A picket painting party for replacement fence
2 Aug 09
The galvanized steel fence outside the Village Hall had long been an annoyance to me and many others in Kangaroo Valley.
It simply did not fit in with our grand, 100 year old building.
The Shoalhaven Council has had the replacement of the fence approved and on the Heritage Restoration list for some time.
When I raised the issue with them, they admitted that it was likely to remain on the list for many years to come, as money was rightly allocated on a priority basis.
Using the achievements of the Cycleway/Pathway Group as an example of what the K.V. community can be trusted to do, they agreed that provided we followed their guidelines on design and O.H. & S requirements, they would provide the materials to replace the fence, if we provided the labour.
So thank you very much for the encouragement from those that saw us building the new picket fence and the good wishes from those that approve of the final result.
The design for the fence came from an old photograph of the Kangaroo Valley School of Arts that the Council, Joan Bray and Keith Learn all had.
It was only modified by us to make it easier to keep the area tidy, to provide better access and because the original picket fence was in fact originally two fences in front of two separate properties.
The brick pillars at the Showground entrance came much later.
Rick Saur kindly agreed to act as builder/contractor for the project and we had a core work group comprising Keith Learn, Paul Turnock, Neil Millett and myself.
Additionally, there was Uwe Ueckert, Simon Shine and Bill Rice who had a weekend picket painting party that saved us a lot of time.
With a few cameo appearances from a few others whenever they had time, the project rolled along very smoothly.
For something less than $1200, the Shoalhaven Council saved several thousands of dollars of ratepayers money and the Hall received a facelift. A Win-Win situation.
With the financial constraints on all levels of government we are in a good position to do more of these small, joint projects to improve the appearance and amenity of our village.
If you hear of a new project and you have some skills or just spare time, please volunteer.
Ken Novich