Day: April 23, 2018

THE Victorian Netball League season gets underway on Sunday 29 April with the Peninsula Waves and Southern Saints both looking to improve on their mid-table finishes from last year’s VNL Championships. Both the Waves and the Saints will head into their season openers at the State Netball and Hockey Centre, Parkville with a relatively new look, with the Waves recruiting five new players to their side and the Saints missing a number of players due to injury. Peninsula Waves finished their 2017 season in seventh place but championship coach Jess Whitfort is confident they can rise up the ladder after…

FATHER and son skaters Kevin and Harry Geary strapped on the green and gold to represent Australia at the Oceania Speed Skating Championships on Saturday 31 March. Kevin and his 12-year-old son Harry reached speeds of up to 40kph to claim a total of 10 medals at the international competition in New Zealand. Harry was one of the youngest competitors for Australia and competed against boys of up to two years older than him in the Cadet Boys division (under-14s). Skating over distances ranging from 300m to 21km, Harry shined over the long trips and landed two bronze medals in…

SOCCER CALEB Nicholes made sure of Skye United’s first win of the season with an eight-minute goal blitz against Dingley Stars at Skye Recreation Reserve on Saturday. The veteran striker’s quickfire hat-trick underpinned Skye’s 4-1 win and ignited the club’s push up the State 3 South-East ladder. The first half was a cagey affair with Skye dominating most of the possession and it was rewarded when Mitch Blake pounced in the box and finished well to give the hosts a half-time lead. Nicholes opened his account two minutes into the second half when he tapped in from close range following…

DIVISION TWO DROMANA remains a game clear on top of the MPNFL Division Two ladder after beating Karingal in the match of the day on Saturday. Just five points separated the sides at three-quarter time after Dromana had opened-up a 40-point half-time break. The Tigers booted six goals straight to four behinds in the second term. Karingal’s third quarter was equally as damaging, booting 6.2 to three behinds to drag the margin back to five points at the final change. The game was up for grabs, and with the home crowd at the Pier Street oval right behind it, Dromana…

DIVISION ONE IT’S early days in MPNFL Division One football but it’s hard not to think all is going as predicted in season 2018. Frankston YCW is a game clear on top of Sorrento after playing them in round one, leaving the Sharks second and Edi-Asp third. The Eagles just need to be more mindful of their player points and how that lines up for the remainder of the season. The talent is certainly there. They will finish with the double chance. The ‘logjam’ begins from Pines downwards. Now let’s have a look at Saturday’s football. Who would have thought…

CAPTAIN S. M. Bruce, M.C., Croix de Guerre, the selected Nationalist candidate for the Flinders seat, opened his campaign in the Dandenong town hall last night, and was given an enthusiastic reception by a large crowd of electors. Cr. R. Colenso, president of the shire, occupied the chair. The Candidate at the outset congratulated the electors of Flinders upon the great honor which had been conferred upon their late representative, Sir William Irvine, in being selected to fill the post of Chief Justice of Victoria. He proposed to support the present Government, because that Ministry was appointed by an overwhelming…

JAMS, cakes, crochet, needle work and photography will be among the hotly contested entries at the Country Women’s Association’s creative arts exhibition at the Peninsula Community Theatre next week. They will feature among a wide range of arts, crafts and cookery exhibits from 10am, Saturday and Sunday, 28 and 29 April, at the venue in Wilsons Road, Mornington, as the association celebrates 90 years of service. Market stalls will sell hand-made goods. Mornington Peninsula Group president Marnie Turner said the local branches will “go head to head in what’s always a tight competition”. “The ladies get quite competitive,” she said.…

MT MARTHA Tennis Club has effectively won its match against plans for a skateboard park adjacent to its courts at the corner of Kilburn Grove and the Esplanade. The club was able to claim the higher ground despite Mornington Peninsula Shire threatening to revoke the tennis club’s lease or use planning regulations to compulsory “recover” the land. Early in the game it also had Heritage Victoria barracking from the sidelines, cautioning the shire against building a skatepark on a historic parade ground next to Mt Martha Community House. The contest ground rules were set in 2012 when the shire announced…

A MT ELIZA beachgoer has had enough of nudists on family beaches away from designated “clothes-optional” areas. Craig Ferris wants Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to draw a line in the sand and fine those breaking the rules. Mr Ferris, a policeman who regularly takes his wife and two young daughters to the southern end of Moondah beach, said he had “absolutely no issue with those who want to get back to nature and do their thing”. But, he says, he takes exception to the “seemingly blase attitude being taken by … those of the naturalist persuasion (sic) who are now…

ROCKS will not be brought in to prevent further crumbling of cliffs at Mt Martha Beach North until after winter. Although five beach boxes have been already been demolished others may need to be removed – and later replaced – before the $880,000 rock revetment can be started. At least 10 of the 40 remaining beach boxes are leaning sideways or have sagging or broken stumps. Last week’s storms saw more landslides behind the bathing boxes, which during certain times of the tide cover the only sand remaining on the ever-widening beach. Experts have warned that continued crumbling of the…

THE storm which battered the Mornington Peninsula, Saturday 14 April, has renewed calls for a marina at Mornington. Plans for an $18 million, 170-berth floating marina to provide a safe haven for moored boats were abandoned in early 2010, but not before Mornington Yacht Club, Parks Victoria and other government departments had spent about $1 million on consultants’ reports to justify a marina. The latest storm left three boats on the beach and broke handrails and decking on the pier. The renewed push for a marina has already been raised with Mornington Peninsula councillors and its proponents are again likely…

THE second Rosebud Hospital Summer Appeal raised $63,000 for the emergency department – some of it from the efforts of volunteers who braved the wind and rain while doing intersection collections at Rye, Rosebud and Dromana. As well, peninsula businesses, clubs, groups and community members hosted events and made donations to the appeal which brought in more than triple the amount raised last year. The final tally was announced by Peninsula Health CEO Felicity Topp at an afternoon tea to thank volunteers and donors on 23 March. Rosebud Emergency Department nurse unit manager Kim Rogers said doctors and nurses were…

LONG-TIME Mornington resident Su-Rose McIntyre lost her only child when he was 26 almost a decade ago, after he suffered a long period of mental illness. Now the bereaved mother and qualified grief counsellor is a newly published author of a grief self-help book: The Grief Kaleidoscope: Metaphors for Grief. “Deep grief was a new experience for me as I tried to ride the grief waves as they came rolling in,” she said last week. “I became interested in learning more about what I was going through and the grief process itself.” After gaining a Masters in Counselling university degree…

A SEAFORD motorbike rider who allegedly sped away from Somerville highway patrol came to an embarrassing halt when his chain came off causing him to roll to a stop. He then fell off. Police said they attempted to intercept the bike in Brunel Road just before 2am, Monday 16 April, when they noticed blue tape on the number plate. The rider sped off, allegedly reaching 148kph in the 60kph zone, before the chain came off and began sparking on the road. The bike rolled to a stop and the 29-year-old rider fell off. Police found him to be disqualified from…

DETECTIVES are hoping to speak to a man, pictured, after a car was allegedly broken into at an oval on Edward Street, Somerville, about 5-6pm, Thursday 12 April. Personal items were stolen, including a bank card which was later used at a nearby supermarket. Anyone with information is urged to call Mornington Peninsula CIU 5978 1400 or Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000. First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 24 April 2018

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire CEO Carl Cowie has now listed a Mediterranean cruise he and his wife took as guests of businessman Lindsay Fox on the shire’s gifts register. Mr Cowie has previously maintained that he did not need to register the cruise as it was made during his annual leave and at no cost to the shire. In a statement issued late Friday afternoon Mr Cowie repeated that he attended the seven-day cruise in July 2016 “in a private capacity”. Mr Cowie and his wife were guests aboard the liner Seabourn Odyssey as it sailed from Athens, Greece, to Venice,…

AFTER playing catch up to Padua Secondary College at the Southern Independent Schools swimming carnivals for the past 28 years, Flinders Christian College finally emerged victorious in Division A last week. “It was a fantastic achievement and our swimming squad has worked so hard for this great achievement,” marketing head Monica Wulff said. Placings and overall points were: Flinders 739.5, Padua 714, St Francis Xavier 610, Woodleigh 568.5, Cornish 533 and Berwick 251. Flinders College staff and coaches couldn’t hide their excitement at the win, jumping and cartwheeling into the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre pool – and spreading their…

CONCERNS about the spread of the debilitating skin infection Buruli ulcer on the Mornington Peninsula are rising with reports of infections reportedly up about 400 per cent in four years with 275 patients infected last year. Disease expert Barwon Health Associate Professor Daniel O’Brien, who treats patients at a monthly clinic at Sorrento, says the community is facing a “worsening epidemic without knowing how to prevent it”. He is calling for “much more money to fund research into the causes to help stem the spread of the disease”. Professor O’Brien has used the pages of this month’s Medical Journal of…

A SORRENTO author says her first novel has received more than 70,000 e-book downloads. The Bay of Shadows, by Samantha Wood, is set in a rambling house in a small Australian beach town where Elena Jameson is recovering from her recent divorce. To her delight, she is offered the opportunity to foster a little boy, Daniel, whose mother is dead and whose violent father is in rehab. Elena and Daniel explore the beautiful bay and wild bushland, and form a strong bond. But, in what the author describes as a “gothic tale of love and loss, bravery and hope”, Daniel’s…