EMERGENCY resilience plans have been the centre of topic at the Lancefield Neighbourhood House over the last couple of months, after the Lancefield Romsey Community Bank, part of Bendigo Bank, provided funding for a generator for the Lancefield Mechanics Institute.
It comes as preparation for the next event where the town might find itself left powerless, giving people somewhere to gather and find essentials and support to help get through a disaster
In 2021, when a major weather event hit the town, power was out for more than 24 hours, up to two weeks for some residents, also phone and internet were not available for at least a day, leaving everyone without access to lighting, heating, cooking and communication.
The Review caught up with Vivien Philpotts, manager of the Lancefield Neighbourhood House, who is thrilled with the generator.
“We have experienced what a community can be like without those services and that is what this is about,”
“It’s about having somewhere that people in the community can go where they can keep cool if it’s really hot, warm if it’s cold and we can provide some food, tea and coffee and other necessities.”
The Lancefield Emergency Resilience project started with funding from Macedon Ranges Shire, to look at how best the community could look after itself in the first 72 hours after a disaster, before services are there to support the community.
The generator is stage one of a three stage project, where Lancefield will in future have an Emergency Hub kit, providing places where people can go, information and resources. The Neighbourhood House is very grateful to the Community Bank for providing the funding, through their grants scheme, to purchase the generator.
The generator will be maintained by John Perlak, a community volunteer with the support of John Stevenson, a member of the Lancefield Mechanics Hall and electrician Luke Dall’Est.
“The generator will allow the whole annexe of the hall, the kitchenette and toilets to operated when there is no power,” explains John Sevenson.
For information about the Emergency Resilience Project or to contribute to the other stages of the Plan please contact the Neighbourhood House on 5429 1214.
