You need only spend a few minutes at the Len Trewin Reserve to learn about sport – and community - in St Leonards.
Nestled neatly behind the bowls club, the well-kept oval is flanked by a clubhouse shared chiefly by co-tenants, the St Leonards Cricket Club and the Bellarine Sharks Soccer Club.
And unlike some summer-winter sporting facility sharing arrangements, these clubs are living in perfect harmony.
Respective presidents Luke and Amy are clearly proud of the clubhouse’s ambience, including the sparkling new chairs recently purchased with their successful joint submission for $2000 to the Portarlington Golf Club’s Community Contribution Fund (CCF).
“We do our best to welcome people, but before we got these (chairs) we sort of looked a little bit like an `op shop’, some would say,” Luke (only partially) joked.
“So it’s fantastic to not have to worry about them inside now. And we've also got some stools to go outside on our little bench that was made by a member of the cricket club, so it has a different feel now.”
Just as the town itself, both clubs are booming, meaning facility upgrades are important to attract and retain new players of each sport.
And by sharing the load where possible, the clubs can direct other hard-earned funds directly to specific equipment needs.
“The relationship between both clubs has just kind of flourished,” Luke said.
Sharks boss Amy L. and cricket club president Luke Roberts sit among the array of new furniture at Len Trewin Reserve in St Leonards.“Amy will bounce ideas off me and come to our events and see how we do things and vice versa for me. So both clubs are benefitting out of the relationship and things like this definitely help.
“So a big thank you to the Portarlington Golf Club, this new furniture means a lot to two small community groups, so thank you very much.”
PGC chief executive Michael Phillips said one of the key elements of assessing CCF applications was the impact any funding has on community, meaning the joint aspect of the grant was important.
And to see the clubs grow, it’s evident that the town – and surrounds – is right on board.
“The community's growing and our membership with it,” Amy said.
“Our member numbers this year, the juniors especially, have grown dramatically from last year, which is great and they come from everywhere - Curlewis, Portarlington, Drysdale – because we're such a small community and we’re an inclusive club as well, that everyone just feels welcomed when they come into the club.”
The cricket club has a similar story.
“About 12 years ago, we only had the one men’s senior team. So thanks to all the other past committee members and presidents we've had, we've been able to grow to this year, we're going to implement an under-15 side for the first time in a lot of years, potentially two under-11s, an under-13s plus our blasters (kids 5-10) program, a full team – and maybe a second one - of women's cricketers and three fully fledged men’s senior teams as well,” Luke said.
Amy said the expansion was proof enough that the new chairs were important for so many more people than in years past.
“And we’re working with (Member for Bellarine) Alison Marchant and council to help our (proposed clubhouse) redevelopment, so this is one project we don’t have to fund within that, so it’s great,” she said.
The grant is part of a total of $12,500 to be distributed by the 2026 CCF, spread among seven successful applicants.
It means that in the past six financial years, the Portarlington Golf Club has given charitable support directly to the community of more than $180,000.
In that time, the CCF component has become the biggest single source of community initiatives with more than $60,000 in such grants alone.
The CCF was established to support not-for-profit community or sporting organisations to make positive improvements that will, in turn, benefit the wider community.
This year, highlighting just how much the CCF means to these institutions, the club received a record 32 grant applications totalling in excess of $100,000.
“We really think these donations have become incredibly important within our community, as evidenced by the number of people asking for assistance,” Phillips said.
“So we’re delighted that so many projects will come to fruition as a result of the grants and, in particular, that so many of them will help fulfil a broader community need.”
