Month: May 2018

By Barry Irving RYE Junior fire brigade members and 1st Tootgarook Cub Scouts enjoy getting together each year to promote friendship and learn new skills. Recently, the cubs played host to the Sorrento Sea Scout Cub Pack whose members worked towards their Boomerang badges while researching and training with the Rye junior fire brigade. The cubs, aged 7-11, benefited from the leadership and mentoring of the junior firefighters, aged 11-16. The activities highlighted the strengths of the three groups. Afterwards there was fun free time to chat and make new friends. For more information on the scouts call 0438 338…

WITH a state election due in November, the Mornington Peninsula Greens and its supporters are out and about in the environment. A field excursion on Saturday 28 April saw a group tour of the Tootgarook wetlands under the direction of Save Tootgarook Swamp’s Cameron Brown. Paul Saunders, the Greens candidate for Nepean, said the group was “particularly impressed with range and diversity of animals, birds and plants supported by the wetlands, including many endangered species”. “Concerns were raised in areas of the wetlands where VicRoads owns parcels of land that permit a freeway extension from Rosebud to Blairgowrie,” Mr Saunders…

CLASSICAL musician, Sean Ross, echoes claims by the Spanish artist Salvador Dali that his art was influenced by memories from before he was born. Part-raised in Frankston and a one-time boarder at Peninsula Grammar, Mt Eliza, Ross credits his then-pregnant mother’s playing of Tchaikovsky on a cassette player with his “destiny” to write an opera about the Russian composer’s life. “I truly believe my opera was conceived with me, in my mother’s womb, and that it was therefore my destiny to write it. I’d even go so far as to say it was written on the very blueprint of my…

SKYE local Melanie Rees was able to spend every precious last moment with her late husband Joel in hospital before he passed away on Boxing Day last year; but only because of Frankston Hospital’s expanding Oncology service. The 55-year-old sadly lost his battle with aggressive tongue and throat cancer and spent his last weeks on Ward 5FS at Frankston Hospital. “If I didn’t have the support of Frankston Hospital I wouldn’t have been able to spend as much quality time with Joel,” says his wife Melanie. “When Joel was receiving treatment in the city there was an endless amount of…

WORK has started to restore a 150-year-old Anglican church at Moorooduc. The church, built in 1863, had been left unused for nearly two decades before builder Stephen Foster decided it was worth saving. “There would only be a few buildings older than this one on the whole of the peninsula,” he said “It was sold off and locked up about 17 years ago, before that the local comunity would come down to look after it because of how important it was to them. Since then there’s been no maintenance, and it was just about ready to fall over. “It’s a…

A WOMAN who allegedly stole a mobile phone while grocery shopping in Frankston last month is being sought by police. The owner of the phone said she placed it on the counter at a supermarket on the corner of Golf Links Road and Hastings Road, Tuesday 10 April. It is believed another woman and her children who approached the counter to pay for her items, about 5.45pm, picked up the phone and placed it in her handbag. The woman is described as mid-to-late 30s, large build, long straight brown hair tied in a ponytail, with a dark tattoo on her…

PASSING motorists alerted Somerville Highway Patrol police to a woman who they said was “blind drunk”, 4.30pm, Friday 28 April. The police were finishing up dealing with a motorcycle collision on Moorooduc Highway, Frankston South, when they were told a woman who had been driving erratically was just behind them. Police watched as the woman slowly reversed away from the scene, with the driver “clearly struggling to control the car”. When they approached she reportedly argued about undertaking a preliminary breath test before blowing “way over”. On the centre console police said was a small glass of orange juice, vodka…

A SIX-MONTH mosquito trapping program is being conducted by Mornington Peninsula Shire to help eradicate the Buruli ulcer. The measure is part the shire’s $20,000 in-kind support towards the federal government’s $1.5 million research program to help control and better understand the disease. The study is being carried out by researchers from the shire, Melbourne University, Barwon Health and the Department of Health and Human Services. They will look into how the bacterial infection is transferred from the environment to humans. The mayor Cr Bryan Payne said the shire was committed to continuing its research into the ulcer and controlling…

THE state and federal governments are being urged to upgrade old water recycling infrastructure in a move to “drought proof the Mornington Peninsula”. The plan by Mornington Peninsula Shire envisages reusing class-A recycled water from the Eastern Treatment Plant to provide water security for a range of agricultural activities, including wineries, beef production, and agriculture-based tourism. The mayor Cr Bryan Payne said the growth of Melbourne’s population meant existing sewerage pipes could no longer cope with demand. He said they should be replaced with larger capacity pipes with the water pumped to the top of Arthur’s Seat so that it…

Missing camper Sebastian Orefors has been located on a farming property in Toora North earlier this morning. Sebastian walked to the Devils Pinch Road homestead at 10.50am after being lost in the bush for four days. The 23-year-old is very dehydrated and is being assessed by paramedics. Police and Sebastian’s family would like to thank everyone involved in the search including SES, Bush Search and Rescue and Parks Victoria. Source: Victoria Police News – Tuesday, 1 May 2018

FLU vaccines are available free for children over six months and under five years through Mornington Peninsula Shire’s immunisation service. The Department of Health and Human Services says there has been a significant increase of influenza in children aged up to five, prompting the state government to offer the free flu jabs to this at-risk group. They are available at all sessions on the current timetable at mornpen.vic.gov.au/immunisation as well as these extra sessions: Hastings Community Health Centre, 185 High Street, Hastings: 9.30am-12.15pm, Wednesday 2 May; 9.30am-12.15pm and 5pm-5.45pm, Wednesday 16 May, and 9.30am-12.15pm, Wednesday 6 and 20 June. Bentons…

CROWDS flocked to Anzac Day commemorations at Mornington Peninsula towns last week. Organisers were thrilled with the huge turn-out of young people which they hope will ensure the future of the national event. Hastings RSL sub-branch president Keiren Gallagher said the day went “really well”. “The place was packed with 300-400 at the breakfast and more than 2000 at the main service,” he said. “It was hard to see how many we at the dawn service but I turned around to thank the scouts and school groups and saw a sea of young faces, which made me happy as they…

FOND memories of 47 dachshunds gleefully running amok at her swimming pool for dogs a few years back still makes Somerville woman Jo Woolley laugh. “They came to us via a Facebook group booking for a pool party and had an absolute ball in and out of the water,” she said. “They were hilarious.” That’s easy to imagine as the pool at Aquapaws Canine Rehabilitation Centre is a favourite destination for its regular four-legged visitors. Ms Woolley says she can hear her customers panting and squealing as they literally drag their owners across the car park to get there. “They…

A GROUNDSWELL of opposition is building to AGL’s floating gas terminal at Crib Point and a hydrogen gas to liquid plant at Hastings. Information about the gas terminal and the hydrogen plant – led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and part financed with $100 million from the state and federal governments – will be aired at a public meeting at Crib Point next Tuesday (8 May). The meeting is being organised by a steering committee for a group calling itself the No AGL Gas terminus for Crib Point. Candy Spender-van Rood said guest speakers “will inform people about just what this…