The official opening of the Cooks Hill Surf Club’s extensions, a move to provide more accessibility at the beach for people with disabilities, was held on Saturday morning.
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The Cooks Hill clubhouse’s ‘face lift’ comes in partnership with Life Without Barriers, and the Newcastle City Council, and included a new lift and toilet, a ramp from the clubhouse to the beach and a ramp from street level on Memorial Drive down to the clubhouse.
This upgrade to the clubhouse is the first stage of a $4.5 million project that will be accomplished by the Cooks Hill club after identifying that they had “outgrown the council-owned 1930s building”.
The launch event also coincided with the launch of the new season and a raising of the flags, and boasted a number of special guests to help celebrate the special occasion.
Paralympians Kurt Fearnley, Andrew Edmondson and Maddie Elliott were joined by Newcastle Knights players Trent Hodkinson and Peter and Sione Mata’utia at the Bar Beach event.
Richard Hermens, president of the Cooks Hill Surf Life Saving Club, believed that this was an important move to make, and that everyone deserves easy access to the beaches of Newcastle and the Hunter, as well as the necessary facilities.
“As the story goes that this new building start some ten years ago, when a group of individuals – and knowing surf clubs I’m sure it was over a couple of Toohey’s – dared to dream that one day this club would be so big that it would outgrow the two hundred members, and male centered club,” Hermens said at the grand opening on Saturday.
“A seed was sown. Today what you see is that seed starting to grow, this being the first of a two-stage project that was delivered by a team of volunteers and community minded partners designed to meet the growing and greater needs of the community.
“With guts, determination and against the odds, a small group of volunteers dared to step up and gave up thankless hours to design, cook sausages and more sausages – a lot of sausages went into this building – chase grants, attend endless meetings, negotiated and finally manage the construction of this building. And with your help they have succeeded.
"Together we have delivered this building which offers not only disabled and female amenities, full disabled access to the beach and surf, but most importantly an inclusive community facility.
This building allows us to continue the amazing disability outreach programs, the education and leadership programs and refugee, immigrant and indigenous outreach programs and the support that Cooks Hill SCLC is renowned for.”
Cooks Hill Surf Life Saving Club will now begin planning for the second stage of the rebuilding project for the clubhouse.