LIGHTING UP 2021
Netball Lighting
This has been a great achievement by the Cowwarr Football Netball Club and the Cowwarr Recreation Reserve Committee of management, for many years we have looked at different ways to achieve a better outcome for lighting at the ground and the Netball courts.
It seems that the gods of light have been very friendly in this past 12 months after having several funding applications refused for both projects it was decided by the FNC that we would go ahead with the Netball lighting upgrade without the help of 2nd party funding.
In deciding this back in 2019 the club went ahead and did the ground work to pour foundations (a large portion of the costs provided by BFN Developments a major sponsor) for not only the netball court lights but also the new scoreboard and for the poles for nets at both ends of the ground.
Estimated cost for the lights alone was $10,000, with an overall cost of $20,000, but as luck would have it Brett Heckman from Rocky’s Electrical and Solar (one of our major sponsors) was able obtain a pair of lights that had been demonstrated for $5,000 we then used a previously purchased pole, Darren (Jack) Websdale built the bracket and Caitlin Campbell did the wiring, with a total cost of just on five and a half thousand dollars.
New Lighting for Oval
In late 2020 Mark Benfield from the Wellington Shire Council gave me a call and asked if the Cowwarr Football Club had had any success with our applications for sports ground lighting, in answering no he informed me that he was going to submit a project works application to shire for the upcoming budget, and if approved we could see the project being delivered by the end of 2021.
The Recreation Reserve Committee and the Football Club readily agreed and the project was submitted and then along came COVID and instead of slowing things down it sped them up, as the project was ready to go the completion date was bought forward from December to June 2021.
It was great to see Rocky’s Electrical and Solar our local firm and major sponsor win the tender for supply and installation. Covid did end up having a part in the end result as shipping of the poles was delayed and the project was not finished until early August 2021.
The installation incorporates the use of full LED lighting with a capability to be used for all lights @ 10%, 50% and 100% or the Left or Right side of the oval to used @ 50% these can all be controlled remotely.
The budget estimate for a project of this nature is around the $250K mark and the cost to the Cowwarr Recreation Reserve and the Cowwarr Football Netball Club was $10,000 each.
Our thanks go to the Wellington Shire Council for their continued support for projects like this that see smaller communities, facilities and sporting clubs gain access to funding to enable them to provide a better environment for participants and help to lower our carbon footprint.
By Garry Blair