Day: September 3, 2018

BASKETBALL THE Chelsea Gulls have taken out the opening round of the Big V grand-final series in dominant fashion on Saturday 25 August, while the Southern Peninsula Sharks will need to win two on the road to be named grand-final victors. The Chelsea Gulls men’s division one side claimed an 11-point victory over the Shepparton Gators (94-83) in the first round of the best-of-three grand-final series. The Gulls scored the victory away from home and are set to play their next two rounds in front of their home crowd at Patterson River Stadium, with around 1,000 supporters expected to flock…

NETBALL THE Peninsula Waves’ under-19s history-making run has come to an end with a tough loss to DC North East Blaze in the Preliminary finals on Sunday 26 August. After claiming the minor semi-final over the reigning premiers, Geelong Cougars, on Wednesday 22 August, the Waves quickly backed up their performance to contest for the last remaining spot in the under-19s VNL grand final on the weekend. The Waves’ side, which is the first under-19s team to make it through to the finals series in the history of the club, put in a top performance against the Blaze but were…

SOCCER WHILE Langwarrin was unveiling The Gus Macleod Stand at Lawton Park on Saturday Peninsula Strikers were securing their State 2 South-East status. Macleod has held the reins at Langy for 20 years and in his final home match watched his side come from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw against already relegated Nunawading City. Big reputations and a big budget have not saved the visitors who featured former A-League stars Ben Khalfallah and Massimo Murdocca, the former playing as sweeper while Murdocca took up a central midfield role. After a goalless first half the deadlock was broken in the…

DIVISION ONE FRANKSTON YCW have shocked football fans across the peninsula by bowing out of finals in just the second week. The Stonecats were put to the sword by Mt Eliza in a stunning come from behind victory. The Stonecats suffered a blow pregame with Paul Minchington ruled out due to a calf injury. Minchington booted five goals last week to help his team to a win. Despite their injury concerns, Frankston YCW got off to a blinding start, dominating the Redlegs throughout the first half. The Stonecats were absolutely in control at the half time break, with Mt Eliza’s…

DIVISION TWO DROMANA have bounced back from their shock defeat last week in stunning fashion, hammering Langwarrin to book their spot in the Grand Final. The Kangaroos were put on the backfoot early by a fast starting Dromana. Langwarrin could not register a score in the first quarter, and could only manage one goal in the second. In that time, Dromana piled on ten goals to take a 58 point lead into the half time break. The Kangaroos needed everything to go their way, but Dromana were proving far too good, piling on another seven goals to zero in the…

AUSTRALIA’S favourite kidult comedians, The Listies, are bringing their best-smelling book Ickypedia: A Dictionary of Disgusting New Words to Frankston Arts Centre’s stage these school holidays! Ickypedia is a seriously silly show that answers all of life’s unimportant questions: How do you take a smellfie? What exactly are udderpants? and what happens if you never-ever clean your room? With snot-monsters, bubble machines and toilet paper guns, it’s a mix of clowning, slapstick, and improvised chaos that the whole family will enjoy! Richard Higgins and Matt Kelly are acclaimed kidult comedy duo The Listies. In 2008, their show More fun than…

DAY by day the good news of fresh Allied victories continues to come through; each day there are fresh stories of the wonderful deeds of the Australians, and each day sees the line that indicates the horrible leash that the Hun threw across Europe being taken further and further back towards the Rhine. It is good news, it is cheering news; but not for one instant must it be taken to indicate that Australia is now at liberty to slacken in her war efforts. Rather it means that still greater efforts must be made; it is the supreme time when…

DRIVERS unsure how to correctly turn left from Coolart Road into Frankston-Flinders Road heading towards Peninsula Link and Frankston are causing problems, police say. To solve the problem they must use the dedicated merging lane – but some are incorrectly stopping at the give-way sign, causing traffic on Coolart Road to bank back from the intersection. Merging straight out of Coolart Road into the westbound lane of Frankston-Flinders Road across the solid white line marked on the picture is illegal. Left turn vehicles should turn into the merging lane, get up to an appropriate speed and then use their right…

Two organisations that have applied for funding in the state government’s Pick my Project community grant have banded together to “preference” each other. “Projects are granted funding depending on how many votes they get,” said Adam Westaway from the Alexandra Park Project. “And voters have to nominate three projects when they vote, so we decided to get together with Stewart Morgan from ‘Sunday Sessions’ and preference each other.” The Alexandra Park Project have applied for two grants under the scheme. The first is to install new lighting on the Mornington oval on Main Street to allow it to be used…

AN outbreak of influenza-A at a Mornington aged care home has prompted the Department of Health and Human Services to warn of the importance of limiting the spread of the disease. Department spokesman Graeme Walker said 20 residents and two staff at Park Hill Gardens Aged Care Facility in Tyabb Road had been affected. The facility has 68 residents and 90 staff. He said one resident had died “with the flu – not of the flu” in the recent outbreak but that “the department is unable to provide details as to the cause of death”. The highly contagious viral infection…

A CENTURY old artists’ society with links to the Mornington Peninsula is holding its annual – read 100th – exhibition this month. The Twenty Melbourne Painters Society, whose president Bill Caldwell lives in Mt Martha, is exhibiting members’ works at Glen Eira City Council Art Gallery, Caulfield, 10am-5pm, until Sunday 9 September. Caldwell, a member for the past 15 years, said it had been a “great honour” to be invited to join the group, which has never had more than 20 members at one time since forming in 1918. New members must be invited to join – it’s not a…

MORNINGTON and District Historical Society members last week welcomed the return of the Balcombe Fountain to Mornington Park. It is now working as a drinking fountain with a solar light in the cupola which brightens when people approach. The fountain was originally outside the park’s entrance, when work was done on the arches by unemployed men during a job-creation scheme in the Depression of the early 1930s. Members of the Balcombe family gave the monument to the people of Mornington in remembrance of Alexander Balcombe who had the park and much of the foreshore reserve set aside for public use.…

POLICE are investigating four incidents in which cars have been set alight in the Frankston area. A Holden Commodore was pushed down a driveway and into Bush Court, Langwarrin, property and an accelerant used to set it alight, 1.56am, Wednesday 29 August. Carrum Downs police are investigating. A Toyota Landcruiser was destroyed by fire in Narambi Road, Mornington, overnight, Monday 27 August. Somerville CIU is investigating. A silver Ford with false plates was set alight on Jubilee Park oval, 11.10pm, Sunday 26 August, and a Holden utility was set alight at Ballam Park athletics track, 4am, the same day. It…

RAMRAIDERS reversed a car through glass double doors before robbing the Chemist Discount Centre at Peninsula Homemaker Centre last week. Police said the force of the collision “significantly damaged” metal roofing and sheered steel bolts allowing the raiders entry to the Nepean Highway store, 2am, Sunday 26 August. Tyre marks were visible on the roadway. Store manager Louise Smedile said the thieves stole a quantity of perfumes. The extent of the damage was unknown, Wednesday. Police are examining CCTV footage of the incident. The store opened as usual on the Monday. First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 4…

A BITTERN man suffering an apparent cardiac arrest in the street can thank three Hastings police officers for possibly saving his life, Monday 27 August. The officers on patrol in Frankston-Flinders Road, Hastings, were flagged down by a bystander who saw the 64-year-old “on the ground and gasping” in Haddock Street about 12noon, Sergeant Scott West, of Hastings Police, said. Senior Constables Stuart Holloway and Teresa Comerford and Constable Cassundra Harris wasted no time in putting their first aid skills to good use and performing CPR on the man who drifted “in and out of consciousness”. They continued to resuscitate…

THE fickle and unrewarding nature of the Mornington Peninsula singles scene has inspired three local women to form their own dating site. “We were tired of swiping left, right or otherwise and being sent unsolicited nude pics!” Peninsula Singles co-founder Abby Barling said. “We went looking for something different but couldn’t find anything here on the peninsula, so we’ve created it ourselves!” The single mums are kicking off the season with a Spring Fling singles mixer, Wednesday 19 September, at Gods Kitchen in Mornington. They say taking a stand against the dubious goings-on of online dating had been rewarding with…

UNRESTRAINED dogs are having a devastating effect on native animals in the Mornington Peninsula National Park – and traumatising those who find their remains. Regular walker Chris Willocks came across a dead swamp wallaby on the coastal track near St Paul’s Lookout, Sorrento, 8am, Monday 13 August. “All evidence indicated it had been killed by a large dog,” Mr Willocks said. “The body was mostly undamaged other than an obvious bite wound around the neck. “The wallaby was still warm when I found it so it was probably killed between daybreak and 8am. There were lots of fresh, large dog…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has adopted the Dromana Township Plan and Residential Investigation Area Report. This follows a review of the township and surrounding residential areas that was presented to the 20 August planning meeting. The review identified built form objectives and controls to aid in the protection of Dromana’s “coastal” character. Major provisions of the plan are to reinforce the prevailing coastal township streetscapes, maintain the suburb’s low scale built form character, and protect key views from the foreshore and across the town centre towards Arthurs Seat. Other provisions are the strengthening of Pier Street as the “heart” of…

A HEART-WARMING documentary film about a group of indigenous Australian rangers who travel to Kenya to share knowledge, culture and music with a tribe of Maasai Community Rangers will premiere on the Mornington Peninsula next week. Ranger to Ranger is being shown at the Merricks General Wine Store, Friday 14 September, in support of the International Ranger Federation. The federation’s charity arm, Thin Green Line, needs funds to ensure that those tasked with defending the world’s wildlife and wild places – the Rangers – are given the support they need. In the case of a ranger losing his or her…

GROUNDS staff at The National Golf Club at Cape Schanck last week got a fright when they dug up a live naval round. The landscapers were working on the second hole at the Cups Drive course when they unearthed the 43cm-long “unexploded ordnance”, 3.30pm, Tuesday 28 August. It may have lain undisturbed for decades near the surface, about one kilometre from Truemans Road. They quickly moved clear and reported their dangerous find to police who called in the RAAF. Military officers cordoned off the area which was guarded overnight by police. Next day they detonated the shell in a deep…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire CEO Carl Cowie has quit the top job. Lured from private industry in November 2014 the almost-$400,000 man issued an email to the shire’s 900-odd staff on Thursday 30 August telling them of his decision. Although required to give three months’ notice it is expected he and the council will negotiate a payout enabling him to leave early to take up a position as CEO of the Shire of Nillumbik. The mayor Cr Bryan Payne said “on behalf of the council and the community, I thank Carl for his major contribution [to] the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council…

RECORD low rainfall in parts of the state is forcing the Country Fire Authority to consider bringing forward the start of its bushfire season. The CFA last week warned property owners to prepare for an “extreme summer of fires”. For the first time, fire restrictions will be introduced in some parts of the state as early as this month. Mornington Fire Station officer-in-charge Mick Hembrow said the shire had experienced a “drier than normal winter and autumn before that”. He said property owners should watch the weather closely and “burn now – don’t wait too long [as] the environment might…

IF charity begins at home then Kelsey Caldwell is on familiar territory. The Year 1-2 pupil at Boneo Primary School is a girl on a mission to raise money for desperate farmers and she, and helper Josie Waller, are well on their way to achieving their target of $300. Principal Mandy Whitworth said Kelsey, 7, had come to her with a “business plan” in which she and other pupils would raise funds for the Buy a Bale campaign. She arranged a raffle as a fundraiser, put an item in the school newsletter, made buckets, drew up posters and spoke at…

A PUSH by a government department to have a rock wall built at the base of the Portsea cliff to halt erosion would be the “final environmental nail in the coffin and permanently destroy the beach”, the mayor Cr Bryan Payne said last week. He was speaking after hosting Victorian Greens leader Dr Samantha Ratnam and Greens Nepean candidate Paul Saunders on an inspection of what he called “the lost beach”, Tuesday 28 August, along with several Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors. A report commissioned by the council and released at the latest council meeting has strengthened the council’s resolve to…

SAFETY Beach-Dromana Men’s Shed is now “back on its feet and expanding” after a robbery in July devastated its members, (Theft a blow to men’s shed, The News, 2/7/18). “The final cost of the burglary was more than $20,000,” member John Whalley said. “But the tremendous community support that followed, together with our insurance, has got us back on our feet.” Mr Whalley said members were planning to extend the existing shed by 24 metres. “We will fit out the additional space with equipment for exercise and fitness, wood working, and for education and training in the use of computers…