The long, hard lobbying years have finally paid off.
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But, there's still one more step needed to finish the job.
In desperate need of court upgrades, one Highland sporting association will finally say goodbye to the cracked past and say hello to a smooth future.
The Southern Highland Netball Association (SHNA) have received a generous grant by the state government to fix the aging and cracked courts at Eridge Park.
But, even with the grant money, the association is needing more funding to complete the project of fixing the Wingecarribee Shire Council-owned courts.
With upgrades set to begin shortly, the great news comes with a little bad.
President of the Southern Highland Netball Association, Cecelia Marmont said a twilight time favourite would not be going ahead this year due to the upgrades.
"The twilight season usually begins in the second week of term four and runs until Christmas," Marmont said.
"Work on the courts is scheduled to begin at the end of October, so our twilight season will be cancelled due to that."
Wingecarribee Shire Council will be holding their fortnightly meeting on Wednesday, October 14. The association will be seeking council to consider supplying the rest of the needed money to fix the courts.
"The Southern Highlands Netball Association have secured $306,615 of State grant funding to get the project going. Unfortunately, the project was only partially funded.
"We (SHNA) are short $160,000 and we're working with the council on ways to come up with the required capital to complete the project. But, we need financial help.
"The association is willing to match Council, dollar for dollar to help get the project to completion," Marmont said.
It wasn't an overnight process securing this grant. A lot of long, dedicated hours went into ensuring the association's safer future.
"We're all volunteers here," Marmont said.
"When you nominate yourself for these committees, work and home life doesn't stop. We're very time-poor and writing grants to help finance our cause is a huge job in itself.
"SHNA have utilised the services of grant writer Phil Mason to alleviate this time pressure off the committee".
"We have had incredible backing from other sporting codes who call Eridge Park home (Bowral Blacks, little athletics, cycling club, etc) as well as our own governing bodies Netball NSW and Netball Australia then to politicians such as Steven Jones and Nathaniel Smith.
"We have letters of support from all these people saying that the need for the upgrade is there, and it's really encouraging"
"Our member fees are helping pay for these upgrades on council assets. It's really important we keep working with the council to ensure we're providing quality, safe surfaces to continue making opportunities for our members.
"The groundwork took a lot of time and now it's paying off."
The upgrades are on target to be completed by the end of January, beginning of February of 2021.
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