Summary
I reported on the Share Space community market at Arcadia Reserve, and a meeting of the Scoresby Recreation Reserve stakeholder group, where the tennis centre outlined plans for better accessibility and all abilities coaching. I spoke about the Knox Community Awards and learning that more than 24,000 people formally volunteer in Knox. I also visited Knox BMX's come and try day with my boys, and stood in for the Mayor on ABC Radio.
Transcript
Edited from the meeting's auto-generated captions.
Thank you, Mayor. I'll do my best to keep this as quick as I can.
Yesterday, Sunday the 25th of May, it was a pleasure to be at the Rowville Scout Hall at Arcadia Reserve, attending the community market put on by Share Space. There was a big crowd down there, a great buzz. It was a wonderful activation of Arcadia Reserve on a lovely Sunday afternoon. So a shout out to Gail and Brian and Jess and Mandy, all the familiar faces and volunteers from Share Space, and to the wonderful vendors and stallholders who came along to bring the market to life for the locals. Rowville CFA was in attendance, Sundaez N Chill, Heavenly Sweets and Treats, the Lizard Wizard, which was quite popular, snakes and turtles and spiders and the like, and local live music.
I also bumped into Helen, who's the group leader of the 1st Rowville Scouts, and was able to have a look around the scout hall and look at some of the improvement work that they really need to get done and get cracking on. So, a remarkable effort by Gail and the Share Space team. I'm a big supporter of theirs. They do wonderful work at an incredible time of need across our community, so I commend all of those involved in organising that yesterday.
On Friday the 23rd of May, I attended Scoresby Tennis Centre for a meeting of the Scoresby Recreation Reserve stakeholder group. That's Craig Douglas from Scoresby Tennis Centre, Dave Renkin from Scoresby Football Club, the president there, and Council officers, for a chat about the operations of the Rec Reserve and the partnerships between the tennis centre and the football and cricket tenants. It was great to see some recent improvements at the tennis centre, some freshly resurfaced hard courts that have the tennis club really firing on all cylinders. And they've got some big plans to make it even more disability compliant. They want to widen some doors at an accessible bathroom and really look to move into the space of all abilities coaching and competition in tennis. So as their ward councillor I've expressed my support for those endeavours, and we'll track those through.
The Knox Community Awards on the 22nd of May were wonderful. I didn't know that more than 24,000 people formally volunteer in Knox. I was blown away. That's about 15 per cent of the Knox population formally volunteers, and we know there are so many more informal carers and volunteers out there as well. So it was wonderful to join the Mayor and several of my colleagues in recognising all the fantastic nominees and winners. That was on the back of the volunteering expo the week before. It was great to catch up with the Knox Repair Cafe, Outer East Foodshare, the team from the Rowville Lysterfield Community News, and so many more.
The 10th of May, I attended come and try day at Knox BMX. And I know my colleague Councillor Considine, in her ward, I think you were at the pink baseball day. I was at Knox BMX around the corner. My two boys dragged me down there to have a go, and I had to look away when they were at the top of the big ramp, coming flying down on their first go around the track. But what a wonderful, friendly and supporting environment. My kids turned up in baseball uniforms, and within five minutes they were in the gear and on a bike, and out they were.
And the track's in fantastic condition there. We spent about $300,000, it was a Council, club and federal government partnership, to improve things, and there's fewer closures, less maintenance, and it's open all year round for the community to ride. So if you haven't checked out the Knox BMX track, The Swamp, it's a wonderful place, so check it out.
And just to quickly note, Thursday the 1st of May, I stood in for the Mayor in the big smoke. I ventured in to chat to Raf at the ABC studios in Southbank. I was on the spot and feeling the pressure, but we had a good chat about all things Knox and all things local.
So I'll leave it there. It's been a busy month in Tirhatuan. Thank you, Mayor.