Chapter 3 - Investing in Our Players

With Hockey HQ becoming the heart of our club, our next priority was providing dedicated change room facilities for our growing number of junior players.

We needed a safe and welcoming space for our young players while giving coaches somewhere to gather teams around the whiteboard during wet weather, ensuring training can continue regardless of the conditions.

• No dedicated change rooms.

• Players arriving straight from school with nowhere suitable to change.

• Wet weather.

• No private space for female players.

• No indoor coaching area during bad weather.

• School bags and hockey equipment lined up against the fence in the rain.

• It simply wasn't the experience our players deserved.

Project Journey

15 May 2025… we received some fantastic news!

Margaret River Hockey Club had secured a $20,000 State Government election commitment towards a new modular changeroom facility!

At the time, we had priced a brand-new 6m × 3m modular building at approximately $22,000 — and that was before delivery, planning approvals, administration costs and connecting power.

It quickly became clear that we would need to think creatively and make every dollar count. Our funding needed to stretch much further than simply purchasing the modular building!

Finding the Right Building

Rather than purchasing a new transportable, the committee searched for a quality option that we could renovate to maximise every grant dollar.

In July 2025, Wally and Maxine travelled to Pigdon Portables near Pinjarra.

Dave and his team kindly worked with the club to modify a 12mx 3m former mine-site office by:

• installing an internal partition

• creating a privacy wall in the girls’ change room.

• removing air-conditioning units

• installing a whiteboard

The result was two spacious junior change rooms and a flexible coaching space.

Thanks to Dave and the team at Pigdon Portables we had exceptional value for money and our project was underway.

The Paperwork...

Like many community infrastructure projects, the building itself was only part of the journey.

Before construction could begin we worked through:

📄 Development Approval

📄 Lease Variation

📄 Structural Engineering

📄 Building Certification

📄 Arborist Inspections

📄 Grant Agreements

📄 Planning Approval

At times it felt like every document required another document!

Thankfully, with the support of local professionals, Kim Luciano - Riverside Building Approvals and Roger and Toby Pateman - Margaret River Structural Engineers (WA) and Andy Winnings - Winnings Construction PTY Ltd, we could provide the details the Augusta Margaret River Shire required and the project gradually moved forward.

October 2025

Planning Approval Granted!

After months of approvals, the project finally received the green light.

The club was ready to begin preparing the site - unfortunately due to length of time the paperwork took, we had now missed the window of opportunity with the builder to start the groundworks! We would have to wait until after Christmas now …

February – April 2026

Ground works commenced.

With the help of volunteers and local contractors:

• the site was levelled

• concrete pads were poured

• footings prepared

• fencing temporarily removed

• everything made ready for delivery day.

Electrical works were temporarily paused (11 March) by the AMRShire while additional approvals were sought. - another hurdle we'd eventually overcome.

Delivery Day - 10 April 2026

One of the most exciting moments of the project.

Meeting the truck on the Margaret River Bypass, volunteers escorted the oversized load from Shorter Transport - Forrestfield into Gloucester Park.

With only millimetres to spare, the refurbished transportable was expertly manoeuvred into position.

After months of planning... our new change rooms had finally arrived.

A Community Project

As the project progressed, unexpected costs had began to reduce the original fit-out budget.

Additional fuel charges, planning requirements, structural engineering, site connection costs.

Like previous projects, our local community stepped forward to help.

Financial Support

The next few months we received some incredible and much needed financial community support.

Thank you to:

Lions Margaret River

Arbour Margaret River

Priceline Pharmacy

Middletons Business Advisory

Rotary Margaret River

Yahava Koffeeworks, Margaret River

Margaret River Steel Products

When we needed a few final adjustments to ensure the change rooms were perfectly positioned, we turned to Margaret River Steel Products.

With their experience and expertise, they supplied and installed the steel supports for the building before carefully realigning the transportable into its final position.

They later returned to fabricate, install and bolt down the new access grates at the change room entrances.

Thanks so much, Nathan and Patto—now our players can safely step into their new change rooms!

Geographe Underground Services

Aaron Myles and David "Choppa" Reid generously donated their time, machinery and expertise.

They:

• Installed underground conduit for power

• Worked beneath the pathway (saving the pathway from damage and extra costs to replace)

• Supplied the Vinidex edging strips (creating a dividing section between the mulch and steel supports).

• Helped  to pressure clean Hockey HQ

• Thanks so much for your support, especially on such a hot morning.

Special thanks to Wally our “Site Manager”

Never one to sit still... Wally has been involved throughout this project. Working alongside our contractors.

Todays job - shovelling gravel, levelling and finishing landscaping around the transportable with bark mulch.

The bark mulch and gravel was supplied by AMRShire.

One more job ticked off!

Bunnings Margaret River

Bunnings have generously donated team benches for inside the new change rooms.

Our coaches can now continue training sessions around the whiteboard, even when the weather isn't cooperating.

RetraVision Margaret River

11 July 2026 our  new fridge/freezer was delivered. 

One of the final pieces of the puzzle was making Hockey HQ even more functional on training nights.

Thanks to the generous support of Val, Patrick and the team at RetraVision Margaret River, we now have a dedicated fridge/freezer in Hockey HQ.

After four years of playing on our training turf, having no ice on site is a genuine game changer—especially when we have the occasional mishap / injury on the pitch!

It also gives us a dedicated space to keep food fresh for our weekly junior BBQs and cold drinks ready for junior players after training.

A huge thank you to the team at RetraVision for helping make Hockey HQ even more practical and welcoming for our players, families and volunteers.

Your support is very much appreciated.

Mitre 10 Margaret River

A big thank you to Lockie and the team at Mitre 10 Margaret River, who generously donated materials to help us continue improving our club facilities.

With the weather beginning to warm up, we held a very productive Busy Bee, giving both the new change rooms and Hockey HQ a fresh coat of paint.

Turning our attention to the inside of the change rooms, we’ve added bag hooks, blackout blinds and some fresh paint thanks to Mitre 10.

Our New Change Rooms Are Officially Open!

At 2.00 pm on 20 September 2026, Club President Ian Noakes proudly opened our new change room facilities, marking the completion of another major project for MRHC.

It has been a real club and community effort to get this project completed, with support from government funding, local businesses, community organisations and many hours contributed by our own volunteers.

It was a proud moment to finally open the doors and celebrate what has been achieved together.