Parkes Services Club has begun new initiatives to bring it further in line with the city, installing a cash-for-collection unit and green programs as it prepares for its biggest overhaul in more than two decades.
Early 2025 the Club will begin its first major renovation since 2000, set to expand its footprint.
The new layout will provide a new central bar, two lounge areas and a new indoor-outdoor gaming area. What is now the main bar will become a lounge, and already has a new unisex disabled toilet, while the exiting amenities in what is now the gaming lounge are being renovated and expanded to accommodate the extra patronage.
Council has now approved the DA and issued construction certification, and the Club’s tender process with building companies closed earlier this month.
The works are projected to cost $4.5 million, and expected to begin in the new year after the ever-popular Parkes Elvis festival in January.
Ahead of the renovation, PSC is currently in the process of installing four Tesla EV charging stations, in the rear carpark, which stand to attract the increasing number of travellers arriving in town in electric vehicles.
PSC has also teamed with Tomra to install a ‘Return and Earn’ recycling unit in the carpark. These are reverse vending machines that allow most bottles and cans to be recycled and reimburse the user the deposit paid on the container.
The unit has been in operation for around two weeks and the club reports it has already proven very popular, bringing benefits to financially challenged members of the community.
This is the second machine now installed in Parkes.
Further to the R&E unit, PSC has a recycling plan that donates proceeds to worthy causes, such as the fundraising being undertaken to help local Henry Kross represent Australia in the British Junior open squash tournament.
“We collect the cans and bottles and organise a charity to come and dispense them through the recycling unit, and they keep the money,” explains PSC GM Mike Phillips.
