Goodbye old, hello new

By Lachlan Ellis

More than five years after lobbying for funding began, tenant clubs at Darley Park have said farewell to the old clubhouse, with demolition beginning this week.

Players and members of the Darley Football Netball Club (DFNC) and Darley Cricket Club said gathered to say goodbye to the old building on Thursday 20 January, posing for one last photo before the building goes down.

The clubrooms, which are believed to have been around since at least the mid-70s, is scheduled to be replaced by October, under a $3.75 million plan for a new pavilion at Darley Park.

In September 2020, the State Government committed $2.5 million to the ‘Darley Park Community and Sports Centre’ under the Growing Suburbs Fund (GSF), while Council pledged $1 million under the 2020/21 State Budget.

The GSF was originally used for growing metropolitan Councils, but years of lobbying by Moorabool Shire Council, via the Peri-Urban Group of Councils (PUGC), saw the Fund opened up to councils on Melbourne’s fringe.

The remaining $250,000 will come from the DFNC Seniors, DFNC Juniors, and Darley Cricket Club.

President of the DFNC, Mark Shelly, said the occasion marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Darley.

“It’s something that we started lobbying for back in 2017, so it’s been a long journey so to speak, to get to where we are now. The main focus we’ve honed in on is that we want the new facility to become a community facility, something the people of Darley can recognise and make use of,” he told the Moorabool News.

“It’s amazing that it’s coming to fruition, there’s been a lot of meetings and a lot of hours, not just from the club’s perspective, but all the tenants have been involved in the planning process.”

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-02-01/8

in the 1 February 2022 edition
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pick up a paper around your town.