North Canterbury Funerals
Wai-mana was built in the year
2000 to provide a service for the growing North
Canterbury area. Like the other Lamb & Hayward
funeral homes it incorporates the most modern
design features and has the facilities to offer
a choice of different styles of funerals, in keeping
with the changes in our lifestyle. The emphasis
today is on tailoring a personal funeral service
appropriate to the individual.
Designed by David Hill of Wilson
and Hill, a young award winning architect who
had previously been associated with the building
of Lamb & Hayward's Kerrs Road Chapel, the
new chapel at Rangiora is a long low-slung building
set in five acres of rural zoned land. The intention
is to keep it in harmony with the surrounding
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The sloping roof, use of materials
such as polished granite and matai veneer throughout
the interior, as well as the sweeping floor- to- ceiling
windows, which look across the fields to the mountains,
all give the building an air of permanence and serenity.
The name Wai-mana was chosen to reflect
this. Wai, 'water', as it lies between the Waimakariri
and Ashley rivers, and mana, 'prestige' and 'dignity'
- the highest standards which Lamb & Hayward has
always sought to maintain.
The grounds have been landscaped with
lawns, hedges and mature trees. An avenue of spreading
elms line the entrance into the extensive car park.
The main water feature of the property is a water race
running from the front entrance and then reappearing
out the other side of the building with the view towards
Mt Thomas.
Wai-mana is totally self-contained
and has facilities specially designed to offer clients
the opportunity to tailor their own individual style
of funeral service. The main chapel seats 200 and looks
out across the fields toward the mountains -the whole
chapel complex has been designed to give the feeling
of indoor/outdoor atmosphere which is such a feature
of today's lifestyle. A smaller chapel is available
for private services and there is an area for outdoor
services, a small courtyard chapel.
A special feature of the new Wai-mana
complex is the Garden of Memories, a small, enclosed
courtyard open to the sky and planted with jasmine and
rosemary and Irish yews. Every funeral arranged by Lamb
and Hayward at Wai-mana will be commemorated in the
Garden of Memories by a small plaque with the name of
the deceased and date of death- at no cost to the client.
The trend with funerals is for everything
to be held at the one venue and a large refreshment
area, with floor to ceiling glass windows and doors
opening to an outdoor terrace have been incorporated
in the design. A fully serviced commercial kitchen with
catering by Rangiora Caterers is available.
Wai-mana also has a casket display
room, offering clients a choice of caskets and a selection
of monumental work, available through Decra Art, a leading
Christchurch Monumental Mason.
The building is fully air-conditioned
and has the most up-to-date sound system with a magnetic
loop through the floor for the hard -of -hearing.
Wai-mana reflects the new style and
attitudes to funerals, a shift away from the more formal
and regimented funerals of the past. Lamb & Hayward's
experienced staff are here to assist in tailoring a
funeral which is a celebration of life.
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