By Michael Doran
It may have taken two decades but Wandin Yallock Primary School has put the finishing touch to The Stadium, a very shiny new floor.
Business Manager, Veronica Gamble said the project started out with an outdoor netball court and an idea to make it into an indoor all-purpose facility.
“About 20 years ago we decided to add a roof, then the walls followed by a concrete floor,” she said. “The next stage was the foyer, toilets and change rooms, helped along by a government grant.
“We had always planned to get the concrete floor covered and it has taken us five to six years to raise the $40,000 to do it, but now it’s done.
“The Stadium, as we call it, is used for more than just sport as we have our big assemblies in there, graduation and end-of-year celebrations and the new floor is a better surface for those events.
“Also we have community groups such as Wandin Warriors basketball club and Edge Martial Arts use it for training and the local netball clubs come in when the weather stops them practicing outside.
“The surface is non-slip and the only complaint is from some of the students saying they can’t slide across it any more. It is marked out for basketball, netball, volleyball, tennis and badminton so we can do pretty much anything in there, no matter what the weather.
With the laying of the new floor complete, the whole stadium project is now complete and one of the features has been the way the school community have rolled their sleeves up and been involved.
“We have had parents who are builders, roofers, concreters, plasterers and lots more who have given their time and expertise over the last 20 years. That’s how it has got built,” Ms. Gamble said.
In another nice touch one of the advocates for the stadium, past teacher David Rosendale, was able to see the project come to fruition. Mr Rosendale retired eight years ago and although in poor health he did see photos of the new floor not long before passing away.
“We have a very good Fundraising Friends Committee who organise many events throughout the year and without them we would not have been able to fund the project.”
