The council tour of community facilities continued this evening to include several community and leisure facilities located within Ringwood.

The first destination was the Karralyka Centre, which is Maroondah’s home to theatre and the performing arts. The Karralyka Centre also serves as a performance space to local groups and schools and also provides function rooms for events.

While the location of Karralyka is not ideal, it is accessible through bus route 670 along Maroondah Highway and hopefully the State Government will introduce a new direct service from along Mount Dandenong Road as part of the bus service reviews.

The tour continued through to Central Ringwood Community House, which is located in Bedford Road, Ringwood in close proximity to Ringwood Station. Central Ringwood Community House is part of Bedford Park and manages the community hall that is located on the site.

Central Ringwood Community House. includes a number of classrooms and permanent computer training facilities. The Community House is the recipient of the Federal Government’s Better Regions Program which will be utilised to improve accessibility and provide new classrooms.

Federation Estate was the next destination and is located along Greenwood Avenue near Jubilee Park and Ringwood’s main sporting precinct. Federation Estate includes the Maroondah Art Gallery, which features several prominent exhibitions, including local artists. The arts are further reinforced through an artist in residency program where artists are able to complete their artwork within Federation Estate.

The facility also includes several meeting rooms available to community groups and the Amazing Space playground, which is a fully accessible playground focusing on the senses and imagination. Amazing Space is a unique sensory focused playground and has received a number of awards and positive reviews.

The Maroondah Indoor Sports Stadium, was the next destination and is located along Canterbury Road. The facility provides four basketball courts and recently introduced martial arts lessons. The stadium is extremely well utilised by a number of basketball and netball clubs.

Ringwood Golf Course, is next door to the Maroondah Indoor Sports Stadium and is an eighteen hole public golf course. The golf course includes a cafe, which caters to both golf patrons and external functions with views overlooking the course. Ringwood Golf Course offers coaching and golf lessons, as well as a golf shop which stocks a wide range of golfing equipment.

After the golf course the tour continued through to the Jubilee Park Ringwood Soccer Pavilion. Council has applied for federal funding to redevelop the soccer pavilion and to provide facilities for the MVC Boxing Club. Should this grant be approved it will provide premiere soccer facilities within Maroondah, as well as introduce new sports within the Jubilee Park sporting precinct.

Ringwood Aquatic Centre was the last destination of the tour. The Aquatic Centre provides a 50 metre indoor pool, as well as a hydrotherapy pool and general purpose swimming facilities. The floor of the aquatic centre is currently being re-tiled and funding was successful to introduce a co-generation plant to reduce the facility’s energy consumption.

While Ringwood is fortunate to include several prominent sporting and cultural facilities that are only a short five or ten minute walk from the centre of Ringwood, improvements to wayfinding and signage would assist in re-connecting these facilities.