THE Hamilton Institute of Rural Learning (HIRL) committee last week had a very productive day, as they met with an events and marketing specialist and ran their general committee meeting on Thursday, April 7.

HIRL chairman, Terry Fitzgerald, and secretary, John Graham hosted event manager, Kristie Middleton to discuss how the volunteer-run organisation could better market themselves to both the local and wider Victorian community.

The meeting was a resounding success with both parties excited by the possibilities, which included extending HIRLs events capabilities and boosting the venues online presence.

HIRL is run by a dedicated group of volunteers, which mostly consists of people aged 55 years and above.

Mr Fitzgerald said, like many other community groups, HIRL has struggled to attract volunteers who are willing to join the committee and contribute their time on a consistent basis.

“It’s hard to get someone to get on the committee … our committee meeting we just had after lunch we thought it would be nice to get some more committee members … we’ve got seven at the moment, and so we decided we should aim for an age group of 35 to 45,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald said while HIRL already has a reputation as a community hub, the committee has made plans to build upon the existing facilities and make HIRL a destination for family outings beyond the market and nature walk.

“We are trying to improve the public amenities, so we have a grant from the shire to build a gazebo,” he said.

“COVID has slowed the progress … it’s a six-by-six gazebo and at the next stage hopefully that gazebo will get a barbeque in it, so they have another option.

“We’re never going to make a lot of money, but we will be somewhere that the community can come and enjoy themselves.”

Following two years of lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions, Mr Fitzgerald said events at HIRL were finally returning to normal.

“Our market has just started back, we’ve had two markets and our venue is starting to get booking again, in fact we’ve got bookings pretty well right through to Christmas, here and there,” he said.

“We feel that’s going to get better as people are booking well in advance, as well as the ones that book last minute.”

The committee has also started a campaign to fund a sound shell at HIRL, to accommodate live outdoor music and productions.

While the first fundraising event was postponed, Mr Graham said the group was confident the fundraising efforts would be successful and that he was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic response from local businesses.

“Hamilton, at the moment has no permanent venue for outdoor music,” he said.

“We are aiming to get funding to get a sound shell - we have a natural amphitheatre down here … that is one of our long-term plans.

“We could have Shakespeare at HIRL.”