Where’s the community in Foster Community Association?

ENTHUSIASTIC new members are being sought for the Foster Community Association, which is in temporary recess due to a lack of interest from the Foster community.

The Association currently has fewer than 30 members and its leadership is in sore need of support, with several key executive positions, including President and Secretary, currently vacant.

The FCA president, Geoff Harris, recently departed to northern Australia. Some time ago the decidedly over-committed Jose Goosens generously agreed to be Acting Secretary “until a Secretary is appointed” but has waited in vain for someone to take the reins.

There is still a Treasurer – Pam Park – and a Vice President, Bill Park, and these two stalwarts of the community are calling for other “preferably younger” people to join the Association and take an active role.

The Association meets at 7.30pm on the third Monday of each month at the Community Health Centre beside South Gippsland Hospital in Station Road, Foster. There will, however, be no April meeting. Unless there is a sudden surge of interest the next meeting of the FCA will be held on May 16. It will be followed by the Association’s Annual General Meeting, due to be held in August.

“Since its Incorporation in 1998, the Foster Community Association has been working quietly and steadily to help make our town and surrounding area a better place,” was how then-president Jill Plowright, speaking in 2014, explained the work of the FCA.

“The FCA is a non-profit organisation made up of energetic and passionate members of the Foster community, united in their desire to improve and preserve the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the town and surrounding district. We represent the interest of everyone who lives, works, plays, shops, studies or invests in Foster, and those who visit for recreational or cultural purposes,” she continued.

“Energy and passion equals results for Foster, and over the years our members have championed dozens of initiatives that now enrich our daily lives.”

• Initiatives championed over the years by Foster Community Association include:
• A children’s playground at Foster Showgrounds;
• Prom Country Farmers’ Market;
• A staffed Visitor Information Centre;
• Footpaths extended to the hospital, Rail Trail and Ahern’s Fruit Market;
• Footpaths upgraded to provide disability access;
• Speed limit in town reduced from 60 to 50 km/h;
• Rebuilding of bridge over Stockyard Creek;
• Longer library hours;
• Expanded network of walking, cycling and riding tracks around Foster;
• Upgrade of the Foster Lookout;
• Improve road traffic safety and lighting at the SG Highway/Toora Road intersection;
• Upgrade of the bus stop rotunda;
• Prom Coast Centre for Children;
• Foster Station Park;
• Establishment of Friends of Turtons Creek;
• Support for Foster Swimming Pool.
• The main project the FCA is working on at present, in association with South Gippsland Shire Council, is the Foster Streetscape. Further ideas for Foster can be made to the Association via the Suggestion Boxes in Foster Post Office, Aherns or the Visitor Information Centre in the Stockyard Gallery complex.

However, without a greater membership and new office bearers the work of the Foster Community Association cannot continue. Anyone who believes they can spare a few hours a week is urged to get in contact with the FCA. Ring Bill or Pam Park on 5689 1324 and then come along to the next meeting on May 16. Your help could make a difference in the drive to make Foster a more attractive, vibrant and prosperous community, one that has a strong identity and continues to be a great place to live, work and visit.

Comments are closed.