The Quambone Resources Committee are preparing for further work on their local hall after receiving a grant from the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) late last year.

In December 2021 FRRR announced local recovery initiatives in 17 communities impacted by the March 2021 floods and the Quambone group were awarded $12,500.

The Quambone district was battered by heavy rains and flooding in March 2020 and again in 2021, including a couple of weeks in December when the township was cut off from neighbouring towns by swollen creeks.

Natalie Egleton, CEO of FRRR, said the grant recipients have showed a sense of resolve and strength when it comes to rebuilding.

“Recovery is not a quick process – not every community is going to have the capacity to take the same steps at the same time," Ms Egleton said.

 "Despite this, and the challenges of COVID-19 and volunteer fatigue, we’ve been genuinely impressed by the drive of local groups to actively seek support and funding to help their communities recover from the floods. It’s this kind of resilient spirit and motivation that will see these communities thrive once again."

A full house at the Quambone Memorial Hall for the Quambone Public School's Christmas Concert in 2021. PHOTO Marg Garnsey

Over the past ten or fifteen years the Quambone Resources Committee have doggedly renewed their hall, seeking grants and topping them up with their own hard-earned resources or through volunteer labour.

This has included re-stumping the building and levelling the floors (with some sections 12 inches below level), re-attaching the supper room to the main hall where an 18 inch gap had appeared, re-wiring, re-painting and repairs to roof and gutters.

Their last grant in 2019 gave them a new kitchen, airconditioners and fans, and saw the roof lined for the first time in the building's history.

"In 2019 when the school held their concert the hall was full," said Marg Garnsey, QRC Treasurer. "That was the first use of the airconditioning, and we were set to keep going but so much for that - covid struck us like everywhere else."

In 2019, Murrays Floorcoverings quoted to lay vinyl on the kitchen floor but it is only now that the FRRR grant has been secured, that the work can begin.

"We're excited because the vinyl in the kitchen has been long-awaited and will finish it off nicely," Mrs Garnsey said.

"It has the original floorboards and some of them are damaged so we had mice coming through the cracks. It'll be nice to have vinyl to cover up the tin patches we put on."

While the kitchen is a vast improvement on what it was, working benches and vinyl floorcoverings will make it easy to use and clean. PHOTO Marg Garnsey.

The grant will also cover the purchase of two stainless steel kitchen benches "at the right height" for food preparation, crockery and cutlery and will hopefully stretch to a custom-made velvet theatrical curtain for the Hall's stage.

"It's been more than fifty years since the Hall had a proper curtain," Mrs Garnsey said.

There is not a lot left on the list of repairs and improvements to the hall but the Committee are not done yet.

"If we could ever crack the big one - a grant for about $180,000 - to get colorbond cladding on the exterior, that would set the hall up for at least another seventy years," Mrs Garnsey said.

"You could never build a hall this size for the amount of money we've spent, and it's all been through grants. It's important for us, it’s a community hub for Quambone and our emergency evacuation centre."

"The Hall hasn't seen much action since covid, and we've just seen the comedy night set for the 9 February postponed, but hopefully not for too long," she said.