The Ballina Croquet Club is hoping to receive up to $300,000 in funding for a new club house at Cawarra Park.
Club President Julie O’Brien spoke at last week’s Ballina Shire Council meeting to ask councillors for their support in the club’s grant application to the state body in charge of NSW Club Grants.
The council heard Ballina’s two croquet clubs, Cherry Street Sports and Ballina Croquet, recently partnered to host a state tournament in Ballina but instead had to host matches in Byron and in Lismore due to a lack of facilities in Ballina.
Independent Councillor Jeff Johnson moved for the council to approve the request for a letter of support, saying a recently completed Ballina Shire Sport and Recreation Plan had also acknowledged croquet facilities in Ballina as inadequate for the number of existing players, let alone for increased popularity of the sport.
‘Croquet provides social support that enhances the quality of life for a predominantly elderly playing group,’ Cr Johnson told The Echo after the meeting, ‘by expanding the number of croquet lawns, Ballina Council will be supporting an active and healthy lifestyle for our aging population’.
Independent Ballina Shire Councillor Sharon Parry seconded Cr Johnson’s motion, which won unanimous support from the rest of the council.
Yes, well just where is that $300,000 going to go?
If the members are in their 80s and 90s in age just how long are the clubs going to last? There should be a campaign to promote younger players to join and to get them the $300,000 they need to raise the money themselves or the two clubs will collapse. Raise the money the old way, the way public schools raise money. You would have heard of Flo Bjelke=Petersen and her Pumpkin Scones, and what about a Lamington drive. Lamingtons’s disappear whenever they are made for hundreds of years in Australia. They are always a good seller. You sell them to prospective members to Croquet. If you think it can’t be done then maybe the clubs will collapse in the near future. Croquet must have a future for at least another 10 years for the $300,000 should be granted. That issue will be examined and taken into account if the money is confirmed to be given out regarding the future of the clubs and Croquet in Ballina.