Why the heater is older than the club
Nearly everything in the club room was somebody else's first. A tour of the heaters, the sofa and the console corner, and the people who passed them on.
Who gave us all this stuff?
Almost every object in the hub arrived as a hand-me-down. The tables came from a community hall that was clearing out its cupboards, the shelf was built by a member with a spare weekend, and the kettle is older than most of us. We never planned any of it, but the room has a charm that a catalogue could not have given us.
The heaters deserve their own mention. Two of them were left behind by the previous tenant, and a third was donated by a member who swore it was brand new and was a little embarrassed to learn it was forty years old. It still works, which is more than we can say for several newer ones. Between them, they keep a fogged-up front window glowing on the coldest nights.
A tour of the corners
The sofa
A deep green sofa arrived on the back of a ute one wet Wednesday. It was meant to be temporary. It has been temporary for three years, and it is now the most contested seat in the building, especially in the cold.
The console corner
Behind a curtain made from an old tablecloth sits a screen, a console and a basket of spare controllers. It comes out for console afternoons, then disappears again so the room can go back to being a place for cardboard.
The kettle and the tea corner
Every club has a place where the real conversations happen. Ours is the bench by the kettle, where the mugs have names on them and the biscuit tin hasn't been empty in living memory. If you need a volunteer, start there.
What's still missing
A proper bookshelf for the rule books, a second bench for the quiet end and, according to Alison, a lamp that doesn't flicker. If you have one going spare, we know where it would be loved.