AFTER several years of planning, fundraising and building, the new Jan Juc SLSC clubhouse is\u00a0nearly complete.<\/p>\n
The club has seen a 60 per cent growth in members over the past six years, meaning there are now almost 1,000 members at the club.<\/p>\n
They have subsequently long outgrown their previous clubhouse, which was constructed in 1963.<\/p>\n
Jan Juc SLSC vice president and project control group member Peter Smith was one of the club members to instigate the project.<\/p>\n
He is excited to see the building so close to completion after all he has put towards it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been my 14-year project,\u201d he said. \u201cIt started, like all good ideas, on the back of an envelope, with a few friends sitting around. I said: \u2018You know at some point we have to rebuild this club. It won\u2019t be this year or next year or the year after, but if we don\u2019t start we\u2019ll never get there.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we travelled the journey of attempting to get funding, which is most challenging. And then when we got part of the funding, the initial plans that were proposed had to be changed because the cost of construction had risen so dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club received the first piece of funding in 2014 when the RACV donated $150,000 to\u00a0the project.<\/p>\n
In January 2017, the federal government pledged $2 million, with the state government pledging the same amount a few months later. In June 2017, the Surf Coast Shire council also committed $250,000. The clubhouse is expected to cost about $6.5 million in total.<\/p>\n
Jan Juc SLSC members are eager to start using their new building. This is certainly the case for the Scammell family, who are among the club\u2019s most dedicated volunteers.<\/p>\n
Together, Steve and Amanda, and their sons Jason and Adam contributed 269 hours of lifesaving over the previous season. Steve and Amanda\u2019s daughter Sarah is also in the Nippers program.<\/p>\n
Steve Scammell said the new clubhouse would be a significant improvement for club members as well as the wider community.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably one of the greatest benefits we\u2019ll get is having one training room so that we can easily offer courses to make sure people are skilled and trained correctly as a lifesaver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are more courses available, and so regularly we\u2019ve had to book in with other clubs. But now we\u2019ve got the space, we\u2019ll be able to have other clubs come to us. We have a large number of trainers at our club, so it will not only be a real benefit to our members but also members at\u00a0other clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other exciting bit about the clubhouse is that it\u2019s not just for the club, it\u2019s going to be a venue that will be available for community use. So, that\u2019s really exciting to have a venue in the Torquay\/Jan Juc area that has such a great outlook and will benefit so many community groups.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith said while there was no exact date for when the club will move in, work on the new building was very close to completion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn non-COVID times, we would be within three weeks of being able to occupy. We\u2019ve got some finishing activity to do, and then we\u2019ll be ready to move in.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AFTER several years of planning, fundraising and building, the new Jan Juc SLSC clubhouse is\u00a0nearly complete. The club has seen a 60 per cent growth in members over the past six years, meaning there are now almost 1,000 members at the club. They have subsequently long outgrown their previous clubhouse, which was constructed in 1963. […]<\/p>\n