Bunyip facilities get much needed upgrade

Tennis and netball facilities at Bunyip Recreation Reserve have received a much-needed upgrade.

The $820,000 project to upgrade the pavilion and change room facilities was funded through $720,000 from Cardinia Shire Council and a $100,000 state government grant for female friendly change facilities.

The upgraded facilities include improved home and away change rooms, new umpire change room, new accessible toilet, inviting social spaces along with a functional office, kitchen and storage space.

Bunyip Tennis Club representative Chris Mathisen said the pavilion upgrade was timely with club membership continuing to increase.

“One of our biggest tasks was to look at how we were going to upgrade our existing club room that was already bursting at the seams,” he said.

“Given the problem of having a very small budget that had to be spread across so many projects, we were stuck as to how exactly we would ever be able to do the upgrades.”

Mr Mathisen thanked Bill Pearson and his family, who provided the funding, materials and resources to build the original clubroom. Photos of Mr Pearson have been mounted at the entrance to mark the contribution.

Cardinia Shire mayor Cr Brett Owen said the pavilion was a multi-use facility utilised by both the tennis and netball clubs.

“These upgraded spaces will not only benefit members of these two clubs and their supporters and visitors, but also other community groups that will use the reserve for meetings and social functions,” he said.

“The facility is well-used and caters to a wide range of age groups, from Net Set Go registered netball games for fiveyear-olds, to having three senior netball teams competing in the new and exciting West Gippsland Football Netball Competition, and having eight teams playing social tennis in the West Gippsland Tennis Association weekly.”