Dowerin Community Club a real hub for town

Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days week is always a special time of year for locals, particularly for the local Community Club’s new co-manager Melissa Stone.

It was on the first night of the event, “nine or 10 years ago”, when Ms Stone met her now-husband Dale Stone at the bustling Commercial Hotel.

“It was Wednesday night and the pub was the place to be back then,” she said. “I spotted him in the crowd and that was it.”

Fast forward to 2021 and the couple now have two boys: five-year-old Couper and Henry, three.

A local through and through, Ms Stone grew up on her family’s crop and cattle farm south of Dowerin.

As well as being a full-time mother, the 35-year-old works part time at Dowerin Community Club with fellow co-manager Suzy Crippen.

The pair took over from Jenna Santos last October and are now gearing up for the busiest time of year.

“The calendar is filling up pretty quickly and we’re booked out for Field Days already,” Ms Crippen said.

“We have a couple of corporate bookings for the Wednesday and Thursday and if all goes to plan the building will be packed out.”

Ms Crippen, 45, moved to Dowerin 21 years ago after meeting her now-husband Peter Crippen, who works at Boekman Machinery.

They are proud parents of Ainsley, 14, and Felicia, 9, with Ms Crippen also kept busy volunteering with various local groups.

“We’re both heavily involved in community events and sporting clubs,” she said.

“Melissa is involved in the Dowerin Playgroup as president and I’m secretary of the Dowerin Basketball Association, secretary and treasurer of Dowerin Rifle Club, and secretary of Dowerin Swimming club.” Dowerin Community Club opened in October 2013 in a new purpose-built building funded by a Royalties For Regions grant.

Along with Ms Stone and Ms Crippen, it has three kitchen staff and a committee of nine volunteers who meet monthly.

It can be hired for conferences, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and wakes, and is home to Dowerin’s football, netball, hockey, tennis, bowls and cricket clubs.

“We’ve got an agreement with all the sporting clubs that they’re each allocated a month where they find volunteers to help out,” Ms Crippen said.

“At the moment it’s mainly volunteers in the kitchen, but they’ll also help with other events in the future.

“All the money goes back to the club at the end of the year

Ms Crippen said the club essentially functioned as a “family-friendly hub for everyone to meet”.

“We’ve got a commercial kitchen, bar, open-plan dining area, a boardroom for smaller meetings, and then the kitchen also gets hired out and we do catering for our own events” she said.

“We usually provide meals every Friday night, but during Field Days week we’ll be open every night for meals and drinks.

“We’ve also got Dingo Brewery beers and Funk Cider on tap in time for Field Days week.”

The Dowerin Community Club is located at 1 Memorial Avenue in Dowerin.

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