Country hall funding: Darlington Hall hosts film night fundraisers

Forced to fundraise, the Darlington community has had to get creative to keep their town hall alive. Here’s how.

Four times a year, on the road between Geelong and Mortlake, Darlington is home to some movie magic.

The Darlington Hall committee hosts film screenings every three months to fund the upkeep of the hamlet’s community hub.

Committee secretary Trish Wynd said the fundraisers started more than a decade ago, with an upcoming screening of British comedy Cold Comfort Farm scheduled for March 17.

“I’ve been secretary of the hall for about 30 years and at one stage, there was some discussion about selling the hall because maintenance does become expensive,” she said.

“But since we’ve run the movie nights, that’s provided some funds. We’ve also had a few grants from the company that operates the local wind farm.

“The hall is usually one of the few buildings that you can house all the community memorabilia in the one place. We’ve got a peace bell from the First World War here, so many bits and pieces that would be in someone’s shed gathering dust otherwise.”

Darlington Hall committee members Geoff Riskey, Marg Riskey, Trish Wind and Tony Wynd. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The Weekly Times has been reporting how country halls across Victoria are ramping up their fundraising efforts to keep their doors open.

While 350 halls across the state are owned by government and run by committees of management, they receive little funding from Spring Street to stay afloat.

“We do have to provide a report to government every June informing them of our operations,” Mrs Wynd said.

“So, yes, it would be appreciated if there was some more financial assistance from government.”

Last week, Municipal Association of Victoria president David Clark said it was an open question about who would fund the reconstruction of a state-owned hall in the event of a fire, flood or other structural damage.

The offices of the Local Government and Environment ministers were asked how much was spent on community halls this financial year or last financial year. They did not respond.

Instead, a Victorian Government spokeswoman said: “We provide support for committees of management through various government program to ensure their facilities are well maintained and thriving.

“We also provide public liability insurance for committees of management and continue to work with flood impacted communities to support recovery and repair of damaged community assets.”