A makeover of the old Girl Guides Hall in Glen Innes will give about 70 young dance students a brand new space to strut their stuff safely.
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A $54,500 grant from the state government will be spent to jazz up the old hall in East Avenue with a suite of restoration works.
Professional dance instructor Donna Jarrett had run her Star Avenue Dance Centre from the old hall for the past three years with some 70 students stepping up their skills there four days a week.
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Mrs Jarrett said the funding boost will mean so much to many local dance students.
“We won’t have to worry anymore about picking up splinters or have toenails ripped back from hitting nails sticking up out of the old floor – it will be great,” she said.
“The floor will be completely redone and we will also rip up the old lino in the kitchen and waiting room areas, take them back to wooden floors and resurface and polish them.”
Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall announced the grant this week and said the project will provide a better looking, better working and quality dance floor space for Glen Innes.
“It’s an old hall and desperately in need of some upgrades to meet the demands of a swag of local dance students and this project will deliver a quality restoration that will make dancing there so much better,” he said.
The hall is home to ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary dance and musical theatre studio instruction but both Mr Marshall and Mrs Jarrett said the restoration will also make it more appealing to other users.
“Being able to spruce it up will give it more appeal for hire to other community groups as well,” Mr Marshall said.
“This includes other exercise-based sports along with community activities. It’s near the Glen Innes CBD and right opposite a high profile parkland space that attracts plenty of out of town visitors, so the restoration will also involve some external works.”
The external walls will be repainted to provide weather protection and renew the facade of a historically significant building, the roof will be replaced and the crumbling brick landing wall will be restored to improve safety.
“This is a wonderful project and I thank Donna Jarrett for her initiative in nominating it for some funding that will improve it as a community asset for so many others.”
