I was left feeling pretty cross indeed when Campbell Newman (while he was still BCC Lord Mayor) told me that I should drive 30 km (15km each way) to attend a GOLD program 1 hour activity.
Basically the issue was that there was nothing being put on locally and this was a very long-standing state of affairs.
The class in question was not on any public transport route (even with a long walk added in). I checked on Translink.
I’ve since heard Cr Brian Battersby from Moreton Bay Shire Council describe how he approaches local recreation providers in his area and urges and encourages them to sign up and put themselves forward to offer Older and Bolder programs in that area (the MBRC equivalent of GOLD). This is how come the equivalent size region on the other side of Kedron Brook (same number of inhabitants) typically has 13 Older and Bolder programs for those residents per term while the people on the BCC side of the Brook have at most one or two in 6 years.
If GOLD programs only happen if local recreation providers apply to become a registered GOLD provider then it would help to know that. I’ve had a long discussion with the GOLD team and gave them a list of the names of a lot of our local providers who would be great as GOLD providers. They never mentioned that it needs to come from them or we should be prompting/ encouraging them to register. It would be a help to be met halfway on some of this instead of having to do all the running. But when you have to do all the running to get basic council services for our area it also means learning a lot of skills. Patient but ultimately stronger as well.