Day: January 23, 2017

PROVINCIAL PENINSULA Old Boys have once again bucked the MPCA Provincial trend in round eight and posted a strong score against Sorrento. On a day where the bowlers were on top in Provincial cricket on Saturday, POB posted a more than solid total of 8/277 to give Sorrento plenty to chase on day two of the match this weekend. The next highest score of the round was from Pines against Somerville. The Piners were bowled out for 186. The Old Boys once again had contributors throughout their card, starting with Wade Pelzer at the top of the order with 87,…

DISTRICT THE day certainly belonged to the bowlers on the opening day of round eight in MPCA District cricket on Saturday. In the first two day game of the new year, Red Hill was the only team to make it past 200, scoring 201 against Heatherhill. The next highest team score was 165, hit by Baden Powell against Mt Martha. The lowest score of the round was 74 after Seaford were bowled out by Rye. The Demons are in a winning position at 5/111 in reply. The match at Seaford Reserve was the real story of the day with the…

SUB-DISTRICT HASTINGS have once again failed with the bat, this time against Carrum in round eight of MPCA Sub District. The Blues’ bowlers have been able to get their team out of trouble for the most part this season and it appears that it is going to be the case again in this match. Hastings were bowled out for just 149 on Saturday against the Lions after cruising at 2/114 at one stage. Mitchell Floyd was superb at three with 41 runs, Robbie Hearn got started for 31 and AJ Wilson opened with 29 to give the Blues the ideal…

SOCCER By Craig MacKenzie IF there was a local coach of the year award for 2016 Seaford United supremo Paulo Pinheiro would be a valid candidate. Sure he may not have beaten Scott Morrison whose Rosebud Heart side won every game in a once-in-a-generation season and Adam Jamieson whose Mornington outfit created history with back-to-back State 1 championships but what Pinheiro achieved last year is worthy of recognition. When Darren Roberts surprisingly quit a couple of weeks out from the start of last season and half a dozen senior players followed suit assistant coach Pinheiro had suddenly inherited a basket…

By Ben Triandafillou THE Mornington Little Athletics Centre have completed their temporary move to the Mornington Secondary College whilst they await the construction of their new all-weather running track at Civic Reserve, Mornington. The MLAC hosted their first day of competition at their new home on January 14 after outgrowing their old location at Mace Oval, Mount Martha after 13 seasons. With the assistance of local companies such as Moorooduc Timber and Hardware and Charlton Degg, Land Development Consultants, the move to their new home was relatively smooth and without great cost to the club itself. Charlton Degg, located in…

INTERLEAGUE MORNINGTON Peninsula Nepean Football League coach John Hynes said he was ‘absolutely wrapped’ with the 2017 Interleague campaign after it kicked-off last Friday. The MPNFL Sharks had 38 on the track on Friday night at Frankston Park while there were players who couldn’t train that attended to support the squad. Hynes said the “level, intensity and competitive aspects were as high as I have seen them”, despite it being the first hit-out of the season. The MPNFL will take-on Geelong FL at the MCG to claim the number one title in Victorian Football in May this year. The last…

By Ben Triandafillou CAULFIELD trainer, John Moloney, has defied the odds in the $2 Million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (1400m) at the Gold Coast on 14 January, with the $101 blowout, Flying Jess. Flying Jess defeated the previously unbeaten Winning Rupert as well as dual Group 1 winner Global Glamour for a breakthrough victory. Brilliantly ridden by Tye Angland, Flying Jess swooped late to defeat Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s Global Glamour ($8) by a neck and hold off the fast finishing Eckstein ($12) whose four straight wins came to an end. Unable to run the tough seven furlongs out,…

This year, McClelland is delighted that Derek Guille the renowned broadcaster, author and musician has agreed to curate and MC what promises to be a very special event featuring two of Melbourne’s finest jazz groups The Pearly Shells and Ultrafox (featuring Julie O’Hara) along with one of our favourites in The Frankston High School Senior Stage Band, directed by Leon de Bruin. Derek Guille presented the state-wide Afternoon Program on 774 ABC Melbourne and ABC Local Radio throughout Victoria and Southern New South Wales before taking up the reins of the ABC Evening Program for Victoria in 2003. In September…

Caller and leader of the Mornington Peninsula Square Dancers, Jaden Frigo, says the square dancing groups have been unbelievably well received on the peninsula. “I’ve been blown away by the enthusiastic response to our new groups. It’s been so successful that we have added three more groups so you can now dance in Rosebud, Mornington, Hastings, Balnarring or Somerville. There are thousands of people on the peninsula that would love it if they gave it a try and I really do encourage everyone to come along and see why the activity is taking the world by storm,” he said. “Come…

IT will be seen by an advertisement in another column that definite arrangements have now been made to hold meetings in the three centres of the Shire, to promote the success of the new Recruiting Campaign. That for Somerville will be held tonight (Saturday) at 8.30pm, for Frankston, on Tuesday next at the Mechanics’ Hall, at 8 p.m., and the third will be held at the Hall, Hastings, at 8 sharp, on Saturday, February 3rd. It is particularly requested that the audience should assemble promptly at 8pm, at the Hastings meeting, as the Hall is required for another purpose afterwards…

FORGET about stocking your pantry with exotic ingredients and trying to cook complicated recipes that you can’t even pronounce – Frankston foodie Jade O’Donahoo says “simple” is back in fashion. The former cafe owner has just released a self-illustrated cookbook of vegetarian recipes that hark back to her Italian heritage and her love of “uncomplicated” food. She said the book – Eat This, My Friend – published by Hardie Grant Books, was inspired by the customer requests she received for her recipes after she closed her popular hole-in-the-wall cafe, Switchboard, in Melbourne a few years ago. “I got so many…

ANGLERS after game fish in and around Port Phillip are helping research and contributing to fish numbers with a catch and release policy. Fisheries Victoria’s acting executive director Dallas D’Silva said the population of yellowtail kingfish had “rebounded strongly” since 2010 and some were being electronically tagged as part of a two-year study. “The research aims to determine whether kingfish caught in Victorian waters are from one stock or several, and to better define population characteristics like age, growth and spawning habits,” Mr D’Silva said. “Yellowtail kingfish populations have rebounded strongly since 2010 and they are now regularly caught at…

PENINSULA Health chairperson Nancy Hogan has been awarded Melbourne Rotary Club’s 2016 Seniors Award for her contribution to the community, particularly aged care services. “Ms Hogan exemplified all the qualities we were looking for,” Robin Syme, who heads the club’s nominations sub-committee, said. “She is committed to making a difference to older people, presenting a positive view and purpose on growing older, and is also a role model and advocate for older people. “After a successful career in aged care, Ms Hogan has, in her senior years, taken a very active role as a volunteer on not-for-profit boards, mentor for…

HASTINGS State Emergency Service is on the look-out for new members, especially residents in Somerville, Tyabb, Hastings, Mornington, Mt Martha, Moorooduc, Bittern, Cribb Point, Tuerong, Merricks, Balnarring and Somers. A recruitment information evening is being held 7pm, Wednesday 1 February, at the Hastings Unit, 2144 Frankston-Flinders Rd, Hastings. The SES handles floods, storms, earthquakes, landslides and tsunami emergencies state-wide. Public Relations section leader Helen Pugh said volunteers would receive accredited, recognised training, which may include rescue skills, chainsaw operations or securing a roof in a storm. SES units also assist other emergency agencies at incidents, such as searches and rescues.…

A NEW Mornington Peninsula Housing Services Guide aims to help people overcome housing-related problems. It can assist them to identify where to go for advice about particular problems and seeks to simplify what may appear to be a complex and confusing system. The peninsula guide has been released at a time when “rough” campers in the Melbourne CBD are ruffling official feathers. Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle is said to be about to propose a controversial bylaw outlawing sleeping in the city’s streets. The peninsula guide contains a comprehensive list of contacts for legal advice/advocacy, financial assistance and information about…

A FORMER Seaford automotive repair business manager has been reimbursed $102,990 following intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman. The manager was found to have not received the correct annual leave and long service leave entitlements after he resigned from the company after 25 years. He contacted the Fair Work Ombudsman for help and to confirm that he was entitled to the payment. He was provided with advice to help him resolve the matter with his former employer. The entitlement was paid in two lump sum payments within a week. The Fair Work Ombudsman also helped a foreman in Carrum Downs…

FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt managed to avoid directly answering questions on the future of Medicare during a visit to Frankston Hospital last Wednesday when speaking to the media over his appointment as Australia’s new health minister. Mr Hunt’s promotion follows Sussan Ley’s resignation and an expenses scandal that now threatens to tarnish his own reputation, after it was revealed last week that between January 2014 and June 2016, the Mt Martha-based MP charged taxpayers $15,500 for overnight stays in Melbourne. In addition, he has spent more than $20,000 for travel to Queensland for him and his family over the past…

A STONE wall erected to stop erosion at Mt Martha has angered residents, who claim the “cost-cutting” measures had denied them rightful access to the beach. Rocks were placed in front of a bluestone wall on the 600 metre-long Hawker beach and neighbouring Craigie beach late last year, amid concern the narrow strip of sand was disappearing and the cliffs were at risk. But regular beachgoer Trevor Leslie claims the works, initiated by the Department of Water, Environment, Land and Planning (DWELP), had effectively cut the beach off from recreational users. “We are distraught at the loss of access to…

FRANKSTON and Mornington Peninsula fire officers have issued a warning to have air cooling and heating systems serviced after two house fires over the weekend of 7 until 8 January. The fires in Seaford and Carrum Downs were among five in outer metro-Melbourne that fire crews believe were related to air-conditioners or evaporative cooling system. The families were home at the time of the fires and were able to escape, but both the houses were damaged. Carrum Downs station captain Steve Rhodes said investigations were continuing, but air cooling systems were likely to be the cause in both instances. CFA…

POLICE capsicum sprayed an abusive young woman, as well as an intoxicated man who “fronted up” to police, during a wild night in Mornington early last week. Another woman, 19, was among a group of revellers in their late teens and early 20s arrested for drunken behaviour after milling crowds spilled out of Main St hotels and bars early Sunday morning, 15 January. The five offenders were locked up for four hours before being released with $622 penalty notices. Acting Senior Sergeant Chris Stock, of Mornington police, said ambulance crews treated the woman at the scene for 45 minutes after…

A SHORTAGE of police on the Mornington Peninsula and “surging crime rates” are issues to be discussed at a public meeting in Rosebud next month. The Law and Order forum being hosted by Nepean MP Martin Dixon will focus on “some of the massive increases in local crime, police numbers and other law and order issues” raised by those attending. Mr Dixon will speak on what he cites as a 67 per cent increase in sexual offences – up from 184 to 308 cases from September 2015 to September 2016; and a 58 per cent increase in robberies – from…

THE auction of two freestanding commercial buildings at 157-163 Ocean Beach Rd, Sorrento, is expected to confirm the strength of the peninsula’s property market. CBRE’s Mark Wizel said the 554 square metre block, to be auctioned 12.30pm, Saturday 11 March, was expected to attract strong interest given its passing income, flexibility and position adjoining a council car park. He said the site offered an opportunity for a mixed use development “in one of Victoria’s strongest performing markets”. He described 2016 as a “hugely successful year” for the Mornington Peninsula’s property market with “this momentum” expected to continue into 2017. Mr…

A PARAMEDIC fears changes to the roster will leave Rosebud residents without a vital ambulance service during busy nightshifts. The man, who asked not to be named but whose identity is known to The News, said the Rosebud and Rye joint ambulance branch had applied for and received approval to reduce its services in what he termed a “blended” roster. He said it would only take one inter-hospital transport (“of which there are many”) for the Rosebud night shift to be taken out of the area for several hours – depleting Rosebud of its only local resource. “While it could…

DISADVANTAGED people across the Mornington Peninsula will benefit from the Great Peninsula Paddle on Australia Day. Organisers are hoping to raise $15,000 from the event, which is in line with money raised in years past. The seven-year-old event attracts more than 100 participants to Sorrento foreshore each January to raise money for Reclink Australia’s sport, recreation and arts programs. The not-for-profit group is being supported by the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club, with money raised going towards the Western Port Warriors football team and other Reclink sport and recreation activities. “With the support of the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club,…

A RYE church will celebrate its 150th birthday with a special service, 10.30am, Sunday 5 February. St Andrew’s Anglican Church, in Lyons St, is classified by the National Trust. The church, originally for lime burners, woodcutters and fishermen, has an interesting early history. The first building had wattle and daub walls smoothly plastered with lime. As the first school in the district in 1855 – and known as Tootgarook Common School No. 623 – it was also used as a hall as well as a church from 1866. Services were held fortnightly in summer and less frequently in winter, with…