THE home of Ballarat\u2019s Western-suburbs based sporting clubs has received updated facilities as part of a collaboration between the municipality, the State Government, and Cricket Victoria.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ballarat-Redan Cricket Club has over 13 teams, and president Paul Aikman said the upgrades are a welcome improvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe improvements are fantastic. It means we can have refurbished facilities and new facilities for the kids and adults to enjoy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Alfredton\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs their population continues to grow, we\u2019ve got to make sure we\u2019ve got all the facilities to cater for that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlready [the rec reserve] is well used, but clearly over the next decade we\u2019re going to see more and more people who want to play footy, netball, cricket and bowls.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE home of Ballarat\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n