For the last 64 years, Gunnedah Pony Club has hosted an October school holiday camp for its members at the Gunnedah Showgrounds.
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However, the club will have to host the 65th annual camp in April due to the Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA) rally being held at the showground between October 6 and 13 next year.
At Gunnedah Shire Council’s (GSC) December meeting, a motion to financially support the club in moving its camp forward passed unanimously.
GSC will support the club by waiving its 2018 booking fees and providing the Gunnedah Show Society additional help in preparing the showgrounds for the camp following the 2018 Gunnedah Show.
Gunnedah Pony Club senior instructor Karen Guy said the assistance from council was welcome but not enough.
“Financially we are going to do it really tough,” Mrs Guy said.
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“It’s a big cost for families to send their kids to pony camp and at this stage we may have to consider taking payment plans for people to help pay for it.”
Mrs Guy said the club had also asked council for financial assistance in paying for food supplies at the camp but was unsuccessful.
“We also asked for some cash to help pay for the camp food costs, which normally runs at around $10,000,” she said.
“But we weren’t so lucky on that one and what annoys me most about it is that we keep getting told it (the CMCA rally) is only a once-off and so is moving the camp from October to April.”
Councillor Murray O’Keefe said providing the club with the desired money would be difficult.
“It’s hard to allocate $10,000 from a budget that doesn’t exist,” Cr O’Keefe said.
“As genuine and impassioned as the motion from the club was, staff were just unable to ascertain exactly what the desired funds were for.”
Cr O’Keefe said the club were “more than welcome” to make another application for financial assistance from GSC.
“If the club wants to make a fresh application it will be assessed with fresh eyes,” he said.
“Once it becomes clear exactly what is needed by the club, council will help in any way that it can.”
Mrs Guy said the club will meet later this week and discuss “where to go from here”.
“The club will get together and formulate a plan to help raise funds,” she said.
“Whether that’s going through council again or reaching out to other community groups for help we will discuss that and work out a plan.”
- Mrs Guy asked that her phone number be included in this piece should anyone wish to lend assistance on 0438 624 334.
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
