Cr Les Power: Community group needed for pedal boat opportunity

Published on 05 July 2022

Back in 2019, previous Mayor Mark Radford was successful in leading a campaign to acquire ten pedal boats for people to use on the Wimmera River through the Victorian Government Pick My Project initiative. The project was completed in 2020 during the pandemic, with the acquiring of the boats, life jackets, timers and a purpose-built trailer.

At the time of the successful proposal, it was identified that a local community group would need to come on board to run the pedal boats as a business, offering the boats for hire. 

Since then, the boats have been sitting idle, waiting for the chance to be used. There is an excellent business opportunity for a community group to take up, and a fantastic tourism offering for our beautiful Wimmera River. With all the improvement works taking place, what better way to view them than from the water?

Speaking of community groups, I would also like to acknowledge the huge effort that is put in by volunteers across our municipality who keep sporting, cultural and social groups running for the benefit for us all.

Just in case you a reading this and think, ‘who even has time to volunteer?’, I’d like to say that many of us volunteer without even realizing it. Do you cut up oranges for half time or run water out to players on the weekend? If you help out, you are a volunteer, and the whole community benefits from your involvement.

I’ll also add that despite what people might think, volunteers don’t have to be retired people either – there are lots of working people and school students who put up their hands to help out community initiatives, such as participating in stage productions or workshops, sitting on advisory committees or being part of the Youth Council.  

For people who think they would like to get involved in volunteering, there are two exciting opportunities coming up for groups and individuals that I would like to highlight.  

The first is Seniors Week. If you have an idea of an activity you would like to run for older residents in our community, please reach out. Council coordinates a month-long program of Seniors Week activities in October and is keen to hear of any groups willing to contribute.

The second is Horsham Urban Landcare’s new Repair Café. If you are handy with repairing things and have time once a month to help out this great initiative, please get in touch. Last week at the first Repair Café volunteers fixed two necklaces, a small heater and five pieces of clothing. This community event is not only a great way to get things fixed (rather than seeing them end up in landfill), they are a way to meet new people, so go on, get involved!

I’d also like to encourage everyone to be aware of NAIDOC Week, an annual event to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. On 3 July we saw the start of NAIDOC week, and an exhibition featuring the talents of our local Indigenous community put together by Goolum Goolum opened at the Horsham Regional Art Gallery. Make sure to get along to support this exhibition and the artists who have put a huge effort into presenting their works for us all to see.

While the school holidays are still on, be sure to keep an eye out for events coming up for families and adults being run by the Horsham Town Hall, Horsham Regional Art Gallery and the Horsham Library. Council has a list available at hrcc.vic.gov.au