Left: The sign erected at the Springvale branch of the Sporting Shooters Association of Victoria to notify people the clubrooms were out of action until repaired.By Shaun Inguanzo
PLANS for a Springvale sport shooting open day to celebrate the Commonwealth Games and raise money for charity last Sunday turned to chaos when a truck ploughed through a brick wall and destroyed the venue.
The incident on Monday, 6 February left the Springvale branch of the Sporting Shooters’ Association (SSAA) in disarray, with no way to notify the hundreds of people expected on the open day that it had been cancelled because the clubrooms were unsafe. Members were also unable to use the range for regular meetings.
SSAA Victoria sports administration manager Shane Oliver said a truck from a nearby factory lost control and slammed into a brick wall of the clubrooms about 5am on the Monday, wreaking structural havoc on the entire clubroom by shifting it.
“It went straight through the kitchen area, and the attached area is a dining room so it basically pushed it all out,” he said.
“All of the walls went out onto the range.”
No-one was in the club at the time, Mr Oliver said, but with the structure then unsafe, open day celebrations were immediately cancelled.
He said the open day was planned to “encourage the general public to try a Commonwealth Games sport such as shooting” as well as raise funds for a children’s charity.
“Displays and demonstrations were planned and the mayor and local councillors were going to attend with all donations going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation,” Mr Oliver said.
He said the group was expecting up to 500 people on Sunday for the event, and the club had received calls from disappointed and confused residents who were unable to be notified of the day’s cancellation until reading a sign erected at the Springvale shooting range.
“We have had about 10 people call about the open day and they were obviously disappointed, especially as we couldn’t let everyone know,” Mr Oliver said.
“We put up a sign down there but that is not going to reach everyone.”
Mr Oliver said the SSAA was confident works to repair the clubroom would be completed within weeks.
“We don’t think we need to redevelop the whole area,” he said. “It should be up and running within a couple of weeks.”
Mr Oliver issued an apology on behalf of the club, and said it would plan for a future open day.
“On behalf of everyone from the SSAA Victoria we wish to apologise to everyone who had planned to attend the open day, but due to circumstances beyond our control we had no alternative but to cancel,” he said.
“We would like to thank everyone for their support of the SSAA Victoria and we will keep everyone informed of the rescheduled date.”
