Following immense community support and financial aid from the Glen Innes Show Society, Glen Innes Showground Trust secretary Patric Millar was joined by trust members John Lynn and Jo Cameron this week to announce a fast-tracked completion date for the major upgrade of the Glen Innes showground lights.
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While the lights have been a persistent issue since their installation in 1957, the drive to renew the lights came towards the end of 2013. Since that time, the trust has received continued support from numerous community service groups, as well as the highly-successful guess-the-weight competition with the Kniepp family’s bull “Spot” at this year’s show.
Now, after thousands of dollars raised through community and government support, the local show society has come forward with a final loan instalment of approximately $25,000, which could potentially see the completion of the upgrade in time for the major local camp draft in early December.
“We are very excited to see the work come together,” Mr Millar said.
After significant investigation and tendering, Mr Lynn said the contract has been signed with a Coffs Harbour-based company that will see to the ground infrastructure works to remove all visual wires, with each of the 27 metre poles designed to encompass all wiring.
According to Mr Lynn, the trust have selected a halogen lighting system that will output approximately 200 lux, as opposed to the current 60 lux, and will operate at a fraction of the cost of the existing lights.
Once calibrated to the specific dimensions of the showground, Mr Millar estimated that the new lights – when fully operational– will cost approximately $12 an hour to run, as opposed to the existing lights which he estimated run at over $30 per hour.
With the significant savings and drastically-increased quality of lighting both Mr Millar and Mr Lynn agreed that the showground can expect a wider breadth of usage, with the new lights certified to host higher levels of sports, including equestrian jumping and regional football.
Pinning the success of the project to community and government support, Mr Millar said the initiative would not be possible without the community’s tireless efforts to raise funds for the project, and the significant support to the tune of $80,000 ($60,000 grant and $20,000 loan) secured by member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall.
Mr Millar estimated, in rough figures, that through various efforts the community has contributed funds to the amount of $25,000, with $185,000 now secured and a further $25,000 to be contributed by the show society.
“Without the community’s support we would not be able to go ahead,” Mr Millar said.
“There is no way we could have gone ahead without them.”
Mr Lynn and Mr Millar are confident that the loans taken out between state government and the show society will not affect operations or further events run by the trust in the future and expressed their excitement to see a project, developing over a number of years, come to fruition.
With the new lights set to brighten an already highly popular local show regularly receiving positive feedback from locals and visitors, both the trust and show society are keen to see the project completed and to take advantage of the wide range of opportunities that are anticipated to follow.
