How Towers Jockey Club turned a million dollar dream into reality

Towers Jockey Club had a dream. A million-dollar facility dream, which led them to secure a $944,960 Building Better Regions Fund grant and construct a $1.26M facility.

Back in 2017, Towers Jockey Club had already made some improvements to the operations of their club but this was only a small part of what was yet to come.

It took the right team in their management committee to ensure they were ready for the next big steps - a committee that could identify opportunities, have the bravery to dream big, and the motivation to achieve it. In 2018, this group of visionary, aspirational, industrious club members saw an opportunity that would facilitate bigger race day crowds and, most importantly, provide a needed service for their community in Charters Towers – a Community Centre for large scale events. For this dream to become a reality the committee knew they had to be well prepared and decided to gain support through CPR Group.

CPR Group Senior Consultant Melissa Driscoll said, “for this club we started with a strategic plan. It was important for Towers Jockey Club to document a three-year plan to provide clear direction to club volunteers and members through the agreed goals and actions. Importantly, it also demonstrated to potential project funders that the club was in a great position to deliver, manage and gain benefit from a major infrastructure project”.

A facility plan was the next step. CPR Group worked closely with the club to scope the project and develop photoreals to visually demonstrate the design style of the improvements. The facility plan was concept-based but provided significant detail for the club to obtain a quantity surveyor’s cost estimate to be used for grant applications.

Club volunteer and project manager Sally Kirkwood said, “the documents which CPR Group created gave us great visuals to explain our plans to members, the local community, Racing Queensland and State and Federal politicians. It made it so much easier to get everyone onboard as a supporter of the project.”

Once the plan was developed and costed CPR Group worked side by side with the club to develop a Business Case for the project and then submitted the successful funding application. The funds allowed the club to construct a Community Centre - facilitating bigger race day crowds and enhancing the club’s ability to hire out the facility for functions.

According to Sally, taking on a federal government funded project is not for the faint hearted and hasn’t been without its challenges. “It’s all worth it in the end. We are so proud of our lovely new facility which will set the club up financially for a strong future, and provide the community with a large format indoor/outdoor venue which was missing in Charters Towers. We couldn’t have done it without CPR Group’s help.”

Listen to Sally Kirkwood talk about the process in this Basket Case Clubs Podcast.