Our Venue from 2006.

After an uncertain period in early 2006 the venue for the tournaments and the coaching progams of the Box Hill Chess Club and the Canterbury junior Chess Club is now settled at Emulation Hall at 3 Rochester Road Canterbury 3126.

Since moving in there have been many improvements in our accommodation and facilities 

Our location

Box Hill Chess Club… The search for a new venue

When we had recovered from the shock of receiving an eviction notice from the Box Hill Senior Citizens Club we set about gathering resources to describe what we would be looking for in a new place. Full details are listed below.

Our early discussions with the Whitehorse Council centred on a booklet of theirs that describes all Halls for rent in the Whitehorse municipality. Twenty five pages, and in excess of 100 venues. So, quickly, we had to refine our criteria to identify the must-have factors.

The most important must-have is suitable tables and chairs set-up on a near-permanent basis. This criteria restricted us to venues that similarly service the meals facilities at other Senior Citizen buildings. Unfortunately, each of these similar venues had bookings that conflicted with our Friday session in particular.

High rental Cost and lacking of parking were the two next important factors and these eliminated the rest of the venues in the municipality. Thus, we had to look at neighbouring municipalities.

The Masonic Hall in Canterbury was inspected very early in the investigation and established a possible option that could be made to work. Also, we were referred to the Victorian Bridge Association premises in Murrumbeena, and this looked very promising as a solution except for the dislocation from many of our membership who live in eastern suburbs rather than south-eastern suburbs.

What we have discovered in search over 3 months is that there are many, many church Halls, school Halls, and Council rooms, for hire. But it is a rarity to find a venue that has tables and chairs set-up permanently, at a reasonable cost, and with transport and parking facilities.

We have settled on the venue in Canterbury and now enter into the move planning phase for our calendar of events in 2006.

Box Hill Chess Club… Accommodation requirements.

The Club meets Friday nights from 6.30pm till late on 45 out of 52 weeks of the year, and from 5.30pm till late on 35 out of 52 weeks of the year.

Playing Areas

1. The Club needs a playing area of 200 square metres
   
   • Preferably carpeted
   • Air-conditioned
   • Good lighting
   This area requires up to 20 tables of size 2 metre x 60 centimetre, and 120 chairs.
   
2. In addition, the Club needs a second playing area sufficient to accommodate a further 10 tables and 50 chairs.
   
   • In this area we require a telephone outlet as the Club accesses data on various internet web-sites.
   • This area should be very close to the first. Players finish their tournament games and then proceed to the analysis area.

Storage

We need on-site lockup storage of the order of 20 square metres with shelving. This lock-up storage would contain:

• Computer trolley
• Chess boards/sets/clocks/chess equipment
• Notice board
• Signs
• Books

Canteen

We require tea room facilities either run by a commercial operator (as we have experienced at the Waratah room at Nunawading) or we can run a volunteers roster.

Car parking

On a typical Friday night we would have probably have 50 cars park in the vicinity of the Club, from 7pm till 11pm; the drivers are adult players. A further 30 to 50 juniors are "dropped off" by the parents who typically then go to Box Hill for shopping.

Special events

The Club hosts the Victorian Chess Championships over three week-ends during the winter months. Accommodation is required for these events, on the scale listed above.