Gillian Gorrie is this Saturday hosting a book launch at Dromkeen Gallery in Riddell’s Creek to present her new self-development book.
‘Who’s Driving Your Bus?’ draws on the experience of Ms Gorrie, who has overcome her own struggles from bullying in her youth, depression and low esteem as a young adult to being diagnosed with cancer in her adult years.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, Ms Gorrie was encouraged to write a book to support others on their journey to feel empowered, helping them to live a life they can love with a toolbox and structure to get back on track.
“You will reclaim your self-esteem and self-confidence, uncover the roadblocks that are keeping you stuck, and communicate better with others and yourself at the same time learning how to nurture yourself and others,” she said.
“Take charge of your life once and for all because no matter what challenges there are around the corner, it’s how you deal with them that matters.”
Ms Gorrie holds several titles including a Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, Timeline Therapy and Hypnosis, artist, counsellor, teacher and now author.
Upon completing the book during the pandemic, Ms Gorrie is now beginning to offer her techniques to help reclaim confidence and self-esteem with a book launch this weekend.
The official book launch will be at 2pm on Saturday at Dromkeen Gallery, located 1012 Kilmore Road, Riddells Creek.
A FORMER Kilmore bike rider competed on the international stage in Scotland on Sunday.
Joel Green, 31, who recently moved from Kilmore to Woodend to be closer to mountain biking facilities and other bikers, was selected to represent Australia at the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI, Cycling World Championships in Glasgow.
He was selected to compete in the mountain bike cross-country marathon discipline, alongside his 23-year-old teammate and friend Tali Lane Welsh.
Joel placed 59th out of 101 finishers in the mountain bike cross-country marathon discipline, while Tali came 47th.
This year’s event, from August 3 to 13, was the inaugural edition of the UCI Cycling World Championships, set to be held every four years in the year before each Olympic Games, bringing together a range of various cycling disciplines.
Joel’s father Robert Green, of Lancefield, said his son was excited to have been selected for the national team and competed with a close friend, who was also selected in the same discipline.
“Joel’s absolutely stoked that he got selected and his mate who he trains with also got picked, so they’ve been riding as a team,” he said.
“The two of those guys have been doing some mountain biking competition around here as a team of two, and I think the teamwork they’ve been doing is what’s contributed to them being picked by AusCycling for this event.”
Joel got his start in two-wheeled sports as a young competitor in motocross, with which he was a member of the Broadford Motocross Club and eventually went on to claim the pro open title in the 2016 Victorian Senior Motocross Championships.
While motocross was Joel’s passion, Robert said options for competitions became limited when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing him to look to other sports to keep fit.
“During COVID there was virtually no motocross because it was all shut down in Victoria, so he’d been riding push bikes for training and went to road cycling just to keep fit,” Robert said.
“He joined a club in Seymour and then found that he was really good at road cycling and was winning races on the road.
“He turned to mountain biking and that combined his motocross skills with the downhill speed and everything with his fitness, so it’s all really just clicked for him.”
While Joel was not among the youngest competitors in Scotland, Robert said he was likely one of the least experienced in his discipline.
Joel first secured backing from Wheel House Bikes in Kilmore early in his cycling career, and is now supported by bike manufacturer Giant Bicycles for bikes and parts.
Robert said Joel was a qualified electrician and still worked full-time, unlike many of his competitors, to fund his career.
He said Joel’s dedication to the sport was what helped him catch the attention of AusCycling, as he performed well in a series of Australian mountain biking events to become eligible for UCI competition.
“Joel is incredibly dedicated with his sport, he’s always been like that. Between working full-time and then training, he’s one of the few that isn’t a full-time athlete but has still been able to get to that level,” he said.
“Mountain biking is really becoming big in the Kilmore area, so if the younger mountain bikers know there’s been someone with world champion potential from their town it might really resonate with them.”
For more information on the championships, visit bit.ly/3qhpNKh.
To keep up-to-date with Joel and teammate Tali, visit their Instagram page @commtel_coast.
AS the Riddell District Football Netball League competition enters its final two rounds, Wallan senior footballers have bolstered its hopes of a strong finish after an encouraging victory over Lancefield on Saturday.
In a game that had both sides struggling to convert in front of goal, the Magpies were able to take home a 43-point win over the Tigers and will go into this weekend’s match against Woodend-Hesket with confidence.
Wallan assistant coach Spencer Mathieson said the team, coming off a bye the previous week, had a slow start, trailing by one goal at first quarter time.
“We knew Lancefield had improved this year even though their position on the ladder probably doesn’t belie that. They’re being really competitive against every good side in the comp, so we knew we had to play well,” he said.
“[The bye was] possibly why we might have started off a bit slow, it just took us a bit to get our energy up and the longer it went, the better it got.”
Lancefield had a strong first quarter on Saturday but were then over-run by the Magpies, who head into the final two rounds of the season with confidence.
Tigers coach Tim Bannan said it was ‘disappointing’ his team were not able to keep up the momentum after the first quarter.
“We started really well, we ran and carried the ball really well and our delivery inside 50 was really good, but in the second quarter we fell away a bit and allowed them to get back into the game,” he said.
“It’s disappointing because I thought it was a game where if we were going to beat a top five team, it was probably the side we needed to beat, but there were still some positives.”
While Lancefield works to address the need for a consistent four-quarter performance, the weekend’s match was another opportunity for young players Cameron Osmond and Harry Behan to have a shot in the senior side.
Bannan said the side was looking to include a few more young players in the final two rounds and was hopeful for a strong performance against Riddell at home this weekend.
“We just need to finish off with beating a side above us, we’ve shown that we can run with them, but we’ve just got to finish off games,” he said.
“It comes back to belief and getting rid of that mindset that we can’t win. We need to get the mindset that we can actually beat these sides if we put our foot on the throttle and get cracking.”
With Corey Viani, Steven Boyall, Brodie Gilchrist, Angus Love and four-time goal scorer Michael Baccari drawing praise from the Magpies’ coaching staff, Mathieson was hopeful his team’s good form heading into the finals would continue with a home game win against Woodend-Hesket this weekend.
“The next two games are pretty important to where we can finish, our destiny is in our hands, which is a positive. If we can just keep getting results, the ladder position will take care of itself,” Mathieson said.
“We’re pretty confident we can get the results in the last couple of games. We don’t have to rely on anyone, we’ve just got to rely on ourselves to get the job done.”
In other Riddell league action, Romsey defeated Macedon at home in a much-needed victory after a bitter one-point loss to the Hawks the previous week.
The Redbacks held the advantage throughout the entire match, with the victory leaving them fifth on the ladder as they sit tied with the Cats on 32 points.
Diggers Rest was also able to easily account for the bottom-placed Western Rams and remain the premiership favourites, currently topping the ladder by eight points above second-placed Woodend-Hesket.
Romsey will travel to face Diggers Rest for round 17 this weekend, while Macedon will host Western Rams.
Netball
Wallan’s A Grade netballers also had a strong game at the weekend, coming out on top against host Lancefield by 36 goals. With goalscoring efforts headed by Maeve Donegan with 51 goals, the Magpies took home a comfortable victory to keep fourth position on the netball ladder.
Macedon had the better of host Romsey while Riddell came out victorious against the visiting Melton Centrals to remain at the top of the ladder.
In contrast to their respective football sides, the Western Rams took out a dominant victory over Diggers Rest as they push for a top-four spot on the ladder.
Tears flowed on Sunday as Whittlesea residents Chris Watson and his daughter Shanae auditioned on Channel 7’s reality singing program The Voice.
Auditioning first, Mr Watson, a postman in Seymour, performed ‘Jessie’s Girl’ by Rick Springfield.
Whittlesea’s Chris Watson sang ‘Jessie’s Girl’ for his blind audition for The Voice, which aired on Sunday.
Although coaches Jason Derulo and Jessica Mauboy looked set to hit their buzzers, Mr Watson failed to be selected for the next round.
However, he achieved a personal goal as Shanae, not an original auditionee, was invited to perform after Mr Watson explained his reason for auditioning.
Hoping to show his daughter to never give up singing despite setbacks, Mr Watson applied for The Voice knowing he ‘wasn’t marketable’.
“I only entered it realistically knowing I’m not marketable. I’m 53 years of age – what am I going to do? Go and sing in a pub, that’s about it,” he said.
“But I did it hoping there would be a break for my daughter.
“It was just to show my daughter no matter how many times you get knocked back, you just keep getting up and having a go again.”
Coach Rita Ora said she was ‘really happy’ he auditioned.
“You just seem like the most incredible dad and the nicest man,” she said.
“You should be really happy with yourself. It was a great audition.”
Shanae, 21, had almost given up on her singing dream following a series of rejections at other auditions.
“I said to my dad at one stage ‘nup I don’t want to sing anymore’,” she said.
“But then we did this and it brought back that spark.
“It was really inspiring to be honest to see dad perform, because I know he loves singing as well, so to see him go and do it really did just lit that fire for me.
“To know he was doing it to show me not to give up. That meant even more to me. He’s a great inspiration.”
Inspired by her dad’s performance, Shanae Watson of Whittlesea received the producer’s approval to audition for The Voice, singing Chandelier by Sia for her blind audition.
Performing ‘Chandelier’ by Sia, Shanae turned all four chairs as she belted out the difficult chorus.
Mr Watson couldn’t contain his tears watching Shanae perform.
Ora said it had affected her when she saw Mr Watson crying.
“Your father, when he started crying, that just got me. It just goes to show there’s no ego, there’s no pride. This is just a complete win for the whole family and that’s what this is all about,” she said.
Coach Guy Sebastian said Mr Watson had downplayed Shanae’s talent.
“When you said she was good, that’s a little bit of an understatement. My gosh Shanae, that was definitely worth doing,” he said.
“I know with that song it’s about the chorus. It’s one of the hardest choruses to sing and when you nailed that I had to slam this button down. You really expose the flaws of someone’s voice in that song but you sung it like an absolute angel.
“See what happens when you go out on a limb and inspire your daughter. And see what happens when you take a leap of faith.” Derulo said Mr Watson inspired him as a father.
“I’m really, really inspired by you and the fact you went out on a limb so that your daughter could see your courage and find the courage for herself within you,” he said.
“I just think that’s such a beautiful thing and I want to thank you for that because it really, really inspires me as a father.”
Shanae chose Sebastian as her coach and will join his team for the rest of the competition.
It was a milestone extravaganza for Broadford Football Netball Club on Saturday.
The Kangaroos faced Powelltown at home in the second last round of the Outer East Football Netball League division two competition as the club celebrated three players’ achievements.
Netballer Ebony Heers made club history as the first netballer to play 250 senior games.
Beginning her career in 1999, Heers has won many club and league accolades over the years, including a few premierships. She also earned life membership status in 2018.
Club president Bonnie Welch, nee Cavanagh, also celebrated her 200th netball game on Saturday, qualifying her for life membership.
Broadford Football Netball Club president Bonnie Welch notched up her 200th senior game of netball for the club on Saturday.
Starting with the club at 14 years old in 2003, Welch was a member of the ‘premier and champions’ C Grade team, which also celebrated its 20-year reunion on Saturday.
She won a flag the following year and was selected in the interleague representative squad – the start of many other personal and club accolades over two decades.
Welch has been involved with the club on and off the court, taking on countless committee roles, and became the first-ever female president of the club, currently in her fifth term.
In a perfect result to celebrate the milestones, it was a clean sweep for Broadford across all netball games on Saturday.
Broadford A grade netballers had a seven-goal win over Powelltown as they faced the side for the third time this year.
Leading 16 goals to 11 at the end of the first quarter, the Kangaroos started with a comfortable lead and continued their form into the second quarter to be up by five goals at halftime.
A competitive third quarter saw Powelltown shrink the margin to four goals, but a strong fourth quarter from Broadford resulted in a 43-36 win.
Best players for Broadford were captain Ally Black, goal shooter Renee Sari and Toni Bootland.
Sitting a game clear at second on the later, A Grade face Yarra Junction in the final round of the home and away season, before all four Broadford netball teams are locked in to play finals.
Football
Reserves player Jai Heers celebrated his 200th game and life membership on Saturday.
Jai Heers celebrates his 200th senior game on Saturday, qualifying him for life membership at Broadford Football Netball Club.
Starting his football career in 1988, Heers played for Northern Knights and North Heidelberg before joining Broadford in 2001 where he has remained.
Highlights of Heers’ football career at Broadford include winning the 2021 Reserves best and fairest, coaching the reserves in 2017 and 2018, and winning most valuable player and runner-up best and fairest in 2017.
But his side couldn’t get the win on Saturday, with the Reserves going down to Powelltown by 33 points.
Broadford seniors also suffered a loss, with Powelltown too strong and dominating the game to win by 94 points.
It was a tough first half for Broadford, kicking 1.1 in the first quarter and remaining scoreless in the second.
Powelltown started strong kicking 6.6 in the first term and 9.11 to control the momentum of the game in the first half.
Following a much more even third term, Powelltown kicked away in the final quarter, booting six goals.
Senior coach Jayden Welch leads the way for Broadford against Powelltown.
Braydon Hardstaff, coach Jayden Welch and Angus Norris were named in Broadford’s best.
Broadford face Yarra Junction in the final round of the regular season on Saturday.
The club will also host a special general meeting on Thursday for financial and life members to vote on moving leagues. The club’s committee is proposing the Kangaroos applies to move to the Kyabram District Football Netball League.
Inadequate seating, jam-packed platforms, limited services, and endless coach replacements form the crux of commuter concerns with V/Line trains that service the Mitchell Shire.
In light of recent fare caps and the shire’s booming population, commuters have dubbed the service similar to ‘what you see in places like New York City or Tokyo’.
Passenger counts on Victoria’s regional train services in the first quarter of this year increased 62 per cent from the same period in 2022, increasing from 2.8 million to nearly 4.6 million – and patronage is still yet to hit pre-COVID levels.
With Mitchell Shire a major growth corridor, commuters are calling for the State Government to address the issue in conjunction with V/Line and provide more carriages, seats and services.
“People shouldn’t have to stand up for 50 minutes on the train in an area [that’s been] designated as a growth area,” Broadford commuter Tanya Woods said.
Commuters are regularly left to stand on their 50-minute commute to Melbourne on V/Line services. Photo: Daniel Nicolo
Ms Woods, who commutes three days a week, said she was ‘constantly gobsmacked’ at V/Line’s ‘lack of insight’ into patronage demand.
She said her commute became ‘such a nightmare’ that she altered her employment contract to work two days from home.
“By the time you get to Wallan, people will be standing,” she said.
“After Wallan, you’ve got Donnybrook and Broadmeadows, and there are loads of people that get on there.”
Ms Woods said the 3.33pm after-school train from Southern Cross was also ‘a disaster’, with passengers usually standing as the two-carriage train departed.
“[One day in June] the train conductors actually had to stop people boarding the train – there were too many people,” she said.
Passengers have reportedly been turned away from V/Line services at Southern Cross due to overcrowding.
Wallan’s Ronald Turner echoed Ms Woods’ concerns, and said he had to stand the entire journey from Wallan on a Saturday commute among footy fans, with some forced to sit in baggage areas.
Mr Turner, who used to commute from Ringwood, said getting used to V/Line’s lack of services proved ‘an adjustment’.
“One time, I was trying to catch a train home and I missed it by [about] two minutes, and the next one cancelled. I was in the city for an hour and a half waiting for the next train,” he said.
Only four services are scheduled to run the six-carriage VLocity trains towards Southern Cross on the Shepparton and Seymour lines daily, with three six-carriage services returning commuters home.
Some multi-carriage services, however, go mostly empty, with commuters calling for reallocation of the additional carriages.
While many peak-hour services are packed to capacity, other multi-carriage evening services go largely empty, leading commuters to call for the reallocation of carriages. Photo: Grace Frost
In June, V/Line attributed limited carriages on the Seymour and Shepparton lines to numerous wildlife strikes.
“If you know that you’re going to have increased wildlife strikes, then have the carriage stock ready. If you don’t have enough rolling stock – build it,” Ms Woods said.
High-scores amid complaints
Despite complaints, V/Line claimed the reliability of its Seymour service sat at 99.2 per cent and punctuality at 91.8 per cent in June, and Shepparton at 99.6 and 92 per cent, respectively.
However, V/Line confirmed the reliability and punctuality scores did not include the number of services cancelled due to major works on the lines, which resulted in replacement coaches that can delay arrival time by up to 60 minutes.
V/Line categorises cancellations due to major works differently from day-to-day cancellations, as alerts are provided well in advance.
V/Line reported 59 cancelled services and almost 400 services late or unable to arrive at their destination on the Seymour line in the first half of this year – but did not include the hundreds of services where coaches replaced trains in March.
A V/Line spokesperson said the Shepparton Line Upgrade was well underway to provide more frequent and reliable services, as well as give communities more travel options.
Signalling design work is continuing with the third stage of the Shepparton Line Upgrade, which will enable nine daily return services between Shepparton and Melbourne.
“The upgrade has already enabled 10 extra weekly services on the Shepparton Line and modern VLocity trains to run on the line for the first time,” the spokesperson said.
“V/Line is continuing to closely monitor patronage and make adjustments from week-to-week across the network where we can, to improve passenger experience.”
Homicide Squad detectives have charged a man following a fatal house fire in Goldie, east of Lancefield, on Saturday night.
Emergency services were called to Mount William Road following reports of the fire at about 10.30pm.
A female resident, 60, was found dead on Sunday afternoon.
A 60-year-old Goldie man suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment.
He has since been charged with one count of murder and one count of criminal damage by fire and faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
House fire in Seymour
Fire fighters responded to reports of a house fire at Anzac Avenue, Seymour at 4.43pm on Saturday.
Six Country Fire Authority, CFA, vehicles responded, along with police.
Upon arrival, crews found an abandoned house fully engulfed with flames.
Crews donned breathing apparatus to extinguish the blaze, which was deemed under control at 5.07pm.
Police confirmed no-one was injured in the incident.
Fire investigators attended the scene the next day to determine the cause of the fire.
Police are treating the fire as suspicious at this stage, and an investigation is ongoing.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or with any information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online to www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
Car fire near Tallarook
CFA responded to reports of a car fire southbound on the Hume Freeway near Tallarook at 10.45pm on Sunday.
Five CFA vehicles responded, along with State Emergency Service crews and police.
The incident was deemed under control at 11.10pm and the scene was declared safe at 11.32pm.
In the biggest round 16 win of the Northern Football Netball League, NFNL, division three competition, Kilmore had a huge day with a 25-goal win over Lalor Bloods on Saturday.
It was a strong first quarter by the Blues, kicking seven goals while containing Lalor to one.
The second quarter was slower for Kilmore in front of goals, only kicking one, but the Blues were still able to hold a comfortable 40-point lead.
The second half was a clinic by Blues forwards on how to dominate, kicking eight goals in the third term to lead 16. 18 (114) to 3.3 (21) before kicking another nine in the fourth.
It was a difficult day in the office for the Bloods, eventually going down on their home turf 3.4 (22) to 25.22 (172).
Kilmore’s senior coach Paul Derrick said Lalor’s Reserves team had forfeited resulting in a ‘weird atmosphere’ on the day.
“It made for a very weird pre-game and we probably started a little flat for the first half. We really did what we had to do without working too hard,” he said.
“There was a number of issues but I think it was more the no atmosphere before the game, which was weird. We hadn’t had that at all this year so it was a bit weird for us.
“The first half was ordinary but the second half was really good.”
Kilmore’s Ethan Derrick kicked seven goals while Aaron Speak had six – both named among the best.
Half-forward Lachlan Chesher was named best on for the Blues, kicking three goals of his own, alongside Christopher Barton and Ben Schraven.
“Lachlan Chesher was really good all day. He was probably our most consistent for the day,” Derrick said.
“Ethan and Speaky both took 10-plus marks and they hit the scoreboard pretty hard.
“I think as a team the way we moved the ball after halftime and got it into the forward line for the one-on-ones was good for us.”
Kilmore play Fitzroy Stars at home this weekend for the second last game of the season.
“We’ve got two big games to finish off this year, Fitzroy and Eltham, and our aim is to win both so we’ve just got to keep pushing,” Derrick said.
“I think 90 per cent of the list have re-signed already, which is good for us – now we’ll start looking for new recruits. Going forward things look alright.”
In the NFNL division one competition, Whittlesea had a 47-point loss to West Preston Lakeside, going down 8.6 (54) to 15.11 (101).
Last time the two sides faced each other in round six, Whittlesea lost by 46 points.
Whittlesea took a one-goal lead in the first term before the Roosters kicked four goals to hit the front.
After halftime, it continued to be a tough game for the Eagles as West Preston kicked seven goals to Whittlesea’s one, taking the lead out to 51 points.
Whittlesea outscored the Roosters in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough, going down by 47-points.
Tom Falls was best on ground for Whittlesea with captain Xavier Dimasi and Harry Beattie also named in the best.
