On 12 October the newly constructed Community Resource Centre (CRC) was officially opened by Shane Love MLA. The ceremonial event offered an excellent opportunity to acknowledge the effort that has gone into making the centre possible.
Planning for the centre started 14 years ago in 1999 when the Gingin CRC opened the doors to the telecenter in the old police building. The new building is a credit to that vision and the efforts of many.
CRC Chairperson, Linda Balcombe, acknowledged in her speech the shared time and energy that was invested into achieving this outcome.
“As with any dream it takes a lot of time and energy to see it through. 14 years, 9 coordinators, 10 staff, 7 trainees, 30 committee members and over 40 volunteers later, that dream has come true.
We now have a fantastic building thanks to funding from Royalties for Regional, Dept of Regional Development, Lotteries West, the community support and last but not
least the Shire of Gingin.”
Linda thanked the efforts of those who made the actual build smooth sailing including; “the wonderful Trevor Phillips, a community treasurer with his knowledge and expertise. Keith Troy who was not only our builder, our adviser, our eyes and ears on all things on site during construction.”
Her greatest praise and thanks was to Manager Carrie Edwards and her staff. Linda highlighted what a tremendous achievement to complete such a project before time and under budget.
David Roe, Deputy Shire President acknowledged previous shire staff who had the vision to plan for the future location and to existing staff for their support in the project.
The resource centre is already providing a valuable service to the business and resident community with facilities being used for meetings and training and the library is a welcome addition for all ages.
