Help to renovate the future home of Macedon & Mount Macedon Community House
Please support the development of Macedon & Mount Macedon Community House by donating needed funds for urgent renovations to the building at 47 Victoria St, Macedon. Once the renovations are completed, the doors of the community house can be opened!
47 Victoria Street Macedon has Always Been a Community Hub
The weatherboard house at 47 Victoria Street Macedon was originally constructed in the 1940’s and opened in the 1960s as a Maternal and Child Health facility, and provided a home for various playgroups and a Kindergarten. Many local Macedon and Mount Macedon residents share memories of visiting the service with their new babies, bringing toddlers to playgroups, and preschoolers to kindergarten in the building. It is one of the few buildings in Victoria St to survive the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires and has served as a gathering place for locals for nearly 80 years. New and enduring friendships have been forged here. Mentoring, support, learning and creativity have been fostered within its walls.
Photo: Children's mural on wall at 47 Victoria St Macedon
Our Community Has Rallied to Save the Building
In recent years, the Macedon Ranges Shire Council has called into question the viability of operating 47 Victoria St as a community facility. The delivery of Maternal Child Health services services and ‘community use’ has been progressively scaled back. The lobbying efforts of community members have helped to keep the doors open in the past.
The building has now sat vacant since 2016 and was declared surplus to requirements by the Council. A successful campaign by the Victoria St Neighbourhood Working group resulted in Council resolving on 27th March 2019 to retain the building! The working group was able to demonstrate that there was overwhelming support for a community house, along with the capacity to make it a viable ongoing operation. One of the key factors to the success of the campaign was a willingness to fundraise and generate in-kind support from within the community.
Council accepted an Expression of Interest from the group to lease the building and develop it as a hub for community activity. The group has subsequently become incorporated and rebadged as the Macedon Community House Inc. and a committee of management has been formed.
Working group members celebrate council decision to keep building community owned. Photo credit: Midland Express
Council accepted an Expression of Interest from the group to lease the building and develop it as a hub for community activity. The group has subsequently become incorporated and rebadged as the Macedon Community House Inc. and a committee of management has been formed.
We need help to get the building ready for community use
It’s now time to work together as a community and raise the funds that are needed to make this vacant building into a habitable regulation complaint ‘place of assembly’ for the communities of Macedon, Mount Macedon and surrounding districts including residents, visitors and local organisations.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council have agreed to
lease 47 Victoria Street Macedon to the Community
Let's transform this empty building into an inviting vibrant place - Our community house. A place where people can meet, get to know each other, play and work together, support each other and share skills, knowledge and experience. A place where people with shared interests not currently catered for by existing community groups can come together in a centrally located safe space. For example, people with an interest in the arts, learning & literacy, environmental sustainability etc.
Locals have expressed interest in the building becoming a hub for a range of activities including:
- delivery of short courses
- building a community garden
- providing ‘community kitchen’ shared dinner
- running a homework club
- provision of meeting and rehearsal space
- community events and festivals
- welcoming seasonal visitors
- providing a central community information service
- health and wellbeing classes such as yoga and meditation
It is hoped that the community activity at Macedon & Mount Macedon Community House will contribute to our social, cultural and economic capital and promote our population’s wellbeing.
Our Commitment
Macedon Community House Inc, Committee of Management plans to take out a three year lease with the Macedon Ranges Shire Council and open 47 Victoria St as the Macedon & Mount Macedon Community House.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with Macedon Ranges Shire Council in which a commitment has been made to contribute $ 43,000 towards the cost of the 47 Victoria St, Stage 1 Renovation Project. Council has invited representatives from the MCH Inc. to serve on a project reference committee. A significant budget allocation has been made by Council towards the renovation costs in the 2019/20 financial year.
We have committed to fulfil our promise to fundraise
and generate in-kind support from within the community.
Help is now needed from the community to raise the $43,000 in donations, sponsorships, grants and in-kind donations from local trades assisting with the building works. We’re already well on the way to meeting our funding commitment. The Committee of Management has applied for several grants and a number of local tradespeople and building professionals have generously offered to provide electrical, plumbing, landscaping and structural engineering services.
This Campaign is Where YOU Come in
We need to raise at least $10,000 through your donations to this Start Some Good Campaign by the end of March to help us meet our commitment to council. We'd love to raise more, and we've set the stretch target for this Start Some Good Campaign at $30,000. If the stretch target is reached the additional funds will assist with fitting out the building and enable us to commence Stage 2 renovations. Yes, it’s ambitious, but our community is incredibly resourceful. Lets pull together and do this!
We need to raise at least $10,000 from the community
to help us meet our commitment to Council.
Before 47 Victoria Street can be leased by Macedon Community House Inc. Community of Management, there are some essential renovations that need to be undertaken to make the building fit for purpose, safe and accessible. The extent of Stage 1 renovations has been scoped by the MRSC in consultation with representatives from the management committee
The Macedon Ranges Shire Council is managing the Victoria St renovation project. Initial work on the building has already commenced. The call for public tenders from builders interested in undertaking Stage 1 renovations will shortly be made by the Council.
Photo: Committee members and council working together
to enact the next chapter at 47 Victoria St Macedon
The Stage 1 building works that are required include:
- Provision of a DDA compliant car park and modifications to the front entrance ramp to meet DDA standards.
- A new unisex disabled toilet, new female and male toilets urinal and wash basins.
- Repairs are also required to the roof, guttering and downpipes.
- Some of the internal doorways and circulation spaces need structural modifications.
- Re-stumping and essential safety measures.
- Minor painting works to be done.
In the best case scenario our community raised funds won’t all be needed for the building works in Stage 1, in which case any surplus will be put towards Stage 2 and beyond. Once we’ve signed the lease, we want to engage with everyone in the community to develop a shared vision of what we’d like to achieve over the next three years. We’re really looking forward to that conversation!
Facebook: facebook.com/mmmcommunityhouse or @mmmcommunityhouse
Instagram: instagram.com/mmmcommunityhouse or @mmmcommunityhouse
Website: www.mmmcommunityhouse.org
Email: [email protected]
