With much-needed rain hammering down on the roof of Nashdale Hall's patio, there was no better way to show the benefits of Friday's $10,000 grant to extend the outdoor area.
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The grant, handed out by Member for Calare Andrew Gee as part of the federal government's Stronger Communities Program, will extend the outdoor pace of the hall, which was built in 1925.
Nashdale Hall secretary and treasurer Sian Jacobs said the plan was to extend the length of the slab and extend the patio roof to the southern edge of the building, with walls also built to keep wind and rain out of the area.
"It's a huge, huge deal because it's such an important area, a lot of the stuff we do it outdoors, we love being outdoors," she said.
It's a really, really important structure for the community.
- Nashdale Hall secretary and treasurer Sian Jacobs
"A lot of us have kids who like to be outdoors so if we can provide them with an area that'll be warm and dry and usable all-year round is fantastic."
She said the hall was a "major centre for the community", being used by the CWA and local sporting clubs, as well as being hired out for weddings, parties and other major functions, while the hall was also used as a focal point for Rural Fire Service and other firefighting brigades during the 2017 fires on Mount Canobolas.
"It's a really, really important structure for the community," Mrs Jacobs said.
Mr Gee said it was great to help community groups with grants to fix infrastructure like the "much-loved and much-used" Nashdale Hall.
"This hall is a key community hub. You have to keep investing in this sort of infrastructure it can run down and disappear ... which can be a tragedy for our communities," he said.
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