Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke MP joined members of the Young Showground Trust, Crown Lands and the community today to officially open a $600,000 upgrade to the grandstand.
The finished product is the result of a near decade of hard work in securing funding by the Trust.
“There is no doubt about it, beautiful old structures like this require a lot of maintenance and upkeep, and it is fantastic to have had such a substantial investment by the NSW Government to bring this beauty back up to standard,” Ms Cooke said.
“Congratulations to Chairman Bill Daly, Pat Fletcher and Ray Blackwood for your perseverance and for the completion of this great project.”
The works included demolition of the front landing and the extension, re-roofing, replacing some timber and floor in the seating area, refurbishing the office, new electrical systems, a cool room, new landing, stairs to the seating area and repainting.
Chairman of the Young Showground Trust Bill Daly said the community have been surprised at the extent of the refurbishment.
“I don’t think the community expected to see a near derelict building returned to its original splendour,” Mr Daly said.
“We’ve utilised a lot of the original glasswork, the windows and the original totalisator area, so there is a lot of history being kept in the building but it’s been modernised to make it be there for the 21st century.”
The works were announced by former Member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson under the 2016/17 Public Reserves Management Fund, now known as the Crown Reserves Improvement Fund.
