Chimney comes down as RSL begins expansion work

ANYONE going past the Ballan RSL property in Inglis Street last Saturday might have noticed demolition work taking place.

Specifically, an old chimney in the middle of the backyard was knocked down to make way for a new storage shed, and the sub-branch made a day of it.

“We used to have a cottage at the back, and the cottage fell down a long time ago and had to be demolished but we kept the chimney,” sub-branch president Pippa Morris said.

“But we had to knock the chimney down now because we secured a grant to put in a storage shed at the back of the RSL, and the chimney was in the way.

“So we had a bit of a knocking down the chimney party last Saturday.”

Member for Eureka Michaela Settle attended the knockdown event because the State Government earlier this year provided a $49,591 grant from its Veterans Capital Works program in the lead-up to Anzac Day.

That grant is being used for the new storage shed.

Ballan RSL’s Pippa Morris and Member for Eureka Michaela Settle before the chimney was knocked down.

“We needed to remove the chimney to fit in the new shed,” Ms Morris said.

The new storage shed is part of a sub-branch plan to expand its footprint on the site in response to Ballan’s growth.

“Ballan is growing, and may be the next big thing in terms of population explosion as people seek [somewhere to live] beyond Bacchus Marsh,” Ms Morris said.

“The State Government has ordered the council to make land available for another 2000 homes in the next two years, and as an RSL we know we need a bigger RSL for future membership capacity.”

Ms Morris said an unofficial sub-branch plan looking towards 2050 had forecast a local population of two or three times current levels.

“That would also mean the potential membership of the RSL in Ballan could double by 2050, but the capacity of the hall at the moment isn’t enough,” she said.

“Our membership at the moment is about 130; if that doubles to 260 or even 300, the hall can’t hold that, it’s just not big enough.”

The chimney in the backyard of the Ballan RSL property before it was pulled down to make room for a new storage shed.

Ms Morris said the sub-branch was working on plans to increase capacity without making drastic changes to the existing building and had decided to develop the backyard space.

“So the extension is going to go out the back, and it will increase the capacity and the viability of the sub-branch,” she said.

“The first part of that is a storage shed. Inside the RSL at the moment is crowded; to be able to move forward we need the storage shed.”

Ms Morris said final permits and other preparations for construction of the new storage shed were about “65 per cent” complete.