General News
5 May, 2023
Town Hall hits the ground running
Words by Warracknabeal Town Hall Committee of Management president Lance Huebner The past year has been fairly quiet in terms of bookings, and rather disruptive for us while we eagerly awaited the completion of the Stronger Foundations Grant and the...
Words by Warracknabeal Town Hall Committee of Management president Lance Huebner
The past year has been fairly quiet in terms of bookings, and rather disruptive for us while we eagerly awaited the completion of the Stronger Foundations Grant and the renovation of the kitchen.
Thanks to retired shire officer Andrea Stepney for all her work beforehand, and to Brenton Cheney and Isaac McPherson for their work along the way to help us get to completion.
It is great that both have now been completed, along with the relaying of the carpet in the Supper Room and the staining of the dividing wall and servery.
Thanks to Heritage Victoria and the Yarriambiack Shire for the Stronger Foundations Grant which has resulted in greater confidence in the hall’s ability to sustain the coming years.
Thanks especially to Heritage Victoria's Gary Hill for his work with the kitchen project in finding a matching stain and assisting Rex with the hanging of the servery shutter which was quite tricky.
The Foundation Project was also finished prior to the kitchen so we are delighted to be “back in business.”
Thanks to the Auxiliary who have proceeded with their fundraising throughout the period when the Town Hall was inaccessible to the public.
Thanks to all the Committee for the extensive clean ups after the completion of works which often involved a lot of dust and timber.
We managed to get the Supper Room painted at our expense after the floor was restored, and we painted the kitchen and arranged for the restoration of the downpipe in the kitchen required by Heritage Victoria.
The Committee also paid for the new double fridge for the kitchen and the laying of the floor covering.
While there were not many bookings, we did manage to host the Arts Council's swansong performance in September - the Hot B'Hines jazz band, which was well attended and
catered for by our wonderful and capable Auxiliary.
Thanks to the Creekside Hotel for their donation of tiered cake plates and other crockery which will be put to good use.
Since the completion of the kitchen we have hit the ground running and had a very busy month or so with bookings.
The Easter in the Beal was very successful after some near heart attacks with the two stoves only going in two days prior to the event.
We then hosted the Yarriambiack Shire Council conference, which by all accounts was very successful.
The next event was an A&P Society conference of surrounding show committees.
Following that, with Easter approaching, we had to prepare for the annual Easter Convention which used the Town Hall each day.
Since Easter, we have been able to facilitate the display of two of the Court House’s artists, with their films showcasing their achievements while in residence at the Court House.
We have a regular weekly booking for a Tiny Tots music programme in the Supper Room, and also the Wimmera Native Plants meeting next week, so the Town Hall is getting a lot of exposure at present which is terrific.
The Share Grant, which we applied for some time ago but progress was held up by Covid, has been executed with new mats for all the front doors to be installed soon, wooden toilet seats for all the downstairs toilets in keeping with the heritage look, and two photographs framed - one of the former council chambers to be hung in the upstairs foyer, and the Regent Theatre in Scott Street in the 1940’s to be hung in the northwest foyer.
As the last part of the “Home is Where the Hall Is" project, the front ramp has been completed with a wider appearance and lower gradient.
We thank the Arts Council for their donation of the valuable costume collection which will remain in the upstairs rooms, and some other items such as glasses, tea facilities, sandwich boards and filing cabinets.
We continue to have ideas for upgrading the building and making it more attractive for local community use. Future projects include blinds for the upstairs meeting room - which is currently occupied by the costume collection - and the tea room, and the wall on the south stairwell is in need of painting.
To restore the Supper Room, the framed picture of Queen Elizabeth will be rehung and the Arts Council’s textile mural banner, currently in the library at the Creekside Hotel, will be rehung on the south wall where its life began.
The Committee feels we are now ready, after several years of disruption, to advertise the hall again to the community, and continue our role to make it a meeting and performing place for the local area.