There is more power in numbers, they say. In February, a group of parents to some netball players from the Milton State School started an epetition to persuade the Brisbane City Council to build a netball court at Milton Park. Until then the netball group, comprising of about eight teams, had to go to Downey Park or the Western District to play. Attempts in the past to have a court built at Gregory Park had been turned down by the BCC for lack of available space.
The group of netball mothers petitioned for a public netball court at Milton Park, and the epetition closed on 13th March with 147 signatures. The group found an ally in Councillor Peter Matic from Toowong, who promised to put forward a budget bid for the park in next year’s budget.
Westside News covered the petition with an article in their March 9th edition, and a Facebook page for the netball court was established, that to date has received 492 “Likes” and reached 1000 people every week. Hard copies of the petition were also circulated in the community. In just one month, the group was able to gather 1324 signatures.
True to his word, Councillor Matic was able to secure funding to build the court. Construction started in October and as of October 27th the concrete for the Milton Park netball court has been poured, the posts are in, and the court is expected to be completed around the second week of December. Such is the power of cooperative undertaking.