War Memorial preserved

Council to take on children’s hostel
Cobar Shire Councillors voted at last Thursday’s Ordinary Council Meeting to purchase the Cobar War Memorial Chil-dren’s Hostel.
The hostel’s current committee invited Council to purchase the hostel for $1.
The large complex on the corner of Barton and Blakey streets, which was completed in 1952, consists of a single-storey multi-room building with a detached hall, a separate three bedroom self-contained apartment and a large office space/enclosed verandah.
Cobar War Memorial Children’s Hostel committee member (and a former long time hostel boarder) Colleen Boucher said the com-mittee had discussed the future of the hostel which has not accommodated children for about 10 years.
Mrs Boucher said with the government of-fering subsidies for rural families to put their kids on buses and, with a number of families having a second home in town, there wasn’t a need these days for the accommodation.
She said they reached the conclusion that it had served its purpose and that it would be-come a burden for the volunteer committee to continue to maintain.
The complex has been privately leased on and off over the past 10 years but is now va-cant.
Mrs Boucher said selling to Council would ensure it would be maintained and retained as a community facility and, importantly, the that the war memorial would be preserved.