Toybox Children’s Centre in Port Lincoln reveals newly renovated space at special event

Toybox Children’s Centre, located in Port Lincoln on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, showcased its newly renovated facilities at an official unveiling held last weekend. 

Local families were invited to a family fun day at the centre, as well as past and present parents and staff. As well as food and activities for the children, those present were invited to tour the new space, which took more than 20 weeks to construct. 

The renovations have opened up the space, leaving it more open plan, with upgraded bathrooms, a new kitchen, and an increase in the number of licenced places, from 53 to 80. 

Speaking with local publication Port Lincoln Times the service director, Mel Retsas, said the renovation had been planned over several years, and built on gradual improvements which have been made during that time, including upgrades to the outdoor play space and staff room.

The main driver for the improvements, however, was to increase the availability of vacancies in the community, with a waitlist for the service which was “ever growing”. 

“There’s always people waiting, even with the increased capacity, we’ve got people coming in who go on the waiting list daily,” she explained.

The upgrades were made possible thanks to grant funding from Port Lincoln Bendigo Community Bank Branch, with business manager David Stoeckel, who represented the bank at the event, sharing that he “loved coming out to events like this,” as they offer the opportunity to see how the bank had helped people and organisations in the community.

Works on the centre were done by Kym Clarke Constructions. For more information about Bendigo Bank and its grant offerings, please see here. 

To access the original coverage of this story, see here.