Warrina Valley development

Community Centre

The Community Centre is the heart of the estate. Here one finds a communal kitchen for community parties, meals, and family gatherings - like the catering area of a large house rather than an hotel.

There is a pool room, into the outside wall of which is a bank of mail boxes. Around the outside is a series of centralised electricity meter and distribution boxes/pillars. Within is a staff room for visits by staff people from Warrina homes, and a maintenance workshop and store.

Indeed we residents have our own residents' workshop where (one assumes) on a time and/or space sharing concept, jobs that are too large, dirty, noisy (or whatever) to be done in our own garages/workshops can be performed. And it houses all the regular ablution facilities associated with facilities for a "family" of potentially nearly a hundred meeting together.

Many would feel that the 'piece de resistence' is the hall and chapel, where we community family can meet together - to socialise, to discuss, to share the gospel, which is a common bond through being part of an aged Christian believing community, looked after by a believing Christian community without the concerns of a denominational structure - a man-made organisation - which tells us what we must, and what we can't believe.

So we can meet here for a multitude of reasons - residents' birthdays and anniversaries, all sorts of leisure activites of a sporting, musical, dramatic or any other reason, and perhaps for sharing our love for Jesus Christ.

On this page we show some photographs from before the land had been cleared, continuing on through to its current state. Here, photographed before Christmas 2001, we are standing to the "right" of where the Community centre will eventually be built. To the right, shot after the contractor had cleared the site, we see a similar shot, from a standing position some fifty feet to the left (east) of the previous shot.

18th June 2002

Weather has improved a lot; further timber framing of houses and roofing has taken place, so the pouring of the slab for the Community Centre has not yet become at all important. This photo was taken from the top of "Mount Sinai" - the huge mound of earth which occupied the lots of houses 28 to 32. The "Mount" was being steadily demolished at this time, to allow the foundations for those houses, and also 33 and 34, to be excavated and poured.

2nd and 16th July 2002

Weather is having its usual seasonal variations. Today was pleasant, sunny, but chilly and dry, which made site inspection a delight. The builders had really pulled out all stops.

Something that appears to have happened ahead of schedule is the foundations for the Community Centre; we got two good shots, the left one from the North-East, and the right one was taken from the South-West two weeks later.

At the second of the two visits it had bucketted down with rain for nearly ten days...

30th July 2002

It continued to rain for a bit, but eased for a few days before the visit. And some shots of the Community Centre, which is just framework at this stage - and indeed for another month afterwards. On the left we see the exterior view from the front, and on the right we are standing at the eastern corner of the Hall looking ahead at the chapel alcove, and to the right toward the servery that is part of the kitchen beyond.

27th August 2002

This week, opportunity was taken to walk through the Community Centre whose timber framing was well advanced. Individual rooms are clearly identifiable, such as residents' workshop, maintenance workshop, kitchen and meeting room.

On the left we have a striking view of the front with the columns supporting the weather protection canopy over the entrance in full view. Next, two shots of the hall area, the middle one shot from outside the doors to the patio and the store room, looking towards the chapel alcove. On the right is a shot taken from the end of the hall looking back towards the entrance with the servery hatch from the kitchen on the left of the two figures standing, and the store room to the right.

10th September 2002

The work on the Community Centre has also started to move.
Here we see Ross and Will posing (instead of working hard) outside the front.
Please note the drunken looking left-hand column on the drive-under verandah!

Picture on the left is looking at the northwest corner, with the front entrance and porch/verandah visible
The next two shots are internal ones of the hall...
the middle being from the store room door tooking at the southern wall and the chapel
the right from the southeastern corner, looking at chapel, servery/kitchen, and main entry

25th September 2002

You might like to check out the floor plan in a seperate window while walking round.

First a tour round the outside of the Community Centre, walking anticlockwise...

Northeastern view as seen as you approach the Community centre down the road from the main entrance.
Next two shots are closeups - first of the patio area off the hall on the left, then the front door on the right.
The large "window" area to the right of the front door is where the mail boxes will be located.
Then on the far right we next see the entrance to the site maintenance workshop.

Working our way round further, the residents' workshop (behind the electricity distribution cubicle)
the outside of the chapel, then the terrace at the eastern end of the hall
and a different angle of the hall patio located by the store room door.

Now the inside...

First standing in the entrance to the hall looking directly at the glass wall which leads to the terrace outside
Taken from the corner by the patio and store room doors looking at the southern corner and chapel on the right
Looking directly into the chapel which is an alcove off the main hall
Similar view to 10th Sept; we see chapel, servery/kitchen, and main entry from the southeastern corner
From hall door, cleaner's room (extreme left), staff room (left) games room (right) and front door out of shot on right.

8th October 2002

All interior shots showing insulation packed into partition walls...

hall corner by store room door looking at end wall (left) and chapel (right)

southwest corner of the hall looking towards the main door (centre right),
kitchen servery (centre left), store room (extreme right) and chapel (extreme left)

south-eastern corner of the pool room, looking northwest,
with doorway to main passage on the right,
and the rear wall (currently an aperture) of the letter boxes to the left

22nd October 2002

photos taken today reflect the finished interior walls,
recessed ceilings in the hall and passage...

hall, looking west - looking east - looking south-east

function room - pool room

24th February 2003

At long last we can report on the slow pick-up to work on the Community Centre up to the current date....

photos taken today reflect the painted interior walls,
recessed ceilings in the hall and passage...

hall, looking east - two views of the kitchen, centre and right

function room - entrance hallway - pool room

Today, the paving of the driveway is almost complete,
with the fiddly bits of cutting the bricks to fit into curves yet to be finished.
Here are two shots taken today... and two shots taken a few days ago of the start of the work on the paving..
to their right we can see the view out of the front door looking out under the awning

The completion of the carpark bitumising over several days...

The storm water and other service pipes laid and not yet covered...

and the car parking bays around the periphery not yet bitumised, but ready and waiting...

11th and 12th March 2003

By arrangements with Will Vaatstra, access into the now permanently locked centre building (against vandals and muddy boots!) made possible some internal photography after carpeting, wallpapering and the hanging of the internal chandeliers had been completed - some temporary carpet covering (sheets of cardboard) were still in evidence...

Doesn't it look smashing?

The hall, looking east - then the chapel (without hall lights on), two views of the meeting room, and pool room on right
The meeting room's long table with spare leaves was on the floor, as was the station-master's clock to be fitted in there!