Day: March 30, 2015

A TRUCK of fat lambs from Sir John Madden’s Yamala Estate, on the Mornington road, sold in the Melbourne market recently realised the handsome prise of 26s 7d per head. *** THE 283 cases of fruit forwarded to Melbourne by the Somerville fruitgrowes and residents to be sold by auction on behalf of the Belgian Relief Fund, realised the handsome sum of £149 6s which, together with £3 10s in cash, has been forwarded to the Lord Mayor’s Fund. *** OUR readers are requested to remem- ber the Jumble Fair and auction sale at Somerville Easter Monday night, the proceeds…

PENINSULA LEAGUE PREVIEW EDITHVALE and Bonbeach will launch the 2015 Peninsula League football season on Good Friday. There has been enormous talk about both clubs in the pre-season but both should still be thinking about finals in 2015. Edithvale should be eyeing off a place in the top three, given it has sensational teenagers coming through the system, as well as the fact that Brett O’Hanlon has returned from Richmond. Bookends Nick Connellan and Brent Bowden are noticeable departures but they haven’t really lost a lot of others. Some quality teenagers have gone to try their hand in the VFL…

NEPEAN LEAGUE PREVIEW NEPEAN League Football will kick off on Good Friday when arch rivals Rye and Rosebud launch the 2015 season. There has been enormous talk about Rye during the off-season and new coach and former Sorrento premiership player Josh Moore believes his side is well placed to challenge. His right hand man is former club premiership coach Steve Ryan, who is a big recruit himself. It will be tough though. The Demons have lost the key connection that helped to propel them to within a kick of last year’s Grand Final. The Semmel brothers – Jake, Luke and…

A VCAT appeal by Melbourne billionaire John Gandel against shire councillors’ rejection of a restaurant and sculpture park development in Merricks has been headed off following approval of a revised application that resolves major planning problems in the earlier proposal. Councillors voted on Monday 23 March in favour of the revised plan, which consolidates blocks of land to satisfy green wedge requirement that a restaurant cannot be built on land less than 40 hectares and must be “in conjunction with” agriculture – in this case, a vineyard, now included on the restaurant land. The Victorian and Civil Administrative Tribunal case,…

A PENINSULA tourism group and Mornington Peninsula Shire are at loggerheads over the future of the tourist information shop in Sorrento. Members of Mornington Peninsula Beachside Tourism Association protested outside the shop in George St on Friday morning, expressing dissatisfaction with a possible shire move to close the shop and replace it with a kiosk. The association’s volunteer secretary Norm Watson, who owns tourism bus company Nep Tours, said the shop was opened by then shire mayor Cr Tim Rodgers in 2006 and continued to be well patronised. “During the peak tourism season, we have about 80 walk-ins every day…

HUNDREDS of Mornington Peninsula Shire staff attended three union meetings last week to hear about their rights as the battle between the shire and two unions over layoffs continued. Australian Services Union officials held meetings at the shire’s three offices at Rosebud, Mornington and Hastings. Meetings were also held between shire CEO Carl Cowie and some of the 12 workers who were told on 13 March they would be laid off. Staff members were accompanied by union officials. Five others have been laid off for a total of 17. On 18 March the Fair Work Commission told the shire to…

Monday 23 March. Venue: Mt Martha Life Saving Club. Briefings at 5pm, meal at 6, council meeting at 7. Salmon and salad for a pleasant change and a naughty second helping of dessert. A very good crowd, overflowing available seating when the meeting started. Extra parking at nearby shops for latecomers. CHANGE can creep up on you, or crash through like Brendon McCullum taking hold of the bowling in the run to a ton. Was it change at the council meeting when the redoubtable Fred Crump of Mornington got away with an 84-word question on illegal rubbish dumping? No matter. The…

RUMOURS of the imminent closure or liquidation of the Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga heightened last week in the face of an ongoing police investigation, threat of a class action and suspension of its accredited yoga teacher training course. Signs have been removed from the school’s ashram in Tower Rd, Mt Eliza, and former residents have reportedly been told they have until Tuesday to remove any belongings. Police from the Seaford-based SOCIT (Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Teams) on Thursday confirmed they are investigating allegations of sexual assault. St Kilda lawyer Angela Sdrinis is launching a class action…