Hall sale exceeds expectations

The old Catholic Church Hall at Patonga sold for $680,000 at auction on February 7, exceeding all expectations.

The sale topped the previous highest sale price of a similar property nearby which had sold for $600,000.

Agent Mr Jim Martin from Wilsons Estate Agency said that they would have been happy for the property to sell in the mid to high $500,000s.

"We were expecting around $570,000 based on previous sales," he said.

The site had a lot of media attention in the lead-up to the auction, with people including TV presenters interested in the property.

Several cameras from the television show "Location Location" were on site on the day.

"All of the creates an atmosphere that's pretty electric," Jim Martin said.

Mr Martin and his colleagues had to photocopy 25 contracts for bidders on the day.

They had 18 registered bidders for the property, 12 of whom participated in the auction.

"We got two bidders who pushed the property from $580,000 to $680,000," he said.

"They both decided they wanted the property."

In the end, Sydney couple Anthony and Adrian Ryan won the bidding.

Mr Ryan is an engineer.

He and his wife Adrian noticed a number of coincidences, which they determined, meant that the property was meant for them.

"Mr Ryan's first name is Anthony and the church was St Anthony's. The street number is two, the lot number is two and the couples bidder number was 22," Mr Martin said.

"They are a Catholic family from Sydney, who will move into an old Catholic Church."

The couple plan to renovate the property and turn it into a holiday home.

The history of the Catholic Church site has come under scrutiny recently.

It was originally thought that the building was an old boat shed moved there in the 1950s by Dr Baker, then Parish Priest for Woy Woy.

Patonga resident Joyce Chambers has been visiting the village since the 1930s when her family took her up as a little girl to their weekender.

She said that the boat shed was there back then and it was used as a schoolhouse.

"I'm not of the Catholic faith, but I can tell the names of the boys who used to go to school there," she said.

Alison Branley, February 20