A crowd of around 50 community members turned out at the public meeting convened by the newly formed Castlemaine Community Co-operative at Castlemaine Town Hall on Wednesday night. 

The co-operative aims to set up a dedicated not-for-profit organisation with the goal of purchasing and preserving Castlemaine’s historic building ‘The Hub’ and retaining its tenants many of which have a sustainability, community health or wellbeing focus and the Community Garden. 

Interested local residents were advised on the progress of the project to date and discussed plans moving forward. 

The co-operative will enable community ownership of the building, on the corner of Barker and Templeton Streets, through collective investment with the group needing to raise around $2M to make the project a reality. 

They are currently seeking expressions of interest from community members which may like to contribute to ascertain whether it its worth moving forward with the concept. 

To find out more or submit an expression of interest visit castlemaine.coop

For the full story see Tuesday’s Midland Express.