By MELISSA MEEHAN
FOR some, it may have been a pie in the sky idea.
But roofing the walkway beside the bakery, between Kilvington Drive and the IGA carpark in Emerald has proven to be just what the area needed.
Peter Segman is one of a number of shop owners who funded the walkway cover.
“The buildings are about 22-years-old and there is cover over the footpath everywhere else,” he said.
“So we decided that it would be a good idea to cover it.”
Mr Segman said it was particularly timely given the wet weather.
“Sometimes the bricks would get slippery and it was unsafe for those using the walkway to get through to the shops,” he said.
“It’s a busy thoroughfare”
“It’s been very well received.”
The project took six months to get up and running, but was years in the making.
Mr Segman said that the laneway would be officially opened and renamed later this year.
“These shops were once a blacksmith’s shop owned by Charles Stapledon and it was sold in 1945,” he said.
“So we’re hoping to name it after something to do with his name or shop.”
Organisers have even found a descendant, a great granddaughhter of Mr Stapledon who has agreed to attend the opening.
As the Mail visited the laneway on Tuesday, passersby spoke of their delight that the walkway was now covered.
