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Shire of Victoria Plains
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Calingiri Netball & Tennis Court Officially Opened
On the 2
nd
July 2016, the brand new Calingiri Netball and Tennis Court was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony
held prior to the first ever netball match to be played on the court. The ribbon was held over the centre circle by two inaugural
Calingiri players and cut to symbolise its opening by Victoria Plains Shire President Cr. David Lovelock.
Netball Club Representative Rebecca Johnson delivered a wonderful speech, in which you could sense her feeling of
excitement and achievement to have this wonderful new facility completed for current and future generations of players. The
occasion had been many years in the making with Calingiri first fielding a team in the Mortlock Netball Association
competition in 2013. As there were no established courts in Victoria Plains, the Calingiri Primary School kindly allowed them
to use the school court. Whilst grateful to the school for allowing them to use their facilities, unfortunately it was not the ideal
situation with the court being in a state of disrepair and not to regulation size.
With a dream of moving to the Calingiri Sportsgrounds in mind, the club approached the Shire to build a court. The proposal
was initially knocked back, but the club persisted, fundraising and gathering volumes of evidence of community support.
Eventually they got the majority vote required by Council and the Shire was also successful in obtaining funding through the
Department of Sport & Recreation, Community Sporting Recreation Facilities Fund (CSRFF).
Unfortunately for the Calingiri Netball team the day ended with a loss against Gingin.
As always with these community projects there are many people and organisations to thank including the Department of
Sport and Recreation, Shire of Victoria Plains, the Calingiri Tennis, Football and Hockey Clubs, Yerecoin, Piawaning and
Calingiri Progress Associations, Smiths Stock Transport and volunteers Max Smith, Murray Smith, Dan King, Kyle Manning
and Rebecca Johnson.
VP Open Doors Youth Project – Urban Art Workshop
Wow, wow, wow!
That pretty much sums up the awesome day we had at the Urban Art Youth Workshop in
Calingiri during the school holidays.
The day was planned as our major engagement activity as part of the VP Open Doors Youth Project. This project
was funded by the Department of Local Government & Communities, and has enabled the Shire to investigate how
to make our community a better place for young people.
Consultant Jodie Mortadza from Consult Innovate Create, and Professional Urban Artist Darren Hutchens (Daz)
worked with the youth to uncover their issues, concerns and vision for the future and turned this into a design for
the art piece. Please let me tell any of our cynical not so young community members out there, do not write off
“youth of today”, because what they had to say was thoughtful, inclusive and inspiring.
After a lesson in spray painting, participants were able to create their own design on canvas and then turn to the
big masterpiece. The finished product was very impressive, especially given that none of these youngsters had tried
spray painting before. The artwork centres on a vision for life in Victoria Plains 2050, with the young people
wanting to ensure our towns don’t disappear and wish that they can become colourful and vibrant, with great
things to do. The seedling that matures into a large tree represents both the growing of the district and the
importance of ensuring that our natural environment is nurtured. The War Memorial also features, as the youth
believe that this is an important symbol of the history of the district that should continue to be recognised and
respected.
The finished creation will now be weather-proofed and installed on the outside wall of the Calingiri Rec Hall, facing
the playground.