Day: April 3, 2018

PENINSULA Boxer Tyla McDonald has been crowned Australian champion for the second year running defeating usual rival and 2016 national champion Tameriah Barney-Sandy on Sunday 25 March. Tyla, 15, took out the junior under-54kgs national championships and was the only female Victorian boxer to claim back-to-back championships at the Australian Underage Titles in Perth. On top of the national crown, Tyla was part of the Junior Girls Team of the Year award, alongside fellow Victorian junior boxers, Dakotah Keane and Millicent Woods. Peninsula Boxing head coach Marcos Amado said the final was a highly competitive fight and was extremely proud…

MORNINGTON Cup day displayed the dominance of Victoria’s leading trainers as Darren Weir and the Lindsay Park operation took out four of the nine races at the metropolitan meeting on Saturday 24 March. Weir secured both of the feature races with Stellar Collision winning the $200,000 Listed Hareeba Stakes and the Mornington Cup favourite King’s Will Dream saluting in emphatic fashion in the $300,000 feature. King’s Will Dream eased down past the post to defeat Harrison and the Tasmanian visitor Fastnet Dragon by five-lengths and consequently bought up his fifth successive victory since arriving in Australia. With the Mornington Cup…

SOCCER DANIEL Attard expects Skye United to bounce back from losing the opening match of its 2018 campaign and mount a serious promotion push. The 23-year-old striker is the longest serving player in Billy Armour’s senior squad having first played for the club in 2011. Attard started playing as a six-year-old in midfield for Glen Waverley and his first 10 seasons were spent under the tutelage of John Frantzis. “He kept me interested in the game because there were a few times I thought about not playing,” Attard said. When he switched to Skye United he played as a left…

DIVISION TWO IF the opening quarter was any indication of what was in store for Rye in 2018, fans would have been battling to hold back the grins. In the only match for the weekend in Division Two, the Demons smashed Dromana in the first quarter 5.5 (35) to 1.1 (7) leaving the Tigers bedazzled. But Dromana, who had the advantage of being on home turf, were not prepared to tuck their tails and give up, and pushed back hard during the second quarter to be only 11 points down at the long break. The battle continued in the third…

DIVISION ONE THE newly configured Division One of the MPNFL started with gusto on Friday 30 March and the first round threw up some very close finishes. Of the four games played by Saturday night, three of them had ten points or less in them at the final sirens. Meeting on Good Friday, Frankston Bombers and Mt Eliza kicked off the season. Mount Eliza jumped out the of the blocks and kicked four goals to one in the opening term, leaving Frankston Bombers stunned and set for a struggle. The stage was set though, and the Bombers trailed all day,…

Chocolate Starfish – regarded as one of Australia’s best live bands of the 90s boasting two Top 10 albums and six Top 50 singles – has released their first full-length album in twenty years. SPIDERfeatures ten piping-hot, brand-spanking- new tracks. It’s classic rock ‘n’ roll and Chocolate Starfish at the top of their game. And what a game it is. Chocolate Starfish powered on to the Australian music scene in the early 1990s and quickly secured themselves a space as an influential force with their cover of Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain’, original hit ‘Mountain’ and perennial favourite ‘Four Letter…

When 5-year-old Dot gets lost in the bush, she is rescued by a kangaroo who gives her magic ‘berries of understanding’ that allow her to follow the languages of all the animals and insects around her. With this new gift, Dot and Kangaroo set out on an action-packed adventure to return her home – an adventure that changes the way she sees the Australian bush and her place within it forever. But how long before this unique native wildlife disappears as humans encroach on their habitat? Creature invites you to enter the magical world of the Australian bush to explore…

The Mavis’s announce a special 20th anniversary tour for those much loved Pink Pills. Darlings of a time when Rage and Recovery were a staple in the TV diet and Triple J was the on speed-dial… The Mavis’s rode the radio waves with their singles ‘Naughty Boy’ and ‘Cry’ on high rotation while they frequented the Hey Hey it’s Saturday stage. From Ballarat babes to national treasures, a tour with Kylie – the Impossible Princess and headliners of the summer festival circuit, The Mavis’s were a force to be reckoned with… Their sound was like ABBA through a Rock N’…

IN the 387th casualty list published on Saturday, appear the names of F. Garlick, Mornington, wounded, and T. W. Birch, Langwarrin, seriously ill. We trust both these Peninsula soldiers will have a speedy restoration to health. *** SERGEANT W. M. Green, son of Mr and Mrs W. M. Green, of Mornington Junction, has, after a course at New College, Oxford, gained his commission. Lieutenant Green enlisted in March 1915, and saw service in Gallipoli, where he was awarded the Distinguished Counduct Medal, and also in France. *** THE adjourned meeting for the purpose of deciding what form the proposed memorial…

POLICE are searching for a thirsty thief who used a stolen bank card to make a number of purchases, including a strawberry milk drink. Investigators have been told an offender entered the female change rooms of a soccer club on Monterey Boulevard, Frankston sometime between 3-4.15pm on Sunday 25 March. It is believed they went through a bag and took a number of items, including a black Mimco wallet, Tiffany necklace, bank cards, ID cards and a small amount of cash. A bank card was used later that day between 4.15-4.40pm at a number of locations in Frankston, including a…

By Michael Cummings* AS Geoff Nyssen, a towering figure in a bright orange t-shirt with a loud hailer in hand, marshalled hundreds of walkers and runners near the start line, no one would have suspected his cancer has returned. The organiser of the MY Mt Eliza Run & Fun Festival on Sunday 25 March was a ball of enthusiastic energy at the event he founded in 2017 to raise funds for the battle against myeloma, the terminal blood cancer he was diagnosed with four years ago. The event – attended by about 800 with 600 registered participants – is a…

EXTRA spending on capital works and community services are features of the proposed Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s 2018-19 budget released last week. The document, which is on public exhibition until Thursday 26 April, reflects the priorities identified by members of the community, the mayor Cr Bryan Payne said. “It provides ongoing service improvements and infrastructure enhancements within the current financial environment”. The state government has again capped rate rises at 2.25 per cent. The mayor said the waste service charge, based on full cost recovery, was proposed to increase by 10 per cent – to $217 – driven by an…

A STROLL along the beach has often been credited with providing food for thought. The lapping of the water and a sunset can be inspiring. The beach is a place often sought out by Joel Mielle, but in his case beach walks provide thought for food. Mielle is a chef who offers his recipes to the world rather than on a particular restaurant’s menu. Cooking and preparing meals has been part of Mielle’s life for as long as he can remember. His parents owned the Douce France restaurants in Frankston followed by Provence in Mornington and it seemed more than…

ART enthusiasts flocked to hear British antiques expert Paul Atterbury speak at the March meeting of the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society in Mornington. About 230 members and guests enjoyed a fascinating and well-illustrated presentation on The Canal Age, Mornington branch chairman Peter McGinley said. Mr Atterbury gave insights into the development of the network of canals in Britain, 1760s-1840s, that he said was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Their development was said to have had a major impact on artists such as John Constable and manufacturers such as Josiah Wedgwood. The talk looked at those who…

PET Therapy Pals are making hospital and nursing home stays more enjoyable for elderly patients on the Mornington Peninsula. One patient, Alan Wardley, describes his therapy pal, Spotless, as a “wonderful, wonderful friend”. Mr Wardley, who has dementia, was a patient at The Mornington Centre when staff realised he would benefit from Peninsula Health’s Pet Therapy Pal program. The weighted stuffed animals remind patients of the feeling they enjoyed holding and caring for their real pets. They keep patients company and – like real pets – are ready for a cuddle at any time. “Patients who are very confused, who…

RON Gilbert was a bit of a joker. He saw the bright side of things. He wasn’t afraid to poke fun at society’s sacred cows and was irreverent to the end. Mr Gilbert, 94, died on 28 October last year, just on eight years after posing for photographs at Mornington cemetery next to a headstone that bore his name. “I’ve got one foot in a grave,” he said at the time, with a twinkle in his eye. He now has two. Mr Gilbert was practical and gave a stonemason instructions to include his name on a headstone that was being…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire will develop a “comprehensive events policy” which should go some way towards preventing a possible clash of dates between competing events as occurred last month. The policy will draw on the shire’s experiences in the 3-4 March “double booking” which allowed the Sufferfest Triathlon to be held on the same day in Mt Martha as the 19th successive Clean-up Australia Day event. Briars ward’s Cr Sam Hearn – whose ward hosted both events – last week moved that shire officers conduct a briefing and councillor workshop on the policy by 30 June. This will provide for a…

UP to 500 southern Mornington Peninsula residents will benefit from yet another piece of world-class medical equipment supplied to Rosebud Hospital through the support of Rye Op shop. The new orthopantomogram (OPG) will be added to the hospital’s suite of medical imaging tools thanks to the op shop’s $225,000 donation. “This machine is a huge boost for the community,” the hospital’s head radiologist Damien Barbour said. “It means [patients will not need to take] more trips to Frankston Hospital or inconvenient drives to private providers on the peninsula; it will help considerably in speeding up treatment times in the emergency…

DOG owners will soon be able to legally let their dogs off the leash during winter on a 300 metre strip of beach at McCrae. Mornington Peninsula Shire last agreed to loosen restrictions at the beach outside of the daylight savings time. However, dogs will not be allowed on the beach 9am-7pm during daylight saving. The council has also been told that more research is needed into whether the 300 metre leash-free strip of beach should be extended by 350 metres. Notice of the changes at McCrae will be published in the Government Gazette and community newspapers. Meanwhile, the shire…

HOMELESSNESS is surging with a 17 per cent increase in Frankston and a 10 per cent increase on the Mornington Peninsula in the five years from the 2011-16 census nights. Figures released by the Council to Homeless Persons show 546 people experienced homelessness in Frankston last year compared to 465 in 2011. On the Mornington Peninsula 298 people were homeless last year compared to 272 in 2011. State-wide, the census data shows that 24,817 Victorians were homeless in 2016 – up from 22,306 in 2011. SalvoCare Eastern Rosebud manager Loretta Buckley said the stigma of homelessness meant many people could…