Custodians of the Maitland Showground have launched a grandstand appeal to help meet the $570,000 needed to repair the historic structure and preserve a piece of the city’s heritage.
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Hunter River Agricultural and Horticultural Society has opened a dedicated account with the $7500 it received from the Great Moscow Circus in ticket sales and hopes a few wealthy benefactors will chip in.
While the showground has benefited from more than $200,000 from the state government in recent years, many of the bigger grants required to fix the grandstand remain out of reach.
Those grants require a dollar-for-dollar commitment the show society has not been able to meet.
“The more money we come up with the more we can ask the state government for,” treasurer David Perrott said. “Because the showground is privately owned – it’s not council’s – the dollars available to apply for grants are very limited.”
The 100-year-old CB Marheine grandstand is largely off-limits to show goers and harness racing fans since most of it was condemned.
A report in December 2010 on the state of the 4200-seat grandstand deemed it unsafe for public use.
The grandstand the replacement of structural timber and planks that form the seating.
The design of the structure means that over the years it has accumulated moisture, which damages the timber.
The society hopes philanthropists can come up with $285,000 for its share in the construction works and a further $30,000 to cover council and engineering fees.
This is on top of work already carried out that used $58,697 from the NSW government Community Building Partnership Fund granted to the society and Maitland Greyhound Club in April 2012.
The show society had hoped to use steel instead of timber for the structural work, but that idea was quickly dismissed.
“Wood and steel have different expansion rates and the risk is it would tear itself apart,” Mr Perrott said. “We’re back trying to find lengths of timber like those used for bridge support spans.”
The Great Moscow Circus gifted tickets to the society which it sold to raise $7500 and kick-start the appeal.
“Everyone won, I guess,” Great Moscow Circus publicity manager Paul Johnson said. “We came out of the Maitland run of shows with a small profit and the grandstand gets some needed funds.”
The tickets were gifted to the society even though the showground could not host the big top event this year.
People wishing to donate to the cause should contact the show office on 4933 5052.