Plans to upgrade sports grounds

The town does unfortunately not have much to offer locals sport and leisure wise. With this in mind, community members set out to upgrade the tennis courts and other sports facilities at the Vaalwater Farmer’s Hall. This 4 ha of land, on which the Farmer’s Hall is located, has been a meeting place for many years with educational courses, tourism meetings, markets and even voting taking place there. A trust owns it and is not on municipal land. The St. John’s Church is the caretaker.

A meeting was held on Tuesday 21 November to discuss options to raise funds for the upgrades. Several residents, as well as the Vaalwater Chamber of Commerce, were involved in this effort.

“There are many people who play tennis in the area, but our nearest town with a tennis club is Modimolle, which is 60 km away,” said Sonja Harmse, who has been involved with a variety of projects at the hall. “We have so many unemployed youngsters in the area with no access to sports facilities to develop their talents. Sports facilities would be a great addition to their lives if we could gather the necessary funds.”

Some of the aims of the Chamber of Commerce, which was launched a year ago, are to improve and expand this area where unemployment is high and education levels are low. Job opportunities are also scarce. By restoring and uplifting various areas in town, they hope to improve the morale of residents and expand their skills. They envisage that the development of the Farmer’s Hall will create a cultural, social, sporting, and educational facility to the benefit of the whole community.

Thanks to support from St John’s Church, residents, and businesses, renovations have started with the most recent being the thatching of the roof of the tennis lapa and new tiles in the entrance to the hall. There is much work still to be done.

Those who wish to become involved with the project can contact Shane Dowinton on tel. 073 430 2827.