Community members are invited to the Uniting Church Campsite Commissioning Service, followed by a light lunch on Saturday 10 December from 12.30pm at 140 Caves Road Busselton to celebrate the refurbishment of the site.
For the past four years, the Uniting Church Campsite in Busselton has not been used for its original purpose, having fallen out of compliance. This year, the site has been overhauled.
Rev Hollis Wilson, chair of the First Third Working Group and chaplain at Methodist Ladies’ College (MLC), said “Our Outdoor Ed person here at MLC, Gary Howlett came to me and said ‘What about that camp site down there?’ and I looked at him and said ‘I don’t know.’
“But the beauty of being the convener of First Third [Working Group] is that it gave me an opening to find out what was going on.”
The conversation between Gary and Hollis led to the Uniting Church WA Resources Board requesting the establishment of the Camp Site Redevelopment Committee, operating under the auspices of the First Third Working Group. First Third Ministry resources ministry for people in the first third of life. Works on the site began early this year and included refurbishing the meeting facility, building new ablutions buildings and bringing the water, electricity and fire services up to compliance. Work is expected to be completed in October.
The redevelopment of the camp site was funded by the Innovative Opportunities Unlimited (IOU) Fund.
“The IOU Fund was established in 2005 to acknowledge the heritage and broad purposes of the camping movement within the Uniting Church and to provide ongoing support for creative ministry with a particular emphasis on young people,” said Janine McDonald, First Third officer at the Uniting Church WA.
MLC is the lead tenant at the newly developed camp site, and the school has committed to regular use of the site for several years into the future. MLC will also hold the first camp at the site, as a kind of ‘soft opening’, in November, prior to the commissioning service.
Peter Jodrell, director of Motus Architecture, who have managed the refurbishment, said, “We’ve got a beautiful beach along the edge of the site and the cycleway runs all the way from Busselton to Dunsborough, right past the site. So for outdoor recreation, particularly for the schools, it’s just a marvellous facility.”
For more information about the commissioning service, go to http://unitingchurchwa.org.au/first-third/activities/.
Elaenor Nield