Dianella hostel residents more mobile

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December 11, 2018

DIANELLA hostel residents gathered around for a healthy morning tea with Anthony O’Dwyer and Laurie Stelfox from the Mitchell Masonic Lodge this week to acknowledge 10 years of generous donations to the hostel.

CEO of The Kilmore and District Hospital Sue Race said the donations assist residents to attend community events and outings throughout the year through the funding of transport which is important for residents’ social interaction.

“The money comes from the members of the Masonic Lodge. We raise the funds and whatever we come up with, the Grand Lodge matches it dollar for dollar,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

“A lot of the residents come from farms, so driving throughout the countryside makes their day and they have a smile on their face for a week.”

The Masonic Lodge is an all-male lodge that provides life lessons to men around the community.

“The Lodge is about Charity, it’s about making good men better men and it’s about education too,” Mr O’Dwyer added.

Spreading Christmas cheer

The North Central Review

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December 11, 2018

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JUST in time for Christmas, Pyalong Neighbourhood House has received another donation for struggling farmers.

Goodstart Early Learning Heidelberg donated nearly 200 presents to the cause which started when children from the centre saw footage of starving animals on the news and started asking questions.

Goodstart Early Learning Heidelberg centre director Malanie Smith said educators have been talking to children about farm life and what they can do to help.

“We talked about how we could help and the children wanted to get food for the animals but obviously that’s happening a lot throughout the country so we started to donate some food for the families,” she said.

“We did that a few months ago now and we decided we would continue it and look at Christmas for the children because our kids in Heidelberg are pretty lucky with what they get.

“We had a Christmas party last week so families came in to enjoy Christmas with their children and all of us and part of that was to donate a present to those less fortunate. It’s really beautiful feeling to be able to do that for those who won’t have the kind of Christmas we will.

”As the children have been learning about farming and where their food has come from, they’ve drawn pictures to go with the donated hampers to thank farmers.

“They’re understanding where this is coming from and why we’re doing what we’re doing and that’s the most important lesson, they’re learning empathy,” Ms Smith said.

Goodstart Early Learning Heidelberg’s relationship with Pyalong Neighbourhood House started in September with food donations which were delivered throughout regional Victoria and New South Wales.

Pyalong Neighbourhood House president Moira Waye said the donations have saved farmers’ lives.

“People forget that farmers work from daylight to dark and I know the Neighbourhood House and everyone that’s contributed have been accredited with saving at least three farmers’ lives,” she said.

“Part of the problem is they think nobody knows, nobody cares and whatever we can send up lets them know people to care.”

While Pyalong Neighbourhood House closes for Christmas on December 15, donations will still be picked up everyday from the Pyalong General Store.

Bad Santa

The North Central Review

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December 5, 2018

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A WOODEND man has been arrested after allegedly becoming stuck in the chimney of a Lancefield pharmacy on Monday night.

The police were initially called to the store about 10:30pm after the alarm was set off.

Not long after the would-be thief became trapped inside the chimney and police were called for assistance.

Emergency services helped remove him from the chimney, before police took him into custody.

He was charged with burglary and bailed to appear at the Kyneton Magistrates’ Court on February 4, 2019.

Read our next issue to find out more

Ready to hit the road

The North Central Review

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December 4, 2018

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ROMSEY Community House received a very generous gift on Friday, with a car donated to the house’s community transport program.

The donation of the Holden Commodore and $1000 annually for registration and other costs was organised by the Zonta Club of Kyneton, working alongside an anonymous benefactor.

Romsey Community House coordinator Michelle Balthazar said the donation will help expand the community transport program which helps people get to medical appointments.

“It means more people are able to volunteer in this initiative so we can make it more available to more members of the community,” she said.

“It started off small to gauge what the interest is and there’s very much a demand now.”

Starting small meant only making three or four trips a month, but now the program is helping people get to where they need to go with up to 15 trips a month and 70 trips over the past six months.

“It’s definitely meeting a major gap in the community in terms of service provision and accessibility to services. What we’ve seen is a lot of people who just can’t get to their appointments cancel and that’s become so problematic,” Ms Balthazar said.

“We’re aiming to catch the people who are falling through the gaps and might not have family or other community members there to support them to get them to those appointments.”

“We’d just like to thank all the drivers we have on board, without them, we can’t do it.

“Some drivers even take six hours if someone’s going for medical treatment in Melbourne. They wait with the patient and bring them back so it’s a really beautiful building of relationships within the community as well.”

Romsey Community House is welcoming any volunteer drivers who would like to contribute in any way, even if they can only do one trip.

For more information, contact Romsey Community House on 5429 6724.

Chisholm elected mayor

The North Central Review

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December 4, 2018

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MITCHELL Shire Council has a new mayor, with North Ward Councillor Bill Chisholm elected to the position at a special council meeting last Monday (November 26) in Broadford.

Cr Chisholm was elected alongside new Deputy Mayor Cr David Atkinson.

Cr Chisholm replaced Cr Rhonda Sanderson while Cr Atkinson replaced Cr David Lowe after each served for the past two years.

Cr Chisholm ran against Cr Lowe for the top job, winning the vote 6-3 with Crs Sanderson, Atkinson, Fiona Stevens, Annie Goble, and Rob Eldridge voting in his favour.

Cr Chisholm said he wanted to see Mitchell Shire continue to grow and remain prosperous in both rural and urban areas for many years to come.

“A key focus for me is working across the municipality to support urban and rural communities, providing stability and building on the work of the last two years,” he said.

“I want to continue to build on our vision for creating liveable communities with a focus on community engagement, economic development, roads and making our communities safer and more resilient.

“I look forward to working towards this with the assistance of my fellow Councillors, staff, the broader community and the Victorian Government.

“I would like to thank Cr Sanderson and Cr Lowe for their hard work and dedication to our shire over the past two years. I look forward to continuing the work.”

Prior to the election of the new mayor, Cr Sanderson tabled the annual Mayoral Report in which she reflected on her time as mayor.

“Together we have built a solid foundation with the new council over the past two years which has been fantastic. We have focused on council’s mission, which is to work with our community to create a great quality of life,” she said.

“I am very proud of the work we have achieved in such a short time. I would like to thank my fellow councillors, the former deputy mayor, staff, our government representatives and our community for their support of Mitchell Shire and their active involvement in our projects.

“These partnerships have been a key to our success, and I look forward to seeing this work continue under the new leadership. I would like to also congratulate Cr Chisholm and Cr Atkinson, I know they will do a great job and I wish them all the best.”

Big blokes band together

The North Central Review

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December 4, 2018

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LAST WEEK, the Big Blokes Brunch Program won the 2018 Network North East Neighbourhood House (NENHN) partnership award for their outstanding contribution to the Whittlesea community.

The Big Blokes Brunch is a program run by the Whittlesea Community House who have partnered up with the Department of Justice to provide a weekly free lunch to men in the Whittlesea Community and surrounding areas.

The program provides men in the area the chance to connect, share a healthy meal and find out about local services in the community.

The lunch is prepared by people on community service orders and the food is donated from Second Bite and Food Share.

Whittlesea Community House Manager Mary-Lynn Griffith told North Central Review that the partnership was a great success.

“Through the partnership we’re able to do way more for the community than we would by ourselves,” she said.

Ms Griffith added that the mutually beneficial program has also assisted the volunteer cooks with finding employment afterwards.

“Some people have found work in hospitality as a result of completing the program,” she said.

Program Coordinator Tim Russo added that the men who attend attend have incredible stories to share at lunch.

“These men come from all backgrounds, ex-army men, men that were huge in the tramways industry. If you find out the stories of some of these people and what they did, you’d be stunned.

Mr Russo also said that the real benefit to the program is that it assists with feelings of isolation and loneliness amongst men.

“Men’s health is a big issue that is often underestimated in the community, the program is great for mental health,” said Mr Russo.

Barrie Stewart who initiated the program told the North Central Review he recognised a lack of programs that ran for men in the community outside of the men’s shed.

“We can see week by week that people keep coming back. I mean, we lose a few men during the bowls season but we gain them later on, it means a lot to them.

“The award has been great, I hope the program just keeps going and we get more men coming down,” said Mr Stewart.

Kilmore shows off

The North Central Review

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December 4, 2018

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IT was a beautiful day on Saturday to celebrate the Kilmore community at the 156th Annual Kilmore Agricultural Show.

With a wide range of talents on display, families got to enjoy blade shearing demonstrations, farm dog trials, camel rides, pedal-powered smoothies, balloon animals, and everything in between.

Emergency services hosted an interactive demonstration, providing helpful information heading into summer as children tackled the high-pressure CFA water hose or donned a checkered blue cap.

As always, home crafts covered a broad spectrum of entries, ranging from the classic boiled fruit cake right through to the best decorated gumboot.

The signature Christmas pudding competition garnered plenty of traction, with exhibitors coming from as far as Queensland to enter their best festive dish.

Painting, photography, woodwork and floral art all highlighted the incredible local talent raised in the Mitchell Shire, while the small dog dash and dog high jump showcased our most talented four-legged friends.

Yan Yean sees red

The North Central Review

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November 27, 2018

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FOLLOWING the state-wide trend, Labor’s Danielle Green retained her seat of Yan Yean, winning two-thirds of the vote after preferences.

Ms Green’s win was one of 51 for Labor as of 10.30am Monday morning, giving Premier Daniel Andrews a second term in office.

Ms Green defeated former Liberal candidate Meralyn Klein with a 13.1 per cent swing towards the ALP to retain the seat she has held since 2002.

Ms Klein was disendorsed by the Liberal Party after she was featured in a video published by far-right party the Australian Liberty Alliance.

While Ms Klein appeared on ballot papers as a Liberal candidate, she was running as an independent on election day.

Ms Green won 55.2 per cent of first preference votes with 63.8 per cent of votes counted, a 12 per cent swing in her favour.

Ms Klein, meanwhile, won 27.7 per cent, a 14.8 per cent swing against her.

Greens candidate High McKinnon won 6.4 per cent and other parties won the remaining 10.8 per cent.

Ms Green dominated the polls in Diamond Creek, Doreen, Laurimar, Mernda and Wallan while it was a closer contest in Whittlesea, Wattle Glen and Beveridge.

Ms Green said she was stunned by the result.

“It felt very good at prepoll and the feeling got better every day. I never in my wildest dreams expected to win on primaries and I’d never done that before in five elections.

Ms Green said work has already started on Labor’s plans for the new term.

“Yesterday, the North East Link went to market as we promised and that’s a huge game changing project,” she said.

“Mental health professionals will be in schools from the start of the next school year and I think that’s crucially important to support our young people, especially in the lead up to the 10th anniversary of Black Saturday. And it’s important to me to support people who will be doing it tough in the lead up to the anniversary.

“As soon as the ministry is known, I’ll be making contact with the relevant ministers to start making progress on the things we’ve promised like the new community hospitals in the north, new paediatric department at the Northern, new schools, continuing to work on the new campus for Beveridge PS, additional carriages for the Seymour line and the overall positive plan we have for Melbourne’s north.”

Yan Yean, Euroa retained

The North Central Review

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November 27, 2018

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MEMBERS for Euroa and Yan Yean each retained their seats at Saturday’s state election, both winning by significant margins.

Member for Euroa Steph Ryan retained her seat for the Nationals with a convincing victory over Labor candidate Fionna Deppeler-Morton.

Ms Ryan’s victory went against the state-wide trend of Labor victories that gave Premier Daniel Andrews a second term in office with 51 seats won by the sitting government at time of writing.

Ms Ryan won 60.8 per cent of the first preference vote in the Nationals strong hold, a 25.5 per cent swing after the Liberal Party did not enter a candidate.

Meanwhile, Ms Deppeler-Morton won 27.7 per cent of the first preference vote.

After preferences, Ms Ryan won the seat with 66.1 per cent to Ms Deppeler-Morton’s 33.9 per cent, a 1.6 per cent swing towards the Nationals.

Ms Ryan was heavily favoured further north in Benalla and Euroa, while Broadford’s Ms Deppeler-Morton provided tougher competition in Broadford, Kilmore, Wandong, Seymour and Clonbinane.

There was a 4.8 per cent swing in favour of the ALP and a 6.1 per cent swing against the Liberal Party.

Euroa was one of six seats won by the Nationals and one of 24 won by the Coalition.

Ms Ryan said she’s humbled to be returned to the seat of Euroa in the face of a state-wide swing.

“The result is bitter sweet. While The Nationals performed strongly across the state, the swing against the Liberals means Labor has retained government,” she said.

“Labor’s re-election means the $2 billion the Liberals and Nationals committed to the Euroa electorate to improve our train service and build much needed infrastructure including the Kilmore bypass to revitalise the town will be much harder to achieve.”

FOLLOWING the state-wide trend, Labor MP Danielle Green retained the seat of Yan Yean, winning two-thirds of the vote after preferences.