for this area. He was a Presbyterian minister, serving for 10 years in Kurow, North Otago before his political career.
Arnold Nordmeyer was the chair of the 1935 government’s caucus committee that ‘recommended a scheme for a means-tested pension of 30 shillings per week at 60 years of age (more generous than first contemplated) and, at 65, universal superannuation with no means test, beginning at £10 per year (a Nordmeyer suggestion). It also provided for universal medical benefits including hospital treatment, maternity benefits and general practitioner consultations, all to be financed from taxation. At Nordmeyer’s suggestion, the two schemes – health and pensions – were combined in one measure. The recommendations were incorporated in the Social Security Act 1938, which became one of the main issues in that year’s election campaign’.
In Memoriam Presbyterian Church