EARLIER this week, the Out of School Hours Care (OOSH) centre located at the Australian Rules Hall, came close to closing its doors for the last time after a substantial amount of termite damage was discovered during a facelift of the facility.
The Cootamundra Blues committee offered the OOSH and Vacation Care program run by Mission Australia a lifeline back in January 2009 after OOSH were left in limbo without a location when their previous Hovell Street site was found to have gas contamination in the soil.
The Blues committee had planned to make renovations to the hall in the future, including replacing the ceiling and the possible erection of an awning out the front.
However, these plans have been put on hold with the recent discovery of an estimated $30,000 worth of damage caused by termites.
Mission Australia had also planned to paint the interior of the hall and install new carpet, this work was to start next week.
Mr Knagge and his team from Rod Knagge Building Service responded quickly to the job putting their current work on standstill to save the centre.
Mission Australian had tossed up the possibility of closing the program due to the internal damage caused by the termites.
“Mr Knagge said the committee were desperate to repair the damage for the club and also for OOSH.
“OOSH offers a service to the community, we wanted to keep this service operating in Cootamundra and also keep them as tenants in the hall,” Mr Knagge said.
Mr Knagge said the club looks forward to continuing their relationship with Mission Australia as long time tenants into the future.
Some 50 children utilise the service during the week with up to 150 children during school holidays for the centre’s vacation care program.
OOSH and vacation Care Coordinator Ian Hoy couldn’t thank Mr Knagge, his building team and the AFL committee enough for the generosity.
“If it wasn’t for the services and generosity of Rod, we (OOSH and Vacation Care) may not be able to continue to operate in Cootamundra, for this we thank him,” Mr Hoy said.
Mr Knagge said work is expected to be completed within the next three weeks, for the mean time OOSH is operating out of the Town Hall.
A working bee will be carried out on the hall this weekend with players and tradesmen from the junior and senior clubs all lending a hand.
Mission Australia rallied employees from Cootamundra, Wollongong, Wagga and Goulburn to get the work done quickly to prevent the centre from being out of action for a long period of time.
It was soon discovered that there was a much bigger problem inside the hall.
OOSH Coordinator Ian Hoy contacted Blues President and local builder Rod Knagge who discovered what everybody had dreaded, that an infestation of
termites had also moved into the main building and had caused an estimated $30,000 worth of damage.
Mr Knagge said about 90 per cent of the walls were damaged by the infestation.
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