Weekend musings
Sue Brooks March 21st, 2010
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the USQ production of Twelfth Night at The Brolga theatre. The evening was very enjoyable and the students can be proud of the professional manner in which they presented Shakespeare to us. A shame that we couldn’t sit on the grass on a balmy warm evening and enjoy an outdoor production but I was just as happy indoors. The evening marked the start of our Fraser Coast cultural week with the festival swinging into gear throughout the week. Next weekend will see the festival on the foreshore at Scarness and the Harmony performance at The Brolga. Both events should be a must see. http://www.frasercoastculturalfestival.org.au/
This week Councillors met with the new board members of Wide Bay Water Corp and I am personally very pleased with the personal experience and skill that these individuals are bringing to our region. I expect that our community will reap the benefits of a new very well experienced and independent board. We have challenging times ahead with less financial assistance from the State Government, in terms of monies for infrastructure, so it is good to know that our new Board members are very keen to work closely with Council to bring about positive results for our community.
Interesting coverage in the Chronicle about our Councillor Blackberry use. I am primarily an emailer rather than a ‘chat on the phone person’ so my charges are reduced as email costs less than talking does. It is essential for Councillors to have quick and easy communication tools at their disposal however so the list didn’t surprise me.
So to wind up the weekend with some pool news. I visited the pool yesterday unannounced and chatted to some pool users and watched the activity there. For a cool morning the pool was busy. It is a small piece of land without too much room to spare and the changing rooms etc have obviously passed their use by date, but the complex is obviously well used and cared for as it was very clean. I noted the fact that no one sunbakes these days so the need for expansive lawns seems much less essential than in my youth. It would be nice I thought, to have more room and space for trees and shaded lawns, but it seems functionality is the primary concern of the community.
An elderly gentleman was slowly swimming lap after lap (I was told he is in his nineties..amazing) and some women were doing water aerobic training also up and down the 50m length of the pool. The learn to swim classes were in full swing in the smaller pool and the sight and sound of all those little bodies enjoying their time in the water with mum and/or dad was uplifting. Maybe there is a future Olympic champion in the making amongst them?
I’m glad the cyclone has passed with no major damage and that we are receiving soaking but not flooding rains! Take care and have a cosy and safe Sunday. Sue
PS There has been one or two comments recently that I have either edited or trashed. The first time really that I have decided not to publish a contributed comment. I have attempted to email the contributor with no success so if your comment doesn’t appear on this blog it is because I have deemed it unsuitable. I detest censoring your comments and mostly refrain from doing so but simply calling people names and saying derogatory things about a community is not worthy of publicity in my opinion. So can we keep to fair criticism of myself and each other but include suggestions for change also? While there is a benefit in being able to comment anonymously I believe there is also a responsibility to remain polite, respectful and truthful. Cheers, Sue
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- Comments(4)
Received via email.
“Well, 2 x 25mtr pools seems smarter to me, heated they could be used all year round but I have spoken to a few people and their views differ greatly. If training then a 50 mtr pool is more beneficial, but how many are actually going to be training? Do we spend a great deal of money just to please a few or create a whole new “swim centre” that can be enjoyed all year round (by families).”
So it seems people are asking the right questions. What configuration of pools on this site gives the best options for the entire community? Apparently an alternative site was once discussed but not progressed due to ease of access issues and also attempts were made to obtain land adjacent to the current site to expand it. Sue
Re the pool, 2 x 25m pools makes sense for many good reasons however a 50m pool provides the opportunity for people to train for competition. This begs the question, “Is it right to deny opportunity?” Investment in Hervey Bay’s esplanade walkway and the installation of exercise equipment gave people the opportunity to train even though there was no guarentee that it would be used for training. Why build the Brolga theatre? There was no guarentee that it would be used as much as it is. What about wetside? No guarentee of popularity or usage there either.
Just about everything we do as a community is about providing opportunities for people. Can we really afford to deny the opportunity to to train? What if Shane Gould or Dawn Fraser were never provided the opportunity to train? Would we even know their names?
If funding and time constraints are a problem then as community minded people we should do everything we can to delay action until funding is sufficient to meet the opportunities available to us.
Paul,
Regarding training, irrespective of the new pools size. where will all these people train while it is being built?
Seeing as we have short course competition world wide, are you suggesting swimmers can’t train in a 25M pool?
Your suggest that we just wait until we have the money;
this pool has been an issues for ten years now !!
I repeat yet again if the people have their hearts set on a 50M pool, let them have a levy to make up the financial shortfall.
You can always tell the strengh of a persons commitment by their action or lack there of.
Sadman
Paul,
This is going a little off topic, but you ask, “What if Shane Gould or Dawn Fraser were never provided the opportunity to train? Would we even know their names?”
Could I suggest to you that there are many many people in Australia who wish they had never ever heard of Dawn Fraser. You might be too young to remember, but she embarrassed this nation by not only refused to wear the official uniform in the opening ceremony at the ’64 Olympics, but she then went on to steal an Olympic flag from a flagpole outside Emperor Hirohito’s palace, which led to her arrest, and suspension from the swimming team for 10 years (although both “sentences” were later reduced or dropped). Shame, shame, shame.