Building Our Future

We would like to acknowledge Jane Kelsbie MLA, whose support for community sporting clubs helped make this project possible.

Jane recognised the importance of investing in local sporting infrastructure and seeing the bigger picture for growing community sport.

Thanks Jane—you've been an absolute powerhouse!

📅 Project Timeline

15 May 2025

🎉 Fantastic news!

An election commitment announced that Margaret River Hockey Club had secured $20,000 towards a modular change room.

...

A few little wording tweaks I'd make:

Instead of

Huge boys' and girls' change rooms what a way to make the most of our grant funding.

I'd write

The result? Spacious boys' and girls' change rooms—and a fantastic way to maximise every grant dollar.

Instead of

we had to be patient!

I'd write

...we had to be patient. Community projects certainly teach you that!

It keeps the humour.

Delivery Day

Instead of

our precious project build was expertly manoeuvred into position.

I'd simply say

our long-awaited change room was expertly manoeuvred into position.

That sounds a little more natural.

Geographe Underground Services

Just one typo:

steal supports

should be

steel supports

Also

Helped to pressure clean Hockey HQ

I'd write

While they were on site, they also helped pressure-clean Hockey HQ.

RetraVision

I LOVE this paragraph.

I'd just tweak one sentence:

This will:

🧊 Keep ice packs frozen for injuries.

🥤 Store food and drinks for our legendary junior BBQs.

The freezer will keep those all-important ice packs ready for game day, while the fridge will be stocked with supplies for our legendary junior BBQs.

Mitre 10

I'd tweak:

these finishing items

to

the finishing touches.

🚧 Almost There...

This is brilliant.

I'd just make one sentence slightly stronger.

Instead of

But thanks to an incredible group...

I'd write

Thanks to an incredible team of volunteers, local businesses and community supporters, we're almost there.

❤️ Thank You

I LOVE the last sentence.

I'd just finish with:

Thank you for helping us build something that will benefit Margaret River hockey players for generations to come.

That line gave me goosebumps. It feels like the perfect way to finish the story.

Alex's final suggestion ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

One thing I'd definitely add at the top of the page is a little "Project Dashboard" before the timeline.

For example:

📋 Project Snapshot

Status: 🟢 Final Fit-Out

Project Value: $20,000 Grant + Community Support

Volunteers Involved: 30+

Local Businesses Supporting: 10+

Current Stage: Painting & Internal Fit-Out

First version below…

🏑 Building Our Future – Change Room Project

As part of our continued commitment to improving Margaret River Hockey Club, we're excited to be delivering dedicated change room facilities for our junior players.

This project is about much more than a place to get changed. It will provide a warm, dry and welcoming space for our young players while giving coaches somewhere to gather teams around a whiteboard during poor weather, rather than cancelling training sessions.

Once we had secured the training turf, this was one of the club's next priorities.

Why was this project needed?

Project Goal

Create dedicated boys' and girls' change rooms for our growing club.

Club Growth

🏑 6 Junior Teams and a enthusiastic group of Hookin2Hockey players!
🏑 3 Senior Teams

The Challenge

Until now our players, particularly juniors arriving straight from school have had nowhere suitable to change.

Our female goalkeepers often found themselves changing behind sheds or even behind cars, while school bags and equipment were left lined up against the fence in the rain.

It wasn't the experience our players deserved.

What this project will deliver

• A safe, private place to change.

• Protection from winter weather.

• Secure storage for school bags and hockey equipment.

• Better wellbeing for our players.

• A coaching and meeting space during poor weather.

• A facility that encourages more juniors and families to become involved in hockey.

After some discussions with MLA Jane Kelsbie, who we would like to acknowledge  all her support with regards to supporting community sporting clubs and seeing the bigger picture of how to support them with infrastructure projects such as ours. Thanks Jane - you were a powerhouse!

📅 Project Timeline

15 May 2025

🎉 Fantastic news!

An election commitment announced that Margaret River Hockey Club had secured $20,000 towards a modular change room.

At the time we had priced a new 6m × 3m modular building at approximately $22,000 before delivery, planning approvals and connection costs. It was obvious we'd need to think creatively and stretch every grant dollar.

Original Grant Budget

Item

Budget

Modular Change Room

$18,000

Delivery

$1,350

Administration & Shire Fees

$650

30 May 2025

Our application for Development Approval was submitted to AMRShire.

Searching for the Right Building

Rather than purchasing a brand-new transportable, we searched for a quality second-hand option that would maximise the value of the grant.

Following a recommendation we contacted **Pigdon Portables near Pinjarra.

3 July 2025

Wally and Maxine travelled to inspect a huge 12m × 3m former mine-site office.

Dave and the team at **Pigdon Portables generously supported our club with an excellent price and went above and beyond by modifying the building to suit our needs.

Their work included:

• Internal partition wall

• Girls' privacy wall

• Removal of two air-conditioning units

• Installation of a coaching whiteboard

The result?

Huge boys' and girls' change rooms what a way to make the most of our grant funding.

Thanks Dave—you really are a legend!

4 July 2025

Lease Variation application lodged for the club, we needed to add the new transportable to our current lease for “Hockey HQ, our efficient little sea container.

July–October 2025

Then came...

The paperwork!

Planning approvals...
Structural engineering...
Arborist inspections...
Lease amendments...
Building permits...
Grant agreements...

At times it felt like every document required another document!

Thankfully, with the help of some fantastic local professionals, everything slowly came together.

Special thanks to:

• **Riverside Building Approvals

• **Margaret River Structural Engineers

• ** Winning Constructions Pty Ltd

8 October 2025

🙌 Planning Approval Granted!

Finally...

We wanted to start preparing the site but we had missed the window of opportunity with our busy builder, we had to be patient!

24 February 2026

Ground preparation begins.

A bobcat arrived on site to level the area ready for the concrete footings.

11 March 2026

Electrical works were temporarily paused by the AMRShire while additional approvals were sought.

Not ideal—but another hurdle we'd eventually overcome.

1 April 2026

Volunteer power!

Huge thanks to Andy Winnings, Aaron Ride and Wally Zalewski who dug the footing holes and poured the concrete pads, we were  ready for delivery of our modular change room.

10 April 2026 - Delivery Day!

Thanks to **Shorter Transport, our refurbished transportable finally arrived in Margaret River.

Meeting the truck on the bypass, we escorted the oversized load safely into Gloucester Park.

With only millimetres to spare over the kerb, our precious project build was expertly manoeuvred into position.

A huge milestone for everyone involved.

May–July 2026

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

Margaret River Steel

Supplied the steel supports for the building.

Returned later to install and bolt down the new access grates to the change room doors.

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 steal supports).

• Helped  to pressure clean Hockey HQ

Amazing support.

Wally the Site Manager

Never one to sit still...

Back again moving gravel, levelling pathways and finishing landscaping around the transportable.

One more job ticked off!

RetraVision Margaret River

11 July 2026 our  new fridge/freezer was delivered.  This will:

🧊 Keep ice packs frozen for injuries.

🥤 Store food and drinks for our legendary junior BBQs.

Huge thanks to Val, Patrick and the team.

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.

Mitre 10 Margaret River

The project isn't quite finished...

The walls still need painting.

The windows need blinds.

Hooks need installing.

Thanks to **Mitre 10 Margaret River and new Store Manager Lockie Hill, who approached suppliers to help provide the paint and  these finishing items.

We're looking forward to giving the building its final coat of paint as soon as we get a break in the winter weather.

🚧 Almost There...

Like many community projects, this one has taken much longer than anyone imagined.

Additional fuel costs ...

Planning requirements...

Power connection queries ...

Structural reports...

All stretched our original budget.

But thanks to an incredible group of volunteers, local businesses and supporters, we're almost there.

One more Busy Bee...

A few days of sunshine...

A lick of paint...

...and our junior players will finally have the change rooms they've waited so patiently for.

❤️ Thank You

This project is proof of what can be achieved when a community comes together.

To every volunteer, sponsor, business and supporter...

Thank you for helping us build something that will benefit all of our Margaret River hockey players, present and future members. 🏑👏