MONTROSE PAVILION-SPEECH - 26 MARCH, 2010

Welcome  I would like to welcome you all here this evening.

Although Sunday is the official opening of the pavilion,it was deemed appropriate by several people to have a separate celebration,which we are having  tonight.As you are aware,this is the last of the Reserve’s projects to be completed.

A special welcome to the Federal Member for Casey,Tony Smith and his wife Pam,the State Member for Monbulk,James Merlino and his wife,Megan,the State Member for Kilsyth,David Hodgett and the Mayor of the Shire of the Yarra Ranges,Cr.Len Cox and his partner,Lois.As you are aware,the Federal and State Governments and the Shire were partners in all the projects,including the pavilion.

2.History
I don’t believe tonight is an occasion for long speeches but it is a night for thanks,and that will take a while!  I would like to pick out a few milestones that I remember in relation to the pavilion and thank the various bodies,businesses and individuals that provided funding and support.

The Reserve Redevelopment committee was formed in 2003 and worked with the Shire in developing a Masterplan for the Reserve.This was formally adopted by Council in June 2006 and supported by a very generous allocation of $660,000 from the Shire..The Masterplan at that stage provided for an upgrade of the old pavilion,with a cost estimate of $300,000.Gerran Wright from the Shire was responsible for driving this and chairing the Steering Group that was subsequently formed.Our thanks go to Gerran for his assistance over the years.

July ,2006 was a milestone in that the main oval flooded into the old pavilion .This required mud to be pumped out,etc.Fortunately Cr Len Cox was home that day and he inspected the damage.Following a further inspection by James Merlino,all resolved that something needed to be done.The State Government made an offer of assistance on the basis that the Montrose  Community pledged a substantial level of contributions.Pledges of over $100,000  were made which together with the Shire’s contribution formed the basis for the State Government,through James,to provide $380,000.I should mention here that it was through the efforts of the D Men coterie in kicking off our pledges,that we had success.They immediately set about raising $10,000.Another donation of $30,000 last year makes a total of $40,000 that they have contributed.My thanks go to the D Men,in particular the leadership of the presidents at the time,Steve Wright and Troy Mansell.

During a period when  the Shire and us were considering how best to handle renovations to the pavilion-,with Tony Smith’s guidance we decided to apply for a grant under the Federal Governments Regional Partnerships Programme.This was a monumental task and given the guidelines,it was always going to be difficult to get.However ,lobbying by Tony and great support from the State Government,the Shire and other bodies won the day and we were granted $660,000.

This Grant enabled us to seriously consider demolishing the old pavilion and completing a new two-storey building.At this stage,we had funding from the three levels of Government and the Community.,With the election  in 2007. grants made by the previous Government were withdrawn.During the next months,there was lobbying by politicians, most not for profit organisations and the Montrose Community.You may remember that we participated in the Sunrise programme on TV and we sent thousands of letters to Minister Albanese .Again,we were greatly assisted by James and Len - .Tony wore out the carpet to Mr Albanese’s office.Around August 2008,we were notified that the Government had re-instated our Grant.
So now we had our money. I must say here that Montrose is a very fortunate community in our elected representatives. Tony, James and Len have worked
together in a professional and bi-partisan manner  to achieve a fantastic outcome for everyone in our local community. I thank them sincerely on your behalf.

After some initial attempts at design by architects,one of our local businessmen and long standing member of the footy club ,Bas Van Meurs from ADS Drafting and Design undertook the responsibility for the design and what you see tonight is  his work-.
You’ve all heard the remarkable feedback we are getting on the look of the building, what a fantastic idea it is to have the balcony a metre lower than the first floor to ensure unimpeded viewing etc. etc. For that and the supply of all the glass windows and doors we have to say thank you, Bas, for designing the dream

Our committee had a “can-do” attitude and we had built up credibility with the Shire in having significant community involvement in the construction of our marvellous playground-this was completed under the leadership of Julie Mc Donald who has been our Vice-President and involved in all our projects-I would like to thank Julie for being there all the way through. Julie-  and I probably should include her husband Ross, gave two years  of their lives to seeing the playground through – she could easily have stepped aside and said that’s enough – but she stayed and supported me and I appreciate that very much Julie.

The word ‘’Trust” has come up in a lot of discussions.The Shire made a decision to back us and trust that we could deliver on our “in-kind”contributions and be in a position to fit-out the building.The builder was appointed on this basis.Therefore ,you can see that without a lot of trust,this venture would not have succeeded.Our thanks go to the Shire’s project managers,Don Reiter initially,but mainly Bob Mason who has backed us all the way.
It is appropriate here to mention and congratulate our builder,Gemcan Constructions Pty Ltd and in particular Peter Redden,Kieran Warrin and Alan McNab. Taking on a Design and Construct Project on a “trust” basis with our committee,could only be attempted by someone who wanted to participate in a community project.They were a pleasure to work with and I’m sure you agree that they have delivered a community building that will be put to good use by the Shire and the community.

Site works commenced around March,2009.There are several people I want to mention here as they have been pivotal to the project. It was clear that if we wanted to achieve Bas’s design , there would have to be major in-kind contributions of labour, materials, professional expertise and genuine interest in our project.
I’m just going to run through who these people and businesses are and say that there is no way that thank you is enough, but I hope they realise our sincere appreciation.

Demolition    Jason Hammerstein      Gravity Demolitions

Excavation     Peter Higgins               State Plant Hire

Bricklaying    Steve Habenschuss      SPR Bricklaying

Electrical        Brian Emberson           Mobile Electrics

Roofing          John Coll and Tony Walters     Interline Roofing

Painting          Matt Jones, John Vance and Terry Fisher                     Matt Jones Painting Contractors

Plastering        Dean Samuel                Samson Interiors

Tiling               Peter Ives                    Peter Ives Tessellated Tiling

Ashphalting     Steve Brunskill           Steve Brunskill Ashphalting

Plumbing          Tim Schilling              Atherton Plumbing

Floor Coverings  Peter Bailey               Carpet Court-Kilsyth

Joinery               Cory  McGrath            Vision Kitchens

                           Terry Steegstra            Kitchens Victoria

These people have given us the best possible prices,worked often at no cost,obtained materials and machinery for trade or at no cost.These people being locals,became personally involved and understood the budget and time constraints we were under.

*******    there’s probably no-one in this room who hasn’t helped    …….

It would be remiss of me tonight not to mention the Montrose Football Club’s contribution  to the overall project.
My involvement stems from my membership of the club, and I was President when we were in 1st  Division back in the early nineties and  the original push for new facilities came from the club.
To measure their support you only have to consider the following

* Their members and families pledged  70% of the community total.

*Every trade and business that I have mentioned tonight who assisted in the building are connected with the footy club.

The D-Men Coterie I mentioned previously are aligned with the footy club.

I might also mention here the dedication and commitment of the  presidents of the Football Club and Cricket Club during the period they have not been able to use Montrose as their home ground. To Rob Ewart and Brett McKane and their respective committees, congratulations on keeping your clubs, not only functioning, but financially viable and successful during this very difficult time.Thanks to your efforts the two major tenants of this facility have returned strong and ready to go in the future.

There are a couple of people that without their commitment over the last  several weeks,we would not be here tonight.The first is Tim Schilling .The contract with the builder was for the infrastructure and it was the Committee’s responsibility to complete the fit-out.Tim has been here virtually full-time recently,despite having to run his own business.I also acknowledge the assistance that Tim has received from various people in completing the building.The other person who has put in an enormous amount of time in making sure we got here ,is my wife Chris.Her ute has become a talking point.She has been spotted delivering tiles and other materials on a few occasions.Her reputation as a control freak has held us in good stead. Everyone on the job has been on the lookout for them - here he comes ! - here she comes!!!!

OTHERS TO THANK
I would also like to thank all the people who have assisted in preparing the building for tonight.Several have donated their time over the last couple of weeks .I understand that just unpacking the cutlery was a large task .

I would  like to thank the organisers of tonight’s event, Kerrie Schilling, Vicki Setches, Julie McDonald and Chris Dowling. The caterers, the serving staff, the musicians and  particularly, Elmswood Estate Winery for their outstandingly generous donation of all the wine.
Thank you to my family, all of whom are here tonight – and my very good friends, - they have supported me right from the start in this project and at times when I didn’t really feel up to it, they never discouraged me -  they always said “ what can I do to help?I also appreciate numerous offers of help that I have received recently.Thank you very much.

Tonight I feel that the several years of work by a lot of people has all been worthwhile.I am very proud of what we have achieved and I am sure you are as well. As I said before, there would not be a person in this room who has not contributed something – what can I say? We’ve done it !!!!,