WELLINGTON: A dedicated group of community volunteers have banded together to revitalize the Wellington/Fletchers Lake Station House.
The Station House, located inside the Station 42 fire hall, restarted their Thursday night social nights on Feb. 22, and had a great turnout.
Wellington resident—and avid community volunteer—Barry Dalrymple is one of those on the board that is hoping to breathe life back into what he calls the “heartbeat” of Wellington.
“This hall, like the ones in Grand Lake, Waverley, and Fall River have been here forever and are the heartbeat of the community,” said Dalrymple on March 1. “I would say this one even more-so because there’s not a lot of other things here. This hall, most people who live here, have had their kids birthday parties , have attended dances here; been born here.
“With like everything, it’s getting tougher to find volunteers, and those that are are aging. Life continues to get busier, and people just don’t have time.”
He said the hall was down to opening just for Crib league on Thursday night and the dart league on Friday nights, plus a few rentals.
Dalrymple said a few people asked him about helping out to get it back going.
“We called a special meeting a few weeks ago, just sending word out amongst people by word of mouth,” he said. “We told them that we needed to change things to get people back involved again.”
He said there is a chance that at the official meeting, scheduled for March 14, there could be a board made up of 10-12 people, including a couple of the former executive.
Dalrymple offered up to volunteer using his bar-tending experience, working from 4-6 p.m. when another volunteer bartender comes from work.
He said the message people need to hear is that like many other community halls around the adjoining communities, the halls are community-owned.
“They’re here for the community,” he said. “This hall is owned by the residents of Wellington and Fletchers Lake. It’s right here, so people should come and use it. It’s local.”
He admitted that the closed sign could have been permanently placed on it had people not stepped up. Dalrymple said from being a councillor he knows HRM’s long-range plan when the Wellington Connector is completed is to build a new fire station there, and that will result in the closure of three local fire stations, including Station 42.
“When you’re not open on a regular basis … if you don’t have events going on, it doesn’t take long to chew through money,” said Dalrymple. “If we don’t get it going back again, eventually we’re going to lose it.”
