Hall Floors Still Unresolved After Years, Toilet Upgrades in Progress and a Preschool Potentially on the Move — Rankins Springs Hall Has a Busy Year Ahead

IN SHORT

• The Rankins Springs and District War Memorial Hall Committee held its annual general meeting and a general meeting in October 2025, with minutes tabled at the February meeting of Carrathool Council. 
• The hall committee is managing ongoing matters including floor repairs that have been outstanding for a number of years, toilet upgrades currently in progress with approximately $25,000 remaining in the budget.
• The Rankins Springs Preschool coordinator is developing a major grant application to potentially relocate the preschool away from the hall and to the local school. 
• New committee office bearers were elected with Richard Argent-Smith replacing Meegan McCarten as president.

The Rankins Springs and District War Memorial Hall has been the venue for dances, preschool sessions, council holiday programs, community meetings and the Australia Day celebrations for the shire for as long as most locals can remember. Keeping a facility like that functional across the years requires committee members who turn up, stay engaged and push the organisation forward even when issues drag on longer than anyone would like. The minutes of the committee's October 2025 meetings, tabled at Carrathool Shire Council's February ordinary meeting, paint a picture of a committed group doing exactly that.

The hall floor has been a matter of ongoing discussion for some years. The committee has been attempting to engage contractors to inspect and quote on the work, with previous attempts at securing quotes meeting with limited success. Following the October meeting, incoming president Richard Argent-Smith was tasked with following up with a specific tradesperson who indicated he could visit before Christmas to assess the floors and provide a path forward. It was also noted that when the floors were previously done under a grant, specific product requirements were attached to that funding, a complication that may affect what restoration options are available under any new program.

Toilet upgrades at the hall have been the subject of ongoing negotiation with council. Approximately $25,000 remains in the relevant budget allocation, and the committee has been pursuing clarity on when and how those works will proceed. A suggestion was made at the meeting about the possibility of installing a demountable disabled toilet accessible from outside the hall, which would improve accessibility without requiring significant internal works.

One of the more significant pieces of news to emerge from the committee's discussions relates to the Rankins Springs Preschool, which currently operates from within the hall complex. The preschool coordinator has been exploring the possibility of relocating the preschool to the local school site, and a major grant application is being developed to support that move. Council's Community Development and Projects Manager has been identified as a resource who can assist with the grant writing process. If the application is successful, the hall committee would see a significant change in how the building is used and managed, losing the regular preschool activity but potentially gaining more flexibility over the facility.

The committee also welcomed a change of leadership, with Meegan McCarten standing down from the presidency after many years in the role. Richard Argent-Smith was elected as the new president, with Nicola Northey as vice president, Deb Castle as secretary and Tammy Anderson continuing as treasurer. The committee's financial position at the time of the general meeting showed a balance of $23,357.67 following a healthy year of income and modest expenditure.