A long awaited toilet facility was officially opened at Ellwood’s Hall Stockinbingal on Thursday 20 March by CGRC Mayor Abb McAlister. This event took place at the usual “Stop and Mingle” morning tea held each month in the hall where a small crowd had gathered.
Following a sumptuous morning tea, secretary of the Stockinbingal Ellwood’s Hall s355 Committee, Lorna Nixon, thanked many of those involved in the project coming to fruition.
“Firstly, [thank you to] the committee members who made the submissions for three consecutive years from 2021 through the Stronger Country Communities Fund. Finally the committee was successful in late 2023 and JSL Builders from Cootamundra were the successful tenderers, commencing work in late 2024,” she said.
Lorna thanked John Lienesch and his team of tradies for a very professional job.
“The committee and village people are really impressed with the facility which can now be accessed from within the hall itself, instead of trekking outside to the crumbling, ramshackle ‘dunny out the back’! Access can also be gained from outside the hall via a ramp. The whole facility is very modern and caters for people of all abilities. Building Designer, Graham Nixon of Coota Design, was responsible for the design.”
Lorna also thanked the CGRC for their support along the way.
“Ex-councillor Leigh Bowden attended hall meetings during the planning phase and Councillor Les Cooper is the current council representative at meetings. Facilities manager, Steve Lowe always kept the committee in the loop and remains a huge support for any issues pertaining to the hall.
“The hall is an important hub in the Stockinbingal community as it contains the Post Office, Our Heritage Room, a Craft Room, a Meeting Room, a modern kitchen as well as the main hall where many and varied functions are held. Fully air conditioned it is an ideal venue for family parties, weddings, exercise groups, trivia nights, market days, community meetings, school functions and much more. The new toilet facility, affectionately known as ’The Cistern Chapel’, is the ‘piece de resistance’ in a long line of improvements to the hall.”
“Before cutting the ribbon Abb McAlister spoke briefly, congratulating the committee on the many improvements made to the building and for the care they take in maintaining it. He also mentioned how it is an important hub in the village. It’s a great effort to be added to the hall. The toilets they had out the back were very old toilets and to get new toilets is a big bonus to the hall.”
Abb McAlister told the Cootamundra Times, “the hall is the centrepiece and the meeting place for people of Stockinbingal and over years with the new kitchen and all the other works that have been done there, it is a credit to the committee and the new toilets are a credit to the committee also.”
“The opening was a great morning. The Stockinbingal people always do something in the community – the function they put on was excellent, the catering was unbelievable. The people are so nice out there and it is always a pleasure to go out to a place like Stockinbingal because the people are so friendly and good and their hearts are in Stockinbingal and they do a great job out there.
“It’s always a pleasure to go to these functions just to talk and sit with the people and see what they have achieved is massive and what they have achieved over the last seven or eight years at Stockinbingal Hall is an absolute credit to the committee of the hall and community.”
-Jack Murray
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