Grass now greener at Australind centre

The grass will always be greener at the Australind Senior Citizens Centre with the installation of a new reticulation system.

The system was installed at the start of the year with the State Government contributing $15,000 through the Local Projects, Local Jobs election commitment and the Harvey Shire Council providing the remaining $3650.

Centre president Elvaann Cole thanked Mr Murray for the funding and said that as a self-funded organisation, without the help the new system would not have gone ahead.

Mrs Cole said the reinvigorated lawns and the new extensions would be of great benefit to the 600 members at the centre.

“We like to keep our centre looking first class and with Mick’s help it is first class and everything’s coming back again,” she said.

“It was such a shame to see it before, everything dying off and we tried hand watering but that was a bit of a dead loss.”

Mrs Cole said the centre had been waiting two years for a new system.

“We did have reticulation before we had the extensions but it was nothing like this, it wasn’t as good as this,” she said.

“It kept breaking down and the sprinkler system we had out the back, vandals were always breaking them.”

Harvey shire president Tania Jackson said the new system would be a great improvement for the centre’s lawns and made it easier to maintain.

“It looks good but it’s also much better to traverse over the grass, we want a good surface so people aren’t unexpectedly tripping,” Cr Jackson said.

Seniors and Ageing Minister Mick Murray said he respected the members of the centre as quiet achievers, contributing to the project as well as applying for funding.

“They’re not out there with their hand out saying do it for me, they do it for themselves then we complement that funding,” he said.

“They’re certainly on the front foot and doing a service for this region.”