Fundraising efforts for the Triple C Centre has reached their goal. The Triple C Centre committee had a fundraising requirement of $3.
Fundraising efforts for the Triple C Centre has reached their goal. The Triple C Centre committee had a fundraising requirement of $3.5 million, with the City of Weyburn and the Southeast Cornerstone Public School Division already committing one-third of funds to the project.
"We are very happy to be done with fundraising, that we reached the finish line and we can breathe now. Reaching our goal was a wonderful way to end 2013," said Joanne Bannatyne-Cugnet, representative of the Triple C Centre committee.
"A lot of people on our committee have worked hard on this fundraising project for a long time," said Bannatyne-Cugnet.
Efforts for fundraising has occurred over 16 years, as volunteers organized under as the Weyburn and District Performing Arts Society in 1998.
Isabelle Butters, Gloria Onstad, Marg Stewart, Linda Aitken, Marlene Nedelcov, Ray Hamm, Bob King and Dave Craigen formed the original committee.
One of their most successful events was the World's Largest Fowl Supper at the Comp, hosted in October of 1999. For some time that event was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records, before another fowl supper recorded higher numbers.
"Always, our efforts were about thinking big and beautiful," said Bannatyne-Cugnet.
The new Triple C Centre, currently under construction at the Weyburn Comp, will host events under three categories: Community, Culture and Convention.
The facility includes a new gymnasium for middle-year students, a theatre and convention space for community usage, a commercial kitchen, and new dressing room, band and choral rooms for Comp students.
There were several sponsored spaces sold, including the Cugnet Centre, the Young Fellows kitchen, Weyburn Credit Union stage, Weyburn Security balcony, Colleen Weimer Hall, Helen Davidson choral room and the Jerry and Orlanda Mainil dressing room.
The Weimer Hall area will be extra-wide with seating for 300 (since the Cafetorium will be demolished) and the Cugnet Centre will have seating for up to 500 with tables, and 1,200 with rows of chairs, the pull-out section of seating and the balcony.
Bob King was instrumental in the design of the facility. He provided knowledge of stage, lighting and theatres in general and an intimate knowledge of the Comp school.
He mentioned that he and Colleen Weimer are currently assessing the seating availability at the Triple C Centre, so they can make realistic projections for ticket sales for the Comp musicals and their other events.
A grand opening ceremony for the Triple C Centre won't be planned until all the construction is completed, but the committee is hopeful for a date in April.
One special unveiling during the grand opening will be the granite wall, which will include all the donor names who have given $1,000 or more to the fundraising efforts. The granite wall will be near the new front entrance to the school.
"We don't want to set a date until we know that the construction is finished," said Deana Mainil, chair of the Triple C Centre committee.
Before Christmas, the Comp choirs and bands had to find alternate space for their annual winter concerts, since the Triple C Centre was unavailable.
The Comp had also postponed their annual fowl supper.
There are still 160 seats left to sell at the Triple C Centre, if residents still want to donate funds to the project. The money from the remaining seats will be used for enhancements required at the Triple C Centre.
Some special donations that already enhance the Triple C Centre include the big-screen TVs donated by Cenovus and a grand piano.
The Triple C Centre was part of contract one of renovations at the Weyburn Comp. Already work has started on contract two, which includes demolition of the former Weyburn Collegiate School and the older brick area.
The new facility for the Southeast Regional College is part of contract two construction. Once all the construction is complete, students from SERC will move from their temporary location in the City Centre Mall.
Historic bricks from the former Collegiate, which was built in 1913, are being saved, which will be used in a monument featuring the bell from the old Post Office, which was cast in 1913.
Also, Grade 7 to 9 students will be relocated from the Weyburn Junior High into the Comp, which will become a Grade 7 to 12 facility. The goal of the Southeast Cornerstone School Division is to refurnish the WJH as an elementary school, but they are now looking at building a new school in that location.
