Ms SPENCE (Yuroke) — Congratulations to the members of the Craigieburn Bowling Club and Hume City Council on the opening of their fantastic new clubrooms in Craigieburn. I was delighted to be invited to attend the opening of this new $1.8 million facility and see what a significant difference this modernisation will make.

The new bowls club is surrounded by a garden setting and features space for club members and functions, a kitchen, a bar area and dartboards for use by the Craigieburn Dart Club. This will help the club cater for the growing population in the Craigieburn area and encourage the wider community to take full advantage of these new facilities. The new facilities are the result of hard work by the club’s tireless executive and members as well as generous support from Hume City Council.

I would like to note the work of current president Darrell Cochrane and past president Remo ‘Ray’ Ascenzo, who are both deeply committed to their local club. The clubrooms have been a long time coming, and the club is to be commended for its patience. During my time as a Hume City councillor I often met with former president Ray to discuss the plans for the clubrooms. Ray understood that the project was on the capital works program and at that time was some years away from commencement. However, these discussions were always focussed not on pushing to get the project happening more quickly but on asking that it not be pushed back any further. The club was a pleasure to deal with, and I know that all councillors and council staff share that sentiment. What the club now has was definitely worth the wait. I look forward to visiting the club again soon and catching up with its members.