Author: MP News Group

STUDENTS from Padua College, Mornington, were given a glimpse into the world of Islam during a visit to a mosque in Langwarrin. For the second year running the college has visited the Bait-ul-Salam Mosque where they are given a talk about the basic teachings of Islam by Iman Syed Wadood Janud. “The purpose of this visit is to educate young Australians about Islam, and repelling any misconception and negative perceptions they have,” mosque spokesman Soofi Aziz said. Arriving over two days in several groups, the 300 students were told by Iman Janud that Islam is “a religion that teaches peace,…

IMPAKT Productions and Mornington Peninsula Shire are putting on the 2015 Freeza Push Start Battle of the Bands, Friday 21 August, Peninsula Community Theatre. Local bands The Illusionals, The Elements, Jebusology, LuVibe, End Hope, Break the Lines and Shmegma have been selected to compete, with the winners having the chance to compete in the regional finals as well as win prizes. Headlining the event is Aussie pop punk band Day Break. Other contestants will be advertised on the Mornington Peninsula Shire Youth Services website, mpys.com.au The event runs 6-10.45pm. Tickets at $10 will be at the door on the night.…

Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate missing man Les Moulden. The 96-year-old Rosebud man was last seen in Redmond Court about 10am today. He was last seen wearing grey trousers, navy blue sleeveless cardigan and a tweed hat. Police and Les’s family have concern for his welfare as he has dementia and requires medication. Les may be on foot and heading toward Frankston or Sorrento where he has family. Police have released a photo of Les in the hope that someone may recognise him. Anyone who sees Les is urged to call Rosebud police station on 5986…

A 23-year-old man has been charged following a double fatal collision in Rosebud on Wednesday. The collision occurred on Eastbourne Road shortly before 9.45am on Wednesday 12 August. It’s alleged a white Holden Commodore travelling east collided with a mini bus heading in the opposite direction. A 91-year-old Rosebud West woman passed away last night at The Alfred hospital while an 88-year-old Rosebud West woman, who was a passenger on the bus, died at the scene. The Coburg man was interviewed by Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives and charged with two counts of culpable driving, two counts of dangerous driving…

A second woman has died following a collision involving a car and mini bus in Rosebud earlier this week. The 91-year-old Rosebud West woman passed away last night at The Alfred hospital. The woman was a passenger on the bus. The collision occurred on Eastbourne Road shortly before 9.45am on Wednesday, 12 August. It’s believed a white Holden Commodore travelling east collided with a mini bus heading in the opposite direction. An 88-year-old Rosebud West woman, who was a passenger on the bus, died at the scene. The driver of the Commodore, a 23-year-old Coburg man, remains at Dandenong Hospital…

CRIB POINT FNC – By Jared Newton IT was a tale of two halves on Saturday for Crib Point as they dished up some of their best and worst football for the year in a single afternoon. The first half for the Pies was great who were full of running and pressure as the lead see-sawed throughout with good end to end football from both sides. At the half the Pies, trailed by seven points but could have felt confident despite not taking all their chances. The second half descended into a farce as the Pies hardly gave a yelp as…

HASTINGS FNC – By Phil Stone, club president SATURDAY saw the club travel to Tyabb FNC with one purpose in mind; to turn around our fortunes from the previous round. The boys did this in spades playing a wonderful team orientated brand of football to take the four points. We now travel to Crib Point FNC next Saturday in what looms as a season defining game for our club. It’s a very exciting time around the club presently and we certainly will not be taking Crib Point lightly. So lets make sure we get a great crowd to the game. Seniors…

CHELSEA Poll and Grace Chapman, both 11, had their heads shaved on the weekend to raise money and people’s awareness of leukaemia. Their team, Crazy Coconuts, aimed to raise $2000 but managed to triple it to more than $6000 with donations still coming for the Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave. The event at the Village People cafe, Balnarring, was packed with classmates and family friends. “We were overwhelmed by a tsunami of love and generosity from family, friends and our wonderful community of Balnarring who came along to show their support,” mum Melissa Poll said. “We had so many kids…

SORRENTO Portsea RSL Club had its snooker table re-covered last month and a little piece of Australian snooker history was revealed in the process. When Sean Partridge of Complete Billiards was removing the old cloth, he found this note written in pencil on the slate: “Stretch 14/1/96 Ron Atkins, 1980 runner-up World Snooker Championship.” A club member did some research. “Ron Atkins was a remarkable snooker player from Tasmania, who despite losing his left leg in a shooting accident, became one the best players of his time. He finished runner-up to snooker legend Jimmy White at the 1980 World Snooker…

ROSEBUD police are investigating a Rye school girl’s “missing couple of hours” on Monday last week. The girl, 13, got off the Flinders Christian Community College bus at 3.40pm at the corner of Cain Rd and Pt Nepean Rd and started to walk home. She later told Rosebud police that she noticed a white van with dark windows travelling beside her and then became aware of a stranger standing in front of her. Detective Sergeant John Coburn, of Rosebud CIU, said the girl’s next recollection was waking up on the beach near the lighthouse at McCrae, from where she called…

RYE Primary School pupil Savannah LeeFangmeier, 11, has a passion for life: so much so that she worked hard all holidays cutting out holding-hand figures for pupils to decorate as part of a Donate Life Week fundraiser. In the lead up to the event she visited the school’s art classes to explain what organ donation means. The Holding Hands art project involves all grade levels with pupils creating and colouring their own designs on the 500-odd cut outs to demonstrate what organ donation meant to them. Their creations were displayed in the hall and judged by Savannah and class teacher…

PARKS Victoria gave Mornington’s “new” pier a soft launch on Saturday with an open invitation to the public to inspect the $15.3 million rebuild and enjoy a range of activities, including a free sausage sizzle. Lending weigh to the historic event was the schooner Enterprize, a replica of the ship built in Hobart in 1830 and used five years later by John Pascoe Fawkner to bring settlers and provisions to what is now Melbourne. The Enterprize entered the Yarra River on 15 August 1835 and moored at what is now William St. The original ship was wrecked in 1847 on…

By David Quinn* THIS month marks 40 years since Prime Minister Gough Whitlam ran soil through the hands of Vincent Lingiari stating: “I want to acknowledge that we Australians still have much to do to redress the injustice and oppression that has for so long been the lot of Black Australians”. Whitlam then added: “This land will be the possession of you and your children forever.” In reply, with trust implicit in Whitlam’s pledge, the softly-spoken elder decreed: “Now we can all be mates”. It is now August 2015 and the question is raised – are we mates? Have we…

REAL Time Learning students at Mt Eliza Secondary College have been working with Mornington Men’s Shed members to build homes for microbats. Teacher Narelle Debenham said microbats –hibernating for winter – were an important part of the ecosystem. The bat range from being about the size of a 10 cent coin to that of a small mouse. Microbats eat pest insects, including lawn grub moths, weevils, beetles, midges, flying termites and mosquitos. But competition from birds, possums and gliders, along with the clearing of many old trees, has meant their habitat is scarce. Eleven year 7 students joined five shed…

ANYONE wanting to learn about the shire’s community support, creative communities and flexi grants – as well as the application process – can attend an information session 6.30-8.30pm, Wednesday 19 August at the shire’s Rosebud office. Not-for-profit community organisations can seek grants to help with community-led projects as can organisations that enhance community services and support, volunteering and community participation, including arts and cultural programs and activities. The community support grants of up to $5000 are for projects that support the health and wellbeing of local communities. Applications close 5pm, Monday 21 September. The creative communities grants of up to…

RUNNERS from across the peninsula are in training for the Devilbend Fun Run, Sunday 9 August – such as the Haugen family, of Moorooduc, pictured. They have been making the run an annual event for the past four years. Peder, Linley and their three children (pictured) take every opportunity to train in the Devil Bend Natural Features Reserve area, near where they live. A continuing aim of the Mornington Peninsula Athletic Club, which organises the run, is to build community involvement, family participation and encouragement of all runners – not just those at the front of the field. “The Devil…

HASTINGS FNC – By Phil Stone, club president SATURDAY was a big day for the club. Coming of a terrific result against Somerville the boys had it all at there feet and what was a great opportunity to consolidate our position in the top five. We unfortunately fell to a much more committed Red Hill outfit. Hopefully we can learn from this result and show a much more steely resolve against Tyabb FNC at Tyabb this Saturday in what now shapes up as a very important game, with only three rounds to go. A big thank you to everyone who was…

Hear Neil Diamond’s legendary Hot August Night album in its entirety – one of the best-selling albums in Australian music history – 1 in 3 homes has a copy! The show also features interesting stories about how the songs were created, and of Diamond’s dark journey from being a struggling Brooklyn poet, to becoming one of the worlds most loved performers. As well as being a celebration of Diamond’s greatest hits, Hot August Night and Me, offers its audience so much more. Performer Dominic Finley is a former member of 80s chart toppers Cutting Crew (known for their number 1…

MODEL aircraft enthusiast Daniel Arapakis finished third in the junior category and 22nd outright in the 2015 model aircraft world championships in the Czech Republic. He was competing in the Australian team which finished second in the team event among 20 participating countries and 50 pilots. The Australian team consisted of three senior pilots and one junior at the event held during the July school holidays. Daniel, of Mornington, was the youngest entrant but this didn’t stop him recording his personal best times in official practice with 56.2 seconds – one second off the world record. “I was pleased with…

Three men allegedly took 80 abalone and a rock lobster during a prolonged fishing venture at Sorrento back beach this week. The daily recreational limit for abalone is five per person, when the season is open. However the recreational abalone season is closed at present. A call from a concerned member of the public to the 13FISH reporting line alerted Mornington Fisheries Officers who watched for several hours as two of the men allegedly dived in a bay for abalone and used a kayak to transport the fish to a third man on the beach. Fisheries Officers later intercepted a…

ROTARY clubs on the Mornington Peninsula are among 1100 across Australia urging families to “have the chat” about organ and tissue donation with their loved ones and register their donation decisions during DonateLife Week. Rotary’s participation in the week was prompted by the story of Jack Wilson, grandson of one of the 21 Rotary District Governors in Australia. He was born with nephrotic syndrome, a congenital kidney disease causing lengthy hospital stays. Jack had to return to hospital initially five days each week for four-hour sessions of protein infusion, then 10 hours home dialysis every night. From three days after…

Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate Tyson Wilson. The 22 year-old Hastings man was scheduled to face the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Contravening a Community Corrections Order on 26 June 2015 but failed to appear on bail. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. Wilson is known to frequent the Hastings area. Investigators have released a photo of Wilson in the hope that someone may have information on his current whereabouts. He is described as Caucasian in appearance, with brown hair. Anyone who sees Wilson is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or…

Police have charged a woman after a quantity of cannabis and amphetamine was located during a routine intercept at a booze bus site in Mount Eliza on Thursday night. Police intercepted the vehicle on Nepean Highway at about 9.30pm and discovered the drugs and an amount of cash. The driver also returned a positive oral fluid test at the scene, which will be subject to forensic testing. A 43-year-old Bonbeach woman was charged with trafficking and possessing cannabis, possessing proceeds of crime and criminal damage. Kerry Barnhoorn faced Frankston Magistrate’s Court this morning and was further remanded until 27 July.

A MAN was lucky to avoid serious injury when his car veered of Mornington Peninsula Freeway, flipped, and ploughed into trees late Friday night. His Toyota Aurion 2006 (pictured) left the road as it was being driven south towards Dromana. A wheel was torn off and the car was extensively damaged when it crashed upside down in dense roadside vegetation. Police believe the 26-year-old driver from Dandenong may have fallen asleep before the accident, near the Bittern-Dromana Rd turn-off. Sorrento SES officer David Lammers said his crew were called to the scene at 8am Saturday “to remove some trees blocking…

A MAN ran off after snatching $1000 in notes from the register at Woolworth’s Somerville store 4.30pm Friday. Senior Constable Julia Starkey, of Hastings police, said the offender (pictured), aged in his 30s, asked the cashier to change some coins and then appeared to deliberately drop them while the cash register was open. When the cashier bent down to pick them up he allegedly reached over and grabbed a handful of notes and ran from the store. The offender was filmed on CCTV entering the store, in Eramosa Rd, several times before the heist. “He’s gone in and looked around…

FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt had an early start on Monday as he set off from the summit of Arthurs Seat for a 19-walk to raise awareness and money for autism. “It was terrific to see so many supporters turn out early in the morning to send me on my way, including children with autism and their parents,” Mr Hunt stated in a news release. He is hoping to raise $25,000 for the Abacus Learning Centre in Hastings and Amaze (Autism Victoria). Mr Hunt says he wants people in the community talk “about what they can do to support people with…

THE signing of a 50-year lease has cleared the way for the proposed $16 million Skylift gondola service at Arthurs Seat. Environment, Climate Change and Water Minister Lisa Neville yesterday (Monday) predicted the Skylift will “become a world-class tourism attraction for the Mornington Peninsula”. Parks Victoria will spend $1.5 million on car parks and “visitor facilities” to “compliment” the project. Ms Neville said construction of the gondola project was expected to start soon, “after all approvals have been received, with a proposed opening date in late 2016”. “An elevated cable ride has operated at Arthurs Seat since the early 1960s,…

INDIGENOUS artist Bob Kelly, of Rye, was named Artist of the Year at the annual NAIDOC Ball at Mornington Racecourse on Friday 3 July. The event heralded the start of NAIDOC Week, a major happening on the Indigenous calendar, with events across the country celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contributions to our way of life. This year’s theme was: “We all stand on sacred ground – learn, respect and celebrate”. Djirri Djirri dancers performed traditional dance, accompanied by the didgeridoo, before the crowd of 250. Among the guests were Mornington Peninsula mayor Cr Bev Colomb, Cr Tim Rodgers, shire…

NEPEAN LEAGUE With just six rounds before the end of the MPNFL Nepean Division season, former Devon Meadows coach and radio RPP commentator Brent Clinnick assesses the chances of the six sides still in the premiership hunt. Here is Clinnick’s views on the clubs looking to claim the 2015 Premiership. Rosebud FC Impressive. Really starting to come together Loved the balance between attack and defence versus Red Hill Midfield depth is strong, but just how much impact will the Rob Forest injury have? Also the Nick Jewell situation, what effect on the group will it have for the remainder of the…