Peter Bailey Pavillion

YORK CROQUET CLUB INC

PETER BAILEY PAVILLION

The Old Clubhouse.

It had become dysfunctional.  A general meeting was called on 9th July 2013, and that meeting decided to build a new clubhouse.

Peter Bailey was very passionate, and produced a plan of a clubhouse which he thought would be ideal.  The plan was modified several times over the next few years.

Peter Bailey spear headed fund raising:

·        Peter was given some second hand goods which club members sold at the Peace Park Markets.

·        Peter was very active in the collection of olives which were then turned into olive oil by York Olive Oil Company.  Peter then acquired the bottles, and organized the bottling and labelling of the oil.  Club members sold the olive oil which was of a very high standard.  They repeated this the following year.

·        Peter managed a sausage sizzle at Bunnings Warehouse in Midland on a very hot Australia Day.

·        Peter also managed a hamburger stall at a local fair.

·        Helen Giles was very active in organizing and selling raffle tickets outside York IGA.  She also went around to businesses with Shirley Haylock, selling the tickets.

·        Donations of cash came in from some of the York residents.

Over the years that followed the decision to replace the club house Peter Bailey and Eric Ayling, with other committee members, were involved in the many meetings held with the York Shire Council President and councillors.  Peter followed up submissions to the Rivers and Waters Commission, The Department of Environment, Aboriginal Affairs, the Water Authority, the Heritage Council and other Government Authorities.  On many occasions he had to alter the plans because of the requests from these departments, and each time the revised plans had to be put through to each of the other Government Departments.  This was very time consuming and frustrating.

The 100 year flood level was deemed to be just above the level of the lawns, so the building had to be at least 1 metre above that.

We had to have a disabled car parking space, a ramp for wheel chairs and disabled toilets. 

We had to have a fence around the decking, and the strands of wire were not to be too far apart.  York Shire Council advised the distance standard.

The building had to be basically on the same footprint as the original building.

The building had to be painted in the heritage colours of the original building.

Many other conditions and restrictions were imposed.

In the meantime, the lease was coming to an end, and had to be renewed.  Once again Peter Bailey and Eric Ayling were involved in meetings with the councilors to ensure we had a lease with options for the next 20 years.

All the time, Peter Bailey kept up his interest and passion for the new building.

We finally got the go ahead to build. 

Peter Bailey was instrumental in acquiring donations of building materials. 

His wife, Pam, was responsible for the donation of the floor carpet squares. the inside timber flooring, the fancy lights and the upholstered chairs. 

Peter also arranged for discounts for timber, insulation, cladding and paint.

John Bullock was responsible for acquiring the donation of all plumbing fittings.

Dan and Barbara Ryan donated the kitchen cupboards.

But we had to remove the old building first.  John Fenn had an asbestos removals license, and John, Peter and others worked under John’s supervision to remove and correctly dispose of the old building.

It was necessary to install big iron pylons to mount the building.  The building is on the side of a steep embankment.  Peter was there working, supervising and ensuring the pylons were all at the correct level for a level building.

The Building under construction.

Building assistance came from existing club members, previous club members and other members of the York community.  In Peter Bailey’s business Geoff Burges and Eric Rous were often called on to do the plumbing and electrical work.  Both Geoff and Eric assisted with the plumbing and electrics at heavily reduced charges. 

The building was finally ready for an official opening on 30th November 2019, 110 years after the York Croquet Club first started.