Cross Centre manager moving on
THE Cross Recreation Centre in Balclutha is to farewell its facility manager after six years in the role.
Penny Batchelor has been managing the multisport centre in Balclutha since it was first built in 2011.
‘‘It’s a job that I absolutely love.’’ After helping build the centre into what is is today, Mrs Batchelor will be moving on from her job there — and the Clutha district.
She will move to Wanaka where her husband, Jonathan, has been working for several months.
Her work with the recreation centre will not be forgotten.
‘‘It’s been an amazing sixyear journey.’’
The Clutha Recreation Centre Management Committee, in an online post, said the ‘‘success of the Cross Recreation Centre is due to the leadership, management and energy that Penny has put into the centre since day one’’.
Even though nobody knew what the job would entail at the beginning, she was interested in the role.
‘‘When I first started, we honestly had no idea.’’
Mrs Batchelor was surprised at the success of the centre.
What had not changed was the amount of support and input from the community, which had been ‘‘incredible right from the start’’.
As the facility got busier, more people were employed to help with the workload.
It had gone from having minimal visitors to 80,000 in the past year — and it was still growing.
Mrs Batchelor had dreams of the centre hosting indoor cricket, tennis competitions and extending the reception area. She hoped those dreams would come true under the direction of new manager Rachel Lean, currently assistant manager.
Mrs Batchelor does not have a job lined up in Wanaka yet but hopes to continue working in sport and recreation.
She will leave the centre at the end of July.