The Beachport Rivoli Bay Lions Club has continued to upgrade a prominent local site.

Before last Christmas last year, club members renovated the site known as Lanky’s Well, named after the Aboriginal tracker who used to water the Police horses at this site.

The club’s public relations officer David Snook said the path to the site was about 100 metres long and served as a conduit between the two halves of the town of Beachport, separated by a strip of virgin scrub.

“It was felt by the club for safety reasons that some lighting would be of great assistance,” he said. “The Lions club’s dynamic president and community leader Michael Coonan, who is also an electrician, did some research and came up with a solution.

“He discovered through South Australian Power Networks the club could buy some solar lighting and poles which would provide 3000 lumens of light to solve the problem.

“These lights come on at dusk and go all night and provide 60% of necessary light. “A motion sensor detects any approach and increases the available light to 100%. “It was noted that even wombats could trigger the sensor.”

Mr Snook said the project cost $7000 and was “incredible to witness at night”. “I was informed by a local who lived on the western end of the town that he had occasion to attend a party of the eastern side and not wanting to fall foul of the drink driving laws, decided that he would walk home taking a short cut past Lanky’s Well,” he said.

“He obviously had a little too much to drink and tripped along this path and being pitch black he had to crawl the rest of the way. “There is no such problem now as the visibility provided by these five lights is excellent.”