Cardinia LiFE turned five in the company of, left to right, Linda Van Rensch, Dave Thorp, Kat Powell, Tina Moonen, Wade Mackrell, Coby O’Hehir, Mel Pandy, Maureen Neal, Robyn Hickleton and the children from the school holiday program.
By Justin Robertson
CARDINIA LiFE just blew out the candles for their fifth birthday, and to mark the event held a cake-cutting ceremony at the centre earlier this week.
Regional marketing communication specialist for YMCA Victoria, Brad Kingsbury, said there have been three million visitors to the centre in five years.
The centre also has more than 140 employers from the local area who are fitness instructors, administrators, coaches and umpires.
Staff celebrated the birthday among 30 school holiday program kids and Wade Mackrell, centre manager – who has been at the centre for the past four years – said he expected visitor numbers to continue to grow.
“In the four years I’ve been here, we’ve experienced plenty of growth across the board,” he said.
“After the 2006 extension, throughout that period we’ve continued to grow beyond our expectations,” Mr Wade said.
He said the local sporting hub was eyeing community engagement activities – in and outside of the centre – as well as continuous growth in their own programming in the coming years.
