Our club, the Bendigo Coin and Collectables Club Inc, is just one of many user groups who hold large events at the Kangaroo Flat Leisure Centre.
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We hold a collectables fair at that venue in June each year.
The councillors of the City Of Greater Bendigo assume that we, the user groups, are happy to move our events elsewhere once the leisure centre is closed
and the new aquatic centre is built.
We are definitely not happy to move from this centre.
There is no reason why the events and user groups cannot still continue, along with the new aquatic centre.
The main venue/stadium and adjoining rooms do not need to be permanently divided up into smaller rooms for a gym, multi-purpose rooms or professional rooms.
The leisure centre only needs improvements and renovations made to it. If the centre was managed properly the groups who held events almost every weekend – the daily user groups and the after school care groups – would bring in similar funds to go towards the running costs of the aquatic centre.
At various meetings, we have been told that these aquatic centres usually run at a loss and other income is needed to help subsidise them.
There is nowhere else in the Bendigo area that meets our needs. It has a kitchen and tables and chairs are included in the hiring cost.
It has two bus routes within walking distance to the centre as well as the Kangaroo Flat Railway Station, which is also within walking distance.
It can also be easily seen by people passing by and is easy to find for people who are attending from elsewhere.
At several meetings for user groups regarding this matter, all types of promises were made, including the subsidising of costs to move elsewhere.
None of this was in writing, only verbal, and already some of those councillors are no longer in office.
By the time the new aquatic centre is opened the council will more than likely have changed yet again. What then will happen to all the promises? The people of Bendigo will lose out over this as once any of these events stop, they don’t usually return.
It seems to be a lose-lose situation for all concerned, and it doesn’t need to be.
P. Baker,
secretary, Bendigo Coin & Collectables Club Inc.