TWO aging halls in the Kyogle Shire have been granted a stay of execution ahead of demolition as a community group throws its resolve behind their restoration.
As it stands now tenders could be called for the razing of Horseshoe Creek and Cedar Point Halls early in the new year, but the council will re-assess their final future at its March meeting.
Meanwhile community spokesman Tony Zammit said the halls were not so far gone that a little work by a team of volunteer chippies could see them returned to usable state. Works include water, sewer, guttering and some foundation shoring.
Council manager Graham Kennett said council had already resolved to destroy the two halls, which are under its control, after fours years’ worth of negotiations and would build a new historical museum in town in its place. Communities further away from Kyogle were currently serviced by their own halls guarded by their own committees. A grand old hall in town, the Kyogle Memorial Institute, would receive a greater share of attention if Cedar Point and Horseshoe Creek met their demise.
Resident Steve Bell said council direction went against community wishes. The $16,000 raised by a previous Cedar Point Trust is now earmarked to help pay for demolition but Mr Bell said it should be used to pay for more guttering, as the previous trust had intended.
“Council’s attitude towards the old halls has further divided the gulf between ‘them and us’,” he said.
Meanwhile Cedar Point dairy farmer Paul Arber said the hall and others like it were ideally suited to holding certificate courses for local landholders in chainsaw management and weed spraying techniques.
“Community halls are central to people in that local area,” he said. “We’re talking about farmers and they’ve got to get back to work.”
Of course community halls provide shelter for even more important things in the lives of locals – like a ‘kitchen tea’ for engaged couples.
Venessa Kook had hers at Horsehoe Creek Hall and Denis O’Neill remembers his at Cedar Point.
“The people came more out of respect for my parents than for us,” he said.
However Mr O’Neil warned that extra effort would be required to keep the doors open on defunct halls.
“My father was here with a hammer every fourth weekend,” he recalled. “It requires a lot of work to maintain it.”
