What we know now.
The Waves Youth Club – 23 Oliver St, Freshwater is empty
History of ‘The Waves’ Youth Club
The Harbord Diggers RSL Youth Club was founded over 50 years ago as a major project of the Harbord RSL Sub branch, particularly Harry Knox, Bill Messenger, Mackie Campbell and Megs Madigan who had served in various Wars and wanted to leave a lasting legacy to the youth of our community the Waves Youth Club. Land was purchased and a functional community Centre was constructed with a large indoor space for a wide range of community activities including music and dance rehearsals with funding from the Harbord Diggers Club.
The Harbord Diggers paid for an Activities Organiser to handle the bookings and run the Centre.
Many bands practiced at the centre.
It was also a meeting space for community discussions. At the rear, classroom space was made available for the expansion of Harbord Community Pre-School.
Over the years the space has been used by a range of activities including after school activities, dance classes, martial arts classes. Scouts & Guides groups frequently utilised the facility and it became popular with the community for private functions and celebrations.
It has been a place where many of our local politicians were elected to public office.
An earlier Harbord Diggers website promoted these activities:
The current Harbord Diggers website – Giving Back :
- Established Waves Youth Centre providing community entertainment and care.
Fast forward to 2021
The Mounties Group, the current owners of Harbord Diggers, had been using the building to house their gymnasium during the redevelopment of the Diggers headland site. The gym was relocated to the headland site many months ago leaving the Waves Youth Centre vacant and closed to the community.
The Friends of Freshwater Executive believe it is time for Mounties to reopen the Centre for community use to honour the legacy of those visionary past members of the Harbord RSL Sub Branch.
DO YOU AGREE
We need your input to determine whether the Community still values this facility and would like the Mounties Group and the Harbord Diggers to reopen the doors allowing the community to access the activities so much enjoyed by previous generations.
Please use our facebook page to post any comments and view updated information and our survey
