Ribbon cut on rec reserve upgrades

THE home of Ballarat’s Western-suburbs based sporting clubs has received updated facilities as part of a collaboration between the municipality, the State Government, and Cricket Victoria.

Nearly $5 million worth of upgrades to Alfredton Recreation Reserve were opened last week, which includes a social room, female friendly changerooms, cricket training nets, an electronic scoreboard, and undercover viewing area.

The rec reserve is shared by the Ballarat Memorial Sports Bowling Club, Ballarat-Redan Cricket Club, Ballarat Swans Football Netball Club, and Ballarat Storm Junior Football Netball Club.

Ballarat-Redan Cricket Club has over 13 teams, and president Paul Aikman said the upgrades are a welcome improvement.

“The improvements are fantastic. It means we can have refurbished facilities and new facilities for the kids and adults to enjoy,” he said.

“They’ll all enjoy those facilities as well as the ground facilities that have been upgraded previously, and our new nets about twelve months ago will all complement each other.

The City of Ballarat contributed over $1.2 million to the upgrades while Cricket Victoria gave $75,000 and the State Government allocated $3.7 million from the Local Sports Grants program.

Alfredton’s population has grown from over 9000 to nearly 17,000 in over five years, and City of Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said the area now has a rec reserve to match.

“As their population continues to grow, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got all the facilities to cater for that,” he said.

“Already [the rec reserve] is well used, but clearly over the next decade we’re going to see more and more people who want to play footy, netball, cricket and bowls.”