Murringo woman Heather Ritchie has praised the volunteers who help look after the small village, but feel it’s time for council to do more to help out.

Mrs Ritchie – representing the Murringo Community Association (MCA) – raised this and other issues in the open forum of Young Shire Council’s March 20 meeting held in Murringo Hall.

She thanked council for giving the village the opportunity to host one of their monthly meetings before talking about various matters relating to Murringo.

She highlighted the uniqueness of small villages and their strong community spirit and connection, highlighting the many hours of volunteer work that took place in the town.

This ranged, she said, from mowing, local fire brigade work, regular working bees for the surrounds of the village, tidying the tip, cleaning and mowing of churches to school volunteers, social events, sportsground trust, common trust, and MCA delegated responsibilities for the village.

“The amount of volunteers that run this community – it’s almost like we’ve been handed a village and been told ‘you run it’.”

But she said they feel that they don’t get their fair share of resources.

“We’re always working to fix things – we never have a sense that we’ll grow,” Ms Ritchie said.

“I guess the thing is we need to know that it is for us – that there will be improvement for us,” she said, “there’s only so much we can fundraise.”

Ms Ritchie also talked about the voluntary work of Gina Galvin who publishes the community newsletter Murringo Matters every month, saying “it’s getting bigger and bigger thanks to Gina.”

Mrs Ritchie has asked council to develop an annual maintenance program for Murringo Hall, for them to match $10,000 for the development of a passive recreation area in Well Paddock and improvements to the waste collection system.

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She asked that the construction of a footpath between the hall and Murringo Public School – which fellow Murringo resident and school principal Kaylene Neville spoke in depth about during the same meeting – be considered for next year’s budget.

“We’re also selling the village as a whole package to encourage events to the hall – people have said how nice this historic hall is for functions,” Ms Ritchie said.

“We’re asking council to help with funds to bring it up to a reasonable standard,” she added.

from the witness