Portarlington Golf Club chips in for local sport

TWO Portarlington clubs have extended their arms out to one another in a truly local partnership between two sporting organisations.

The Portarlington Cricket Club recently received $6000 from the Portarlington Golf Club in a recent contribution made by the Golf Club’s Community Contribution Fund (PGCCCF) and it is now constructing a new barbecue area and purchasing new outdoor furniture.

“We are very grateful,” Portarlington Cricket Club treasurer Claire Heatlie said.

“We really struggled last year, as did everyone, and the cricket department runs at a massive loss. So, the kitchen and the bar income is very important.

“We were really limited last year with the amount of people we could have in the room. Now we have an extra 40 pieces of tables and chairs that can now sit people outside because of the grant.

“Without support like this, clubs like ours just don’t survive.”

According to the golf club’s guidelines, the fund was established to support not-for-profit community or sporting organisations to make positive improvements to further develop their association, which will in turn benefit the wider community.

The golf club considers many factors when allocating funds, which include the engagement of community and the encouragement of volunteering, increasing the engagement of participants within their community organisation and the levels of participation of the community organisation members to name a few.

The golf club sees itself as a community leader and that is its duty to assist other sporting clubs and community groups wherever it can, according to the club’s president Michael Phillips.

“The success of us as a club in the community is driven by the success of everybody else in the community in other sports,” Mr Phillips said.

“We feel we have a significant role to play in that space and we are very fortunate and lucky to have a business model that allows us to support other community groups who don’t necessarily have access to the funds that we do.”

The closing date for this year’s PCGCCCF applications are already closed, but if you would like to find out more, email [email protected] for more details about the Fund.