The Castlemaine Presbyterian Church held its last service at the Lyttleton Street building last Sunday, June 19.
Beginning June 26 services will be held at the Olivet Christian School, 89 Main Road, Campbells Creek for 10am Sunday Service.
A final farewell
Week one in Spencely: CHIRP moves in
Eve Lamb
After sitting vacant for about two years, the former Spencely House aged care house tucked deep into Castlemaine’s main public hospital site is again full of activity.
This time, though, it’s busy in an entirely different guise as the new permanent home for Castlemaine Community Health (CHIRP) that’s just completed its first entire week of being fully shifted into what’s now been re-invented as its custom-refurbished site.
It’s an exercise that’s involved shifting all of its 25 or so staff – plus all of its services and programs – ranging from housing and family services to exercise physiology to the new location at 142 Cornish Street.
And if there was one message that CHIRP’s Healthy Communities and Social Support Services director, Grant Hamilton, was keen to convey when the Mail visited to record the first-week milestone in residence, it’s that all of the CHIRP programs and services remain otherwise unchanged.
“No services have ceased,” he said.
“They’re all now… Read more in today’s Mail
Big weekend of art and all that jazz…
Eve Lamb
Strong results for both the Castlemaine Jazz Festival and the town’s Rotary Art Festival over the Queen’s Birthday weekend auger well for the future of both.
Particularly strong sales of art works and visitations to the town hall art show venue over the weekend have delighted organisers of the annual Rotary Art Show.
“It’s been fabulous,” one of the art show’s committee coordinators, Robert Cordy said.
“Everything was up on pre-pandemic levels. All up some 1500 people of all ages attended the show.
“We hope to have raised around $15,000 for Rotary’s ongoing local and international charity work,” fellow art show committee coordinator Judy Kinnersley said.
For the jazz festival organisers there had been some anxiety over sluggish ticket sales in the lead up to the event’s post-COVID return as music gigs state-wide contend with niche challenges of getting back on track after two years of pandemic impacts on the sector.
But in the end, the musos – about 196 of them all up – and the jazz lovers came to the party in sufficient number and energy to have organisers breathing a sigh of relief and already planning for next year’s.
“It’s really exciting to see there is still a place for the jazz festival in Castlemaine and a future for the festival in Castlemaine,” Jazz Festival director Calum McClure told the Mail, post event.
“I think it … Read more in today’s Mail
Project Hope hosts free horse event
Eve Lamb
Often it’s not intentional cruelty that leads to the suffering of horses, but simply ignorance of their basic needs, says Julia Murray.
The results, though, can be horrific adds the Castlemaine local who is a staunch member of Project Hope Horse Welfare Victoria which dedicates itself to ensuring our equestrian friends have happy, pain-free lives.
The group has members state-wide and Ms Murray is keen to encourage more Castlemaine area residents to learn more about what it does, and possibly sign up as members.
Right now she’s also encouraging all local horse owners – and anyone else who’s interested – to trot along to a special free equine safety session the group is hosting tomorrow, Saturday June 18, near Ballarat
Tomorrow’s free ‘Safety Awareness Training Around Horses’ session is being presented by equine veterinarian Dr Lesley Hawson and Ms Murray says it’s a great chance for all horse and pony owners in central Victoria.
“It’s a free event supported by Animal Welfare Victoria,” she says.
“Dr Lesley Hawson has a wealth of … Read more in today’s Mail
$125,000 funding boost for Victorian Goldfields Railway
Victorian Goldfields Railway (VGR) is steaming ahead with plans for the next stage of its infrastructure works thanks to a $125,136 grant towards strategic planning.
Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards visited the VGR yards at Castlemaine on Wednesday to announce that the non-for-profit volunteer organisation had won funding from the ‘Enabling Tourism Fund’ towards the final planning stages for the heritage steam train linking the historic gold mining towns of Castlemaine and Maldon.
The announcement comes just days after Ms Edwards announced $120,000 in funding to assist the Castlemaine-Maryborough Rail Trail with crucial planning.
Ms Edwards said VGR is an icon for Central Victoria and the government are continuing to invest in improving our tourism drawcards for the region.
“We’re providing the foundations for investments that will grow tourism and create jobs across the state,” she said.
“We know how well loved the railway is by the communities of Castlemaine and Maldon. This funding will enable you to do the work that’s required to build on what you already have here and look at expanding the project,” she said. See the Mail for the full story…
50 year milestone for Wayne
Don KR Castlemaine employee Wayne Dennis recently celebrated 50 years of service at the long running Castlemaine institution.
Wayne told the Mail he was just 15 when he started at the original old 1905 factory site in Richards Road.
“I applied on May 31 and started the next day on June 1, 1972. I began on day shift packing those triangle shaped leg ham tins that many people will remember,” he says.
“Within a few months I moved on to the boning and trimming department and I ended up there for 30 years!” Wayne said.
Wayne has seen a lot of changes and a lot of faces come and go over the years.
“When I started out it was the Castlemaine Bacon Company Ltd, then it became Castle Bacon, then KR Castlemaine and now Don,” he said.
He was chuffed to receive a handwritten letter of congratulations from George Western III himself and various letters of acknowledgement from across the company. See the Mail for the full story…
MAIN Game fundraiser kicks goals
There’s no doubt about it. Footy brings people together. And Sunday’s MAIN Game was no exception.
There was a wonderful community spirit amongst the 300+ crowd as they cheered on the Rockatoos and the Radio Galahs at the historic Camp Reserve in Castlemaine for MainFM’s annual footy match fundraiser.
The game didn’t disappoint, with both teams going head to head for a close finish. Reubin Williams from the Rockatoos sealed the deal with a set shot in the last quarter to win by 10 points, the first victory for the side since both teams first met in 2018. See the Mail for more images from the event.
Lisa Mitchell to hold album launch at historic Theatre Royal
Australian singer-songwriter Lisa Mitchell is set to appear at the iconic Theatre Royal Castlemaine on Thursday June 30 as part of her latest album tour.
Mitchell has just released her new single titled Let Your Body, alongside her highly anticipated fourth studio album ‘A Place To Fall Apart’ via Believe.
The album is a glorious and heartrending tribute to what it means to be alive and learning in the world, having been old enough to feel its bruises and heartbreaks, but also be at the beginning of understanding our own individual insignificance within it.
Accompanied by her beguiling melodies and hushed tones, the lyrics within the album are deeply introspective and impactful, written in the thick of the first year of a global pandemic that forced everyone’s lives and spheres to become very small and very still. See the Mount Alexander Living section of today’s Mail for more…
‘Get Together’ to say farewell to the Village Square
Mount Alexander Shire Council is bidding a fond farewell to the Village Square with one last hurrah ‘Get Together’ this Saturday June 18.
The community is invited to join them for a ‘farewell’ smoking ceremony with Dja Dja Wurrung Elder Uncle Rick Nelson before free and family-friendly entertainment including DJs and live music commences at 6pm along Mechanics Lane and at the Phee Broadway Theatre precinct.
This event is also set to help launch the next stage of the Get Lost platform – a website established in 2020 as a place for the shire’s creative community to collaborate, exchange ideas and share content. See the Mail for all the details.
Covid vaccination and testing clinics to close
Castlemaine Health announced this week that its COVID-19 Vaccination and COVID Testing Clinics are set to close this month.
The final day for COVID Vaccinations at the Castlemaine Health based clinic will be Wednesday June 22.
The final day of testing at the drive through Testing Clinic at Wesley Hill Stadium will be Thursday June 16.
Closure of the clinics will enable staff to move back into frontline nursing roles to support the healthcare system.
Castlemaine Health Vaccination and Testing nurse unit manager Shelley Leathem said the local vaccination clinic has played a vital role in our local COVID-19 response and greatly contributed to the high vaccination rates in our shire.
“More than 95 per cent of eligible residents in Mount Alexander Shire have already received their two primary COVID vaccine doses and more than 82 per cent of those aged 16 and over are up-to-date with their booster. We are pleased with the results and feel we have significantly contributed to the safety of the community,” Ms Leathem said. See the Mail for more…
Bust honour for Felix
A bronze bust has been created to honour the late Felix Cappy OAM and will be unveiled in a special event at the Castlemaine Art Museum (CAM) next month.
Felix Cappy was a man who had a great passion and love for the town he grew up in – Castlemaine. He worked tirelessly to preserve its history and goldfields heritage.
This included working to prevent the demolition of several historic buildings including the Former Court House, Chewton Town Hall and Castlemaine Market Building.
The market was in a very poor state of disrepair. Together with his hardworking restoration committee including John Holland, Peggy Smith and many more they raised the necessary funds to restore and preserve this iconic building which is now home to the Castlemaine Information Centre and a real drawcard for the region. See the Mail for more…
Celebrating our women tradies
Eve Lamb
Right now, the foyer of Castlemaine’s Vintage Bazaar at The Mill has a sturdy lineup of women wielding power tools.
Fortunately, the auditory impact is minimal as the women in question are all the photographic subjects of award-winning sharp shooter, Zo Damage, known to many for her work photographing rock stars – often from a mosh pit perspective.
Here however, Damage has applied her talent for powerful image-making to celebrating and acknowledging local women who have chosen to shoulder those trades more traditionally regarded as the bastion of their brothers.
Shoulder to shoulder in her black and white images, here, are women sparkies, mechanics, builders and jills of all trades.
Launched earlier this week, the new Women in Trades exhibition is the result of a partnership between Damage, HALT (Hope Assistance Local Tradies) and Women’s Health Loddon Mallee.
“It makes me feel proud to be part of this group of 12 women,” says one of the central Victorian tradeswomen featured, Jaxx Irwin of Daisy Hill.
“I started my engineering as a navy engineer 20 years ago,” Jaxx told the Mail during… Read more in the Mail
