By MELISSA MEEHAN
DESPITE having two home bases, the Yarra Ranges U3A was facing an uncertain future just weeks ago after becoming homeless over two days.
It sounds a tad dramatic, but within two days the group was told it would no longer have a home at the St Andrews Church in George Street, Lilydale, after Christmas and that the Janet Campbell Centre in Kilsyth was set to be demolished.
The organisation was also affected by the closure of the Swinburne campus last year.
Good news finally came through last week, with new president Geoff Hughes announcing to the group’s annual general meeting that they had been offered space at the Montrose Uniting Church and had entered discussions for a combined class timetable with Japara until the new Kilsyth community hub is completed in 2014.
While it’s looking positive, the group is still in desperate need for storage space where it can keep filing cabinets and other items.
“Our main problem is storage,” Mr Hughes said.
“Everything we have at George Street has to be stored and we need to vacate the church by Christmas.
“We also have everything here at the Janet Campbell Centre, too.”
Mr Hughes said the group had a couple of ideas and had prepared a letter for Yarra Ranges Council to ask for its assistance in finding somewhere to store its items.
“The Yarra Ranges U3A goes back a long way,” he said.
“My wife was the founding president in 1994 and we did the tour of venues back then too.
“We’d love to have a home rather than a number of separate premises but it’s also a bonus to be able to be fairly wide spread throughout the area, too.”
