Days before the Dubbo Croquet Club turns 99-years-old, the new Muller Park premises was officially opened.
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The club, which is now referred to as the Muller Park Tennis and Croquet Club Inc, celebrates 99 years on Monday, and the new courts, three-years in the making, were officially opened on Saturday.
The club's president Tricia Shanks said the new premises are a dream come true.
"It's what we dreamed of having," Mrs Shanks said.
The opening also comes at a good time as the club will turn 100 next year, so we will be able to hold bigger celebrations
- Tricia Shanks
"Bruce Wallace from Pro Sports Queensland done a wonderful job."
Despite having to say goodbye to the club's historical location at the Dubbo Bowling Club, Mrs Shanks said there are many benefits of the new location including 'accurate sized courts'.
Mrs Shanks said the move has already pushed the number of club members to 60 and will attract visitors from other locations to visit Dubbo in the future through hosting competitions.
Other plans in store for the new location include the prospect of a night time club as well as getting school-aged kids in on the croquet action.
"The opening also comes at a good time as the club will turn 100 next year on September 21, so we will be able to hold bigger celebrations," Mrs Shanks said.
The first round of games was held on Saturday morning, followed by the official opening, a luncheon celebration and then afternoon games.
Mrs Shanks said it was excellent to have had Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders in attendance on the day to unveil the new club plaque.
"Mayor of the Dubbo Region Ben Shields was also there," she said.
"It was a wonderful day out at such a happy, friendly and social place."
Mrs Shanks said she wanted to give special thanks to Peter Heywood on behalf of the club for his contribution to making the project a huge success.
"There are many people who done a lot, but I wanted to give special thanks to Peter Heywood who was the project manager," she said.
"Peter put in a lot of hard work and handled all of the major work."
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