Michael Easton has been working towards establishing a Fun Centre in Seymour to bring more joy to the town.
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Contributed
Opening the doors of the Seymour Fun Centre had been a dream of Michael Easton’s since he moved to town in 2018.
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Currently, the proposed playspace doesn’t have a physical venue, however, it exists vividly within the minds of Mr Easton and the five other volunteers.
From facilitating two annual ‘Seymour Fun Days’, involving rock climbing and drone flying for local kids, to organising activities for youth attending events such as the recent Seymour River and Ranges Music Festival, held on Saturday, March 15 - Mr Easton is not slowing down.
The biggest barriers to the opening of a space for the Seymour Fun Centre, where it can permanently reside, is both a lack of funding and of volunteers.
Mr Easton said those behind the Fun Centre are well within the planning stages of getting over these hurdles.
“Once we get our business plan together, then we’ll start to do some serious fundraising,” Mr Easton said.
“Then we can say, ‘this is how much it’s going to actually cost,’ so we can get people to help fund it.
“We really need to get that business plan done, so all of these other things can fall into place.”
Mr Easton’s ultimate vision is creating a place where youth are able to enjoy themselves, but also learn valuable life lessons.
“I’d love for us to have some property, roughly an acre of land, and some facilities which will have some rock climbing, some mini golf, an indoor play centre, a cafe, and also a ‘hang space’,” Mr Easton said.
“Our short-term goal is, it will give kids a positive experience, and from that, give them a positive experience of themselves.
“It’s a small part in the overall picture of building them up and giving them potential possibilities.
“In terms of the overall venue, when that happens, it becomes more than that - it’s a place of belonging, and a place to have pride in.”
The Seymour Fun Centre crew helped to facilitate activities at the recent Seymour River and Ranges Music Festival.
Photo by
Billie Davern
The Seymour Fun Centre falls under the umbrella of faith-based community development organisation Scripture Union Ministries Australia, which has been operating for over 150 years.
Through this organisation, those wanting to get involved and become a volunteer will do child-safe training.
Mr Easton came to Seymour for a community connections role with the Uniting Church, and it is his own faith that pushes him to give to the youth of the community.
“It’s founded in God’s goodness and wanting to share that with the community,” Mr Easton said.
“It’s not an evangelistic group, we’re saying, ‘God is good, we want you to have some of that goodness.’
“For those who aren’t interested, that’s fine, they’re still welcome to come, and enjoy, and have a good time because that’s what God wants for everyone.”
Learning will be an indirect aspect of the Seymour Fun Centre.
“There’s no faith teaching in the sense that there’s no scripture or anything like that, but the indirect teaching is that we’re about teamwork and building each other up,” Mr Easton said.
“The hope would be that once we get a venue up and running, we would offer some things that would include teaching and exploration of faith, how to look after money, relationships, that sort of thing.
“But, our overall aim is about helping people to have a place where they belong, where they can grow physically, socially and spiritually.”
In September, the Seymour Fun Centre will be hosting another ‘Seymour Fun Day’, with further details to come as the event nears.
Meanwhile, to aid in getting the Seymour Fun Centre up and running in a physical venue, submit an expression of interest to Michael Easton via email on dustyministry@gmail.com or calling on 0458 742 362.
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