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Local businesses celebrated

By
Castlemaine Mail
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Don Smallgoods David Harris is pictured with ‘Business of the Year’ representative Brendan Hales of Fumina Projects. Photo: Penny Ryan Photography.

Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal was packed on Wednesday evening with more than 130 business representatives from across the shire gathering for the 2023 Mount Alexander Business Awards.

The biennial awards celebrate business excellence and innovation and the vital role that our small businesses play employing and training local community members and offering a myriad of wonderful goods and services which make the Mount Alexander Shire such a special place to live.

The crowd was welcomed by Mayor Cr Rosie Annear who said the variety of businesses that we have in our small shire is nothing short of impressive.

“We’ve got it all from retail, hospitality and tourism, to manufacturing and IT, and health and wellbeing services, we don’t need to go anywhere else.

“Winner or not, you are an incredible bunch of generous people who enrich our community in so many ways,” Mayor Annear said.

This year’s award categories were ‘reimagined’ to create greater diversity and two new awards were added the Lifetime Achievement Award and the People’s Choice Award.

Congratulations to the category winners of the 2023 Mount Alexander Business Awards which were:

Community Focused – Castlemaine Institute

Creative Marketing – Warral Maldon

Diverse and Inclusive – Trace Balla

Environmental Impact – Fumina Projects

Innovative Service or Product – BIG4 Castlemaine Gardens Holiday Park

New Business – Maldon Bakery

Young Achiever – Matthew Thompson from Sandy Creek Clydesdales

The winners were chosen by an independent judging panel who considered the 21 finalists chosen from an initial 63 entries. 

There were more than 500 public votes for the People’s Choice category which was taken out by Sandy Creek Clydesdales.

Respected local businessman, co-founder of Graffiti Publications and Castlemaine Hot Rod Centre chairman Larry O’Toole was recognised posthumously with the Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Larry’s longtime friends Rod and Carol Hadfield shared a beautiful tribute to the late businessman before presenting the award to Larry’s wife Mary and their children.

The award acknowledges Larry as a local business leader who made a significant impact on the business community through his work promoting the hot rod industry across the shire.

Finally the ‘2023 Business of the Year’ award and $3000 major prize was presented to Fumina Projects – the team behind The Hub and The Paddock Eco Village – and proudly accepted by Brendan Hales on behalf of the driving forces behind this inspiring local project Neil and Heather Barrett.

The Mount Alexander Business Awards are run by Mount Alexander Shire Council with the support of many wonderful sponsors and partners.

Gold Sponsors include Don Smallgoods, along with Gold Media Partner Midland Express and Castlemaine Mail.

Silver Sponsors include Workspace Australia, Maldon and District Community Bank, Lascorp, RMG and Castlemaine Rotary Club, along with Silver Media Partner Tarrangower Times.

Bronze Sponsors include Westvic Staffing Solutions and nbn Local, along with valued partners Castlemaine Hot Rod Centre, Business Mount Alexander and Maldon Inc.

For more information about the Mount Alexander Business Award winners and finalists visit www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/BusinessAwards2023.

Celebrating 70 years

By
Castlemaine Mail
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Castlemaine Highland Pipe Band will celebrate its 70th Anniversary at the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens rotunda this Sunday November 19.

The beloved local band will be joined in the celebrations by their friends from the Golden City Pipe Band, Daylesford Pipe Band, Bendigo Highland Pipe Band and Thompson’s Foundry Band.

There will also be Scottish Country Dancing, a Highland dancer, a traditional haggis ceremony and more from 1pm. Entry is free and the band would love to see past and present members and the wider community there.
Photo: Lisa Dennis

MainFM wins at national awards

By
Castlemaine Mail
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MainFM Station Manager Steph Riddel is pictured with one of the station’s two Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Awards.

Castlemaine radio station 94.9 MainFM has picked up two trophies at the recent Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Awards in Adelaide!  The CBAA is the national industry body that cha...

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Local Faces, Local Places – November 17, 2023

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Castlemaine Mail
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5. Dot Farley, Val Penrose and Marg Hansford catch up at the Remembrance Day morning tea.

If you’ve recently celebrated a wedding, birthday milestone, special event or welcomed a new bub we’d love to feature your photo here. Just email your picture and caption to our Editor Lisa Dennis at ...

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Castlemaine pennant bowlers find form

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Castlemaine Mail
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Castlemaine’s Division 3 and 6 Weekend Pennant sides had good wins at home against Golden Square and Marong. Photo: Max Lesser.

After four weeks into the Pennant Season, Weekend Pennant is starting to fall into place for the Castlemaine bowlers. Division 1 are third on the ladder, Division 3 are fourth and Division 6 are on to...

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Colour My World

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Castlemaine Mail
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Viv Pells is pictured with two of her favourite works of the Blue Mountains.

Sutton Grange artist Vivien Pells latest exhibition Colour My World has recently been unveiled in the gallery space at Grist Bakery at Wesley Hill. The exhibition is a retrospective featuring landscap...

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Good scores with the bat in CDCA

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Castlemaine Mail
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Castlemaine United’s A Reserve side dismissed North Castlemaine for 8-160 at the Camp Reserve and wasted no time chasing down the target. Photo: Max Lesser.

Castlemaine District Cricket Association A Grade and A Reserve sides contested one day matches in round five action on Saturday, B Grade contested one day matches in round four and C Grade (Under 16) ...

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Buda’s Traditional Arts Fair

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Castlemaine Mail
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Fair participants (L-R) Alice Taylor - Peppercorn Products, Rosemary Pamic - Squirrel Gully Saffron, Buda volunteers Pat Grumont and Judy Eastwood, Keith Wiltshire and Nancye Canobie - Canobio Bespoke Hatters. Photo: Jade Jungwirth.

 Buda Historic Home & Garden is once again hosting its popular Traditional Arts Fair on Sunday November 19.  Set amongst the spectacular spring garden Buda will showcase traditional arts...

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‘The missing middle’ of the housing crisis

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Castlemaine Mail
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A huge number of people attended the ‘Reimagining My House, Our Home’ resident-led housing workshop at the Northern Arts Hotel on Wednesday.

The Northern Arts Hotel had a full-house on Wednesday as people came together to participate in the Resident-led Housing Workshop as part of Castlemaine Free University's monthly events.  Mount A...

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Campbells Creek man wins $93,000

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Castlemaine Mail
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A Campbells Creek man has confessed it feels like he’s experienced déjà vu having won $93,000 in a recent Keno draw only a year after winning division one in another lottery game.  The local resi...

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Daylesford accident investigation continues

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Castlemaine Mail
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A BMW SUV was involved in a horror fatal collision at Daylesford on Sunday.

Major Collision Investigation Unit (MCIU) detectives continue to investigate a fatal collision at Daylesford on Sunday that claimed the lives of three adults and two children. Emergency services were ...

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My Castlemaine with painter Ned Middleton

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Castlemaine Mail
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Hi Ned, you are a well-known local artist. Can you tell us a little about your journey as a painter? 

I started painting at school. I’ve been working with Tobias Richardson at Lot 19 for the past three years. It’s the most fun part of my week. 

He’s taught me how to do things in the right spot and how to hold the brush right. My painting are bigger now and more complex, like the one from the film clip, Welcome to the Jungle. 

Toby and I like lots of music; like rock from the 60s to the 90s, and I like painting famous musicians like the Spice Girls. 

People ask me to paint for them, like James who makes coffee at the train station, he asked me to paint David Bowie. I painted The KLF too and sold it to Dan Kelly, who is the nephew of Paul Kelly and a musician. 

You’ve had two exhibitions of your work in 2022 and 2023 didn’t you? 

One at Lot 19 called the Big Reveal and one at the Taproom called Revolution of Music. I sold a lot of paintings and I’m having another one in January next year in the library foyer. 

Your house is full of your incredible paintings, including one of Britney Spears and another of a scene from Bollywood. There’s also a lot of medals hanging in your front window. Can you tell us about those? 

I did my certificate two at the Seven Turns Studio in Bendigo, which is closed now, and I danced with Emotion 21 for three years and won medals. I went to India in 2016 with my mum and a dance crew from Melbourne. I’m really flexible. I was born that way. I can do the splits and put my leg over my head. 

And you’ve worked at the Taproom for two years now? 

On Tuesdays it’s bottling day and there’s a conga line of beer bottles. You have to be careful they don’t fall off. On Fridays I work in the kitchen preparing food. 

You also have a show on Main FM with Able Radio on Fridays at 1pm. What’s the show about? 

Jakob and I do that on Wednesdays. We talk about movies, songs and bands. The last film we talked about was Barbie and we did a bunch of films called Home Alone. And I’m doing special show with Simon about my favorite show in the world, Glee. It’s called Songs In the Key of Glee. 

You moved to Castlemaine when you were 11 and went to Castlemaine North, Winters Flat, Steiner and spent the last two years at Bendigo Senior. What were you like at school? 

I got into a little bit of mischief, hiding things. 

And you’ve been living independently since you were 21 years old, first in a flat in the backyard at your mum’s and then with housemates. How old are you now? 

28. 

What other interests do you have? 

I like Doctor Who and I play drums and keyboard. 

What sort of music do you like listening to? 

There’s a lot. I like David Guetta and the Black Eyed Peas. I’d like to see them both in concert but not together. I’ve seen Pseudo Echo at the Theatre Royal with my support worker, Jakob, and I’ve seen Jessica Mauboy and I met Christine Anu in 2011. 

Who would your dream dinner guests be? 

I’d like to have a girlfriend. Paula Abdul, Britney Spears, Shakira, Selena Gomez. I could talk about Aboriginal stuff with Christina Anu and Jessica Mauboy.

Guns and Roses by Ned Middleton.
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