New lights and a flash from the past

Paul Wick, Helen Wositzky and Jason Wood with one of the new lights at Olinda Reserve football oval. 24921 Picture: JESSE GRAHAM

By JESSE GRAHAM

IT WAS an illuminating night for the Olinda-Ferny Creek Football Netball Club last week when $50,000 lights above the Olinda Reserve football oval were officially opened.
The lights, which ring around the oval, shone through the dense fog and rain that rolled over the hills on Thursday 31 July as representatives from the club joined La Trobe MP Jason Wood for the opening.
Mr Wood, who had played for the club in his youth, provided $50,000 in funding for the lights as an election pledge last year.
He said that the lights that were replaced were the same ones he played under 25 years ago and that he was proud to see the club’s facilities improve.
President of Olinda-Ferny Creek Football Netball Club Helen Wositzky said the lights would help the club on a fundamental level and provide the community with a space for events.
“The old lights were such that it was becoming impossible to train – and when you can’t train, you can’t be competitive,” she said.
“The (new) lights are also of a standard that we could run some twilight football games so that’s something different for the community who will be able to do events like that.”