It was easy to see the interest in a proposal to construct a community craft centre at last week’s meeting with more than 50 people representing 18 local arts and crafts group attending a meeting to kick start the idea.

Members of the Milton Ulladulla Bowling Club Woorkers, with support from the Dunn Lewis Foundation, started a proposal to establish a custom built craft centre for local groups and hosted a meeting at the Milton Ulladulla Bowling Club last Wednesday.

Craft centre advocate Brian Marley contacted the Times after the meeting and said he was impressed with the level of support the idea had received.

“It was a very successful meeting,” Brian said.

“In general, everyone who attended was very keen to see this idea get off the ground.”

The proposal would entail the construction of a custom built craft centre with rooms dedicated for local crafts groups to meet, host workshops and display their works.

It has also been proposed the centre could house a store selling locally made craft items.

At the meeting, a 12 person steering committee was formed, with plans to meet to further plan in the coming weeks.

“We plan to meet in the next few weeks to get the project up and running,” Brian said.

“The steering committee will then seek submissions from local craft groups to gauge exactly what is wanted from the centre and the space that will be required.

“After this we will be able to formulate a proper idea of what the craft centre will be.”

Shoalhaven City councillor Robert Miller attended the meeting and has extended his support for the idea.

“I am very supportive of the idea,” Cr Miller said.

“We are very much an artistic area and I think a proposal like this has huge potential.”

At the meeting an area of land, situated near the Dunn Lewis Youth Centre site, was identified and a five year time scale discussed.

“I think five year time period is realistic and the location identified is ideally situated and a viable option,” Cr Miller said.

“There is a lot of realism with this proposal, which gives it great strength.”

Cr Miller also suggested a craft centre would have a tourism value to the area and said further evidence of the strength of the proposal and the interest was shown in the formation of the steering committee.

“People were readily available to put themselves forward for the steering committee, which shows the interest from local craft groups.”

To find out more about the proposal or to suggest ideas, email Brian on marleys@bigpond.com