A project to give the abandoned club rooms at the Rushworth oval a second life has almost reached completion with the final touches and a visit from a local politician signalling an imminent completion.
On Monday, September 2, Member for Northern Victoria Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell was invited to tour the newly restored Field and Game facilities at the Rushworth Reserve.
The Rushworth Field and Game club have overseen the restoration of the tennis clubrooms located at the Rushworth Reserve which, after the tennis club went into administration in the 2000s, was left vacant.
Upon inspection, the Field and Game club discovered the clubrooms in a sorry state: walls covered in graffiti, broken plumbing and windows, a wasp infestation, and a diseased Ironbark tree that was shedding irritating bark inside.
Visiting the clubrooms today, one would think someone tore the building down and rebuilt it from the dirt up.
All the windows and posterior plumbing have been replaced, the outside of the building has a fresh coat of pale yellow paint while the inside boasts a pale green colour, courtesy of an old Field and Game member.
Field and Game Club president (and former tennis club president) Graeme Wall said that it was a mammoth amount of work done by the club members to get the building looking the way it is now.
The work begun in May, when the club successfully proposed a plan to the Rushworth Park Trust to make use of the clubrooms for meetings. The club received help from community members offering up services and equipment to restore the rooms.
Mr Wall said that the support from local Rushworth businesses was greatly appreciated by the club, including donations made by Rushworth Opportunity Shop and Rushworth Football Netball Club, and the removal of the Ironbark tree completed by Jarrett’s Tree Service.
On May 30, it was announced that the tennis club, now in recess, would allocate the remaining funds of $7724.17 from when it was active to the Field and Game Club, who have since used the money towards the restoration of the building and further their conservation efforts.
Mr Wall said that the clubrooms, once fully completed, will be used to further their conservation projects such as constructing bird breeding boxes and hen houses.
The clubroom’s legacy was not lost on its new occupants, with Field and Game members restoring the tennis club’s flags and honour boards from years’ past, with the achievements now hanging on the walls of what will from now be known as the Field and Game facilities.