PICNIC SHELTER OPENING

"Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us today. I have the absolute honour of thanking everyone who has helped us to reach this milestone with the park. I feel like some background is relevant before I use my cheat sheet to get through the abundant list of thank you’s!
 
You are currently standing in the Echunga Community Association’s largest achievement to date. Over the last 6 years this once overgrown 5 acre space has been transformed from paddocks to a well used community park that links the main street to the school and recreation grounds. ECA pushed for the idea to become part of the Township Plan in 2018 and at the end of 2020 won our first grant for the park; to clean up the site of noxious weeds and plant the ~500 trees and shrubs that are flourishing today. This was also our first large community working bee with over 100 volunteers.
 
In the last 4 years ECA has been awarded over $47,000 in successful grant applications for the Community Park. This dollar amount does not however encompass the immense in-kind work of our dedicated volunteers, community members and local businesses.
 
We have chosen today to celebrate the milestone that is the completion of the Picnic Shelter area (almost, we’re close). This section of the park has taken multiple avenues of funding, co-ordination of many businesses and volunteers and endless crunching of numbers to achieve. So let’s start the thank you’s…
 
First thanks has to go to Mayor David Leach and Cllr Bradley Orr who facilitated the Council funding of the picnic shelter area in the annual budget for 2021-22. This support from Councillors outside our ward felt humbling and rewarding and we will always be grateful for your continued encouragement of our efforts. We also thank Mount Barker Council staff and our current South Ward Councillors for their continued support and flexibility in working with us to create the park we have today.
 
I would also like to thank our Federal member Rebekha Sharkie who joins us today, as a significant amount of funding came through her office in the last 3 years with ECA successfully applying for 2 Stronger Communities grants – one for the rainwater tank and the other for the electric BBQ we are using today.
 
Thanks as well to the Honourable Josh Teague for his attendance today and his continued support of Echunga and our community projects and events.
 
Other Grant providers for this area were:

• SA Power Networks for the electricity and
• Mount Barker Council Community Grants program for fencing, landscaping and signage.

 
I also thank the valued ECA committee members who have applied for and managed the grants behind the scenes, in particular Lyn Wells and Sheila Kavanagh. I know first hand that the administration and planning can take hours of work that goes largely unseen, so thank you for your dedication to the outcome and your vision with these grants.
 
Various companies and organisations have provided support, discounts and in-kind provision of goods and services:

• O'Brien Electrical
• Adelaide Hills Sandstone
• P&R Electrical
• Rod Manning Sculptures
  
• Complete Concrete Company
• Meadows Landscape and fodder 
• Irrigation Pumps n More
• Bunnings Mount Barker

 
We’d like the thank all of the ECA members and local volunteers who have done concrete shifting, gravel raking and various labouring efforts, including the working bee we just held this morning! However there are some volunteers with specific machinery and skills who have given many hours of time to this project and I would like to name them today:

• Paul Clifton for the concrete we stand on
• David Marshman
• Robbie Morgan
• Andy Kavanagh
• Geoff Smith
• And Colin Stevens
  

For earthworks and various other tasks with numerous bits of machinery
 

• Derek Wells for his considerable efforts in every one of the tasks that he has undertaken here, which do not fall under neat headings!
• We also need to mention the endless catering trips by ECA members throughout the last 2 years of working in this area.

 
Although half of them are unable to be here today, I would like to thank the ECA committee for their support and commitment to this project over the last two years. 
 
And finally a large thank you has to go to David Kavanagh for his contributions to this Picnic Shelter, without his electrical expertise and management of the installation of the power to the park and his stone masonry skills we would not have the beautiful BBQ and sandstone walls we do today.
 
And although I have thanked her earlier a special thanks has to go to Lyn for her vision with the park. The initial idea back in 2018, the many, many grants she has won and managed, the garden design that we have just planted today, the connections and relationships she has forged for the benefit of the park and the community and above all the blood, sweat, tears and time that she has contributed to the park project.
 
We think it is only fair that Lyn and David get the honour of cutting the ribbon today. Thank you” - Jacki Eads, President, Echunga Community Association 2024