This is a submission written by a local resident about what the future may hold for Slade Campus.
Dear Emmanuelle et Vincent,
Bonjour. Thank you for the lovely postcard, the French countryside in winter looks beautiful. I am so glad we have been able to stay in touch since you were caught here in Warwick during the floods 10 years ago. It has enabled us to establish a real connection between France and Australia.
You asked about the Slade Campus where you stayed with all the other travellers and evacuees. Well, you wouldn’t believe what has happened there! The transformation has been miraculous.
I was there yesterday, Sunday, as a coincidence, having coffee on the outdoor terrace of Slade House, “al fresco” as you do in France. (You remember the old house and of course the views over the river and the town?) Well the terrace is situated perfectly to take advantage of the location and I could see the Condamine, quiet and well behaved this time. While I was there I could see people everywhere, the entire Slade Campus was abuzz with people involved in a diverse range of activities throughout the grounds and the old school buildings.
The country and western music group were raising the roof of the hall and Pangea percussionists were beating out a wonderful rhythm from another building, while an Indigenous dance and choir group were practising under the trees overlooking the river. The sounds were absolutely fantastic. The campus is spacious enough for the three music groups to be in full voice at the same time without interfering with each other and together they produced a magical effect, it sounded like I was in a musical world. The Warwick Little Theatre Group is presenting a play in the evening as well, in the theatre under the boarding house, so the arts community is certainly well represented here.
The staff at Slade House were all very busy preparing for a wedding that evening. The old house has been renovated beautifully by the Historical Society, apparently manual arts students from the High School and Scots College worked together with the Historical Society to restore the building. It looks wonderful and is in great demand for weddings and functions.
They tell me it is necessary to book at least six months in advance to secure the venue for a wedding.It is a superb venue in lovely grounds and it is so convenient, with the chapel nearby and accommodation available for guests who travel.
I have been here during the week as well and it is just as busy. A number of the old classrooms are used by local schools and the wood working and metal working facilities are in great demand.
The pool has been renovated and people who prefer an outdoor pool love coming here.
There is often a sports carnival in town and many of the participants who come from out of town use the accommodation and usually the oval as well.
In fact, having sporting, cultural, educational and accommodation facilities available has brought people here from all over the country for a wide variety of events. For example, in August last year there was a kite festival held on the Slade oval. It is a wonderful site, high and open to catch all the spring breezes. There were people and kites from all over the country, the colours flying above Warwick were magnificent and many of the participants stayed in the old dormitories as well.
The Peace Festival every second year has become a nationally significant event and they use the whole facility for accommodation, concerts and other events for over a week every time. The oval has become like a village green, there are all sorts of activities there throughout the year and it is still used as a sporting venue. There is a new grandstand and sitting there in the late afternoon watching cricket is one of the special moments of a Warwick summer.
The gardens have also been transformed, there have been so many trees and shrubs planted that carbon credits have become a source of income. We have a Warwick Botanical Garden along the sandstone cliffs above the river and the garden group are working on developing a collection of endangered plants.
People tell me they regularly see koalas in the eucalypts along the cliffs. There is a community food garden, which is wonderfully supported and supplies fresh vegetables and fruit to the community kitchen as well as others in the town who are unable to grow their own vegetables and fruit.
Over the last 10 years the Slade Campus has become a real community focal point and Warwick people use it for a myriad of purposes. It has really put Warwick on the map as a destination as well and generates a significant level of business throughout the town. It has even been used as a flood evacuation centre again as we had another big flood in 2014. This time the garden and the community kitchen were operating, so we didn’t have to worry when all the roads were cut.We had enough locally produced food to see us through.
The story of how all this came about is interesting and well worth recalling. Just after you were stranded in Warwick in 2011, the City Council, which owned the facility, decided to sell the entire campus for development. Many in the community were opposed to the idea, believing that once it was sold an excellent resource would be lost to the community forever.
A group of people had organised meetings and had petitioned various levels of government to buy Slade. Nothing was happening, no government was interested enough to commit the money, obviously not enough votes. A small group then decided, well, we will just have to do it ourselves. They put together a plan for community use of all the different parts of the facility, crunched some numbers and decided it could be financially viable as well as providing a unique community facility. Fundraising started in earnest; a couple of local businesses kick started the campaign with some seed funding and community members came up with more. It is surprising how much money you can raise when people can see a real community benefit.
When the State Government saw the money raised by local people they thought they had better get in on the act and eventually even the council committed funds.
A not for profit community organisation was established to purchase the whole Slade Campus and it has been running the show ever since. It has a board elected by community members and public meetings are used to make big decisions and set the direction for the board. It is really owned and managed by the community.
You have probably had that sort of thing happening in France forever. I understand community is especially well nurtured in France. It was ground breaking here and Warwick has received a lot of recognition for having such a unique facility and a community that was prepared to take control of its own destiny, we have become a model for the rest of the country. We are all so glad our community was able to stand up and take a bold step in 2011!!!
