The Sandilands Community Club is currently in dire shape according to the club's president.

Laurie Taylor, President of Sandilands Community Club, says the club was originally formed for the community to have a space for recreation and activities.

“There used to be quite a bit more going on out there, but over the last few years there has not been much going on.” 

She moved to Sandilands around six or seven years ago, and says the area is lacking in community events. 

“So we are really hoping to bring it back to a community space, where we hold regular events and fundraise for future projects to improve the community and the recreational space that we have.” 

Taylor says the club is in rough shape, and they don’t have much of a facility. 

“We have a gazebo covered area with some picnic tables, there is an old horseshoe pit that I will be restoring, and hopefully we can get some horseshoe games going there again,” she says. “But other than that, it’s pretty much an empty park, we don’t have hydro, we don’t have a well. There is a geocache there from Sunrise Corner Tourism and that’s about it.” 

The club hopes to host events geared toward new incoming families with small children.

For the first little while they will be doing programming on in-service days for the Seine River School Division. 

Taylor says the club is in dire need of recreational equipment such as balls for sports like soccer, football, and volleyball, jump ropes, badminton racquets and birdies, lawn bowling, and horseshoes. 

“We have none of those things and a growing community with more kids than ever.” 

Taylor says there are hundreds of thousands of acres of beautiful crown land in Sandilands which is great for enjoying the outdoors. 

She says it can be difficult for families with small kids to go out on a day trip into the bush. 

“We’re hoping to make that easier for the children to access by doing those kinds of things, but at the park on a smaller scale.” 

She says the need for recreation in Sandilands is huge. 

“The last couple of years have been really rough with regard to strengthening community and building that sense of we can depend on each other, it’s been really challenging through COVID, so it’s my goal to work toward that,” she says. "We're looking to foster community engagement and development while we work together to build a strong, supportive, and sustainable community."   

Taylor also hopes to learn more information on the history of Sandilands. 

“We will be putting together a heritage discovery informational booklet, and we will be including some of that information on our visitor's information centre that we will be installing next year hopefully.” 

She asks that anyone who was born and raised in Sandilands to share stories and pictures of the community as it developed. 

Taylor adds they will be looking for volunteers for events and fundraisers, 

If you are interested in volunteering, sharing information about the history of Sandilands, or donating money or recreation equipment, you can reach Taylor at sandilandscommunityclub@gmail.com or contact Sandilands Community Club on Facebook. 

 

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, SteinbachOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the SteinbachOnline app.