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Felt Forward

By
Lisa Dennis
-

One of Castlemaine’s newest imports, talented artist, teacher and author Catherine O’Leary has recently launched her latest book on the art of feltmaking Felt Forward – New Technologies in Feltmaking.


The former Melbourne artist’s favoured medium is a niche but worldwide ancient art form.
Catherine has been pursuing a passion for feltmaking for more than 30 years and is now at the forefront of developments in the art internationally.
Catherine has previously published a title on the subject From Felt to Fabric through publisher Lark Books in the USA in 2011.


This led to opportunities to teach and to present at schools, workshops and events all over the world including throughout Australia and the USA, England, Wales, Ireland, The Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea.


During that time she has been continuing to hone and master her craft and is excited to be able to share all she has discovered in her self published new title Felt Forward. See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.

New initiative to support our artists

By
Lisa Dennis
-

Mount Alexander Shire Council is proud to announce the launch of a community driven project called Get Lost to showcase local creatives and is calling on artists, community, the creative sector and investors to get involved. 


Mount Alexander Shire Council’s cultural development officer Vicki Anderson said creative minds across Jaara Country have been collaborating to explore new ways to finance, make and share creative work. 

Ms Anderson said the Get Lost project, launched Tuesday, includes a creative and innovative online platform for makers and creators to collaborate, exchange ideas and share content.


“It also includes a grants program to kick start and generate content development and a philanthropic fund to establish the vital funds needed to support our creatives into the future. 


“This exciting initiative was developed in partnership with the local creative workforce and the timeline has been rapidly accelerated due to COVID-19,” she said.  See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.

Double delight

By
Lisa Dennis
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Castlemaine Library will build an all new ‘Community Meeting Room’ and the Castlemaine State Festival’s Good Shed Arts Digital Media Program is set to receive a boost to its ‘Digital Goods’ initiative thanks to an injection of funds from the state government.

Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards visited Castlemaine on Tuesday to announce that the two local projects were among 29 successful initiatives to receive funding support under the Victorian Government’s Stronger Regional Communities Program. 
The Stronger Regional Communities Program is designed to support community-led projects that make regional Victoria a better place to live, work and visit. 


Castlemaine Library is set to receive $44, 151 towards its new Community Room and Co-Working Space.
The Digital Goods: Goods Shed Arts Digital Media Program will receive $50,000. See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.

Calls for Barker St Crossing

By
Eve Lamb
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Some of the Castlemaine residents concerned about pedestrian safety at the Barker Street-Parker Street intersection with mayor Cr Christine Henderson (second from right) on site this week. Photo: Eve Lamb

A new pedestrian crossing is planned for Castlemaine’s Barker Street after residents lobbied the council complaining that the main thoroughfare’s busy intersection with Parker Street is unsafe.
Some 180 local residents signed a petition calling for a pedestrian safety crossing, or island, to be installed at the busy intersection that is a main turnoff to
several Castlemaine attractions including the botanical gardens and Mill complex.
Now it looks as though their calls are being heard with $500,000 in Mount Alexander Shire Council’s newly proposed 2020-21 budget earmarked for a pedestrian crossing.
A number of residents this week told the Mail they are worried the Barker Street-Parker Street intersection is an accident waiting to happen with pedestrians unable to properly see approaching cars due to the lay of the land at that point.
“Definitely something needs to be done,” said one petition supporter, local resident Silvana Messing.
“Crossing here is very dangerous,” another, Julia Scoglio, said.
Another, Mary Fairburn, said she was keen to also see the speed limit reduced on this section of Barker Street.
“It should be dropped from 60km to 50km,” she said.
Mayor Cr Christine Henderson met and spoke with residents at the busy intersection earlier this week after the matter was again discussed around the council table at the council’s June meeting last week.
Cr Henderson noted that the council has recently received $1.1 million in federal economic stimulus funding for local roads and infrastructure and that $500,000 of that sum is now earmarked in the newly proposed budget for a pedestrian crossing.
“Regional Roads Victoria has already done a design for a crossing,” Cr Henderson said.
“We’ve been trying to find a grant to build a crossing for quite a few years so this is a beautiful opportunity to build a crossing that is essential before there is a horrible accident.”
The Mail now understands that while it’s expected the build will be able to happen next year it’s most likely to be positioned just a little south of the Parker Street intersection – closer to the nearby Castlemaine North Primary School.

Tickled Pink!

By
Lisa Dennis
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Touched by the plight of customers and friends impacted by breast cancer, Castlemaine hairdresser Gabrielle Bertoni-Marshall of Mostyn Street salon Tu To Per Te Hairstylists recently pledged to shave her head to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF). 


Gabrielle’s team members at Tu To Per Te also pledged to wear pink or colour their hair pink for the cause and are absolutely thrilled to report they have absolutely smashed their modest fundraising goal.
Gabrielle, who sacrificed her locks on Monday June 8, said she had initially hoped to raise $1000.


“I thought I might make $500, but as of Wednesday this week we have almost quadrupled our goal raising $3730 and the donations keep pouring in. It’s just fantastic!” Gabrielle said. See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.

Tune in!

By
Lisa Dennis
-

MAINfm’s week long Radiothon fundraiser event kicks off Saturday June 20, with popular program Star Spangled Bangers broadcasting live from the MAINfm studios. 
Joining the program from ‘The Taproom’ at Shedshaker Brewing at 7.30pm will be Castlemaine’s renowned PubSing group. Choir leaders Doug Falconer, Briony Phillips and Steph Carson (pictured) will lead the Pubsing faithful in a special virtual choir performance of radiothon theme ‘Here Comes the Sun’.

To find out how to get involved visit mainfm.net or see the PubSing Castlemaine Facebook page.

Creek Remembers

By
Lisa Dennis
-

2020 marks 30 years since the Campbells Creek Football Netball Club made the history books with a legendary 100 goal haul against Primrose Football Club in the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football League (MCDFNL) on June 23, 1990.


While the Coronavirus pandemic has put a halt on Creek’s 30th anniversary celebrations, planned for next week, the club is extremely proud to still retain its Guinness World Record for the highest score kicked in an Aussie Rules game three decades after that fateful day.


The club’s senior team booted a staggering 100 goals and 34 points to score a massive total of 634 points and register a 616 point victory rival Primrose 3-9 (18). 
The effort saw 16 goal kickers in the 20 man squad contribute to the score.
Campbells Creek FNC secretary Marg Stevens said they while they are disappointed they can’t follow up their 10 year and 20 year reunions with a 30 year event, it is still a feat they can be incredibly proud of.


Campbells Creek also held second spot on the Top 10 Highest Scores list up until 2019 when Greater Western FNC knocked them down to third position.
“It’s pretty amazing to still hold two spots in the top 10,” Stevens said. See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.

Take the first step

By
Lisa Dennis
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This week is Men’s Health Week (June 15-21) and HALT (Hope Assistance Local Tradies) suicide prevention charity founder Jeremy Forbes is urging local men to put their health at the forefront and seek help if they need it. 
Jeremy said it is important men look after their mental, physical and financial health and reach out to seek assistance if they need it.


“Every week is Men’s Health Week in my view. But this is a great opportunity to highlight the importance of looking after yourself and taking that first step towards reclaiming your health,” Forbes said.


“Some people have been battling with their physical health since being in lockdown – they may not have been exercising or they may have been drinking too much, some may be struggling mentally and others may be stressing about their finances if they have lost their job due to Covid or their business has faced a downturn,” he said.


“There is plenty of help at hand so I urge you to reach out and if you are worried about your mate, spouse or partner start a conversation. See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.

Getting the good oil

By
Eve Lamb
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Julie Patey in the freshly harvested Gough's Range olive grove at Welshmans Reef. Photo Eve Lamb.

Harvest is now in full swing for the region’s olive growers and processors with demand recording a promising upwards trajectory.
Helped by a small team of workers, Julie Patey and her husband Duncan McGinty have spent recent weeks hard at work harvesting olives from the 1000 trees on their chemical-free dry land grove at Welshmans Reef.
In a big shed overlooking their trees, their medium sized commercial oil processor is humming with industry as it processes the good oil from their own olives and many more brought in from other groves spanning an area from Ballan to Avoca.
“The interest in Australian olive oil and central Victorian olive oil is on the increase hugely,” Julie says.
“And with this coronavirus we might even find sales might go up because public consciousness has shifted to buying locally and buying fresh.”
Goughs Range Olives usually market their own oil and cured table olives at farmers markets but Julie says the virus shutdowns hit their sales from this source hard.
“Many farmers markets stopped – Castlemaine’s being an exception – and we probably dropped our sales from 50 to 75 per cent,” she says, as farmers markets begin to resume again.
“But we swung to deliveries to homes and we sold and delivered to our customers in Bendigo, Castlemaine and Maldon and our customers have been quite wonderful,” Julie told the Mail, grove-side as she took a quick breather from the busy harvest.
“The positives were our customers still got their oil and we home delivered to their gate which was really nice.”
“We harvest probably five tonne from our own grove here and we process probably around 5000 litres of oil all up from the groves we manage and in addition to that we process for other growers who bring their olives to us from groves in Ballan, Gisborne and Avoca.”
“So far the harvest is going really well. Usually there’s breakdowns, and weather…”
They also process olives from groves at nearby Baringhup and from Harcourt where harvesting has been in full swing this week – and is looking particularly strong this year.

‘Doozy’ of a budget: pandemic impacts council coffers

By
Eve Lamb
-

A two per cent average rate rise and a Covid-driven deficit look likely after Mount Alexander Shire Council this week voted to put the latest proposed version of its 20-21 budget out for public feedback.
The impacts of COVID-19 reverberate through this newly proposed $45.9 million budget, the result of rapid amendment to the council’s original draft budget in the wake of COVID-19 and its unprecedented impacts.
$11.74 million in capital works expenditure, boosted investment in tourism destination marketing, support for local section 86 committees to manage local sports facilities and reserves, and the waiving of certain registration and permit fees are all features of the virus-amended document.
“This was a doozy of a budget. We almost had it finished then Covid came along and blew it out of the water,” Cr Stephen Gardner said at Tuesday night’s meeting.
While the new document factors in a $3.4 million deficit – several councillors were at pains to point out that this figure appears misleadingly largely due to its inclusion of $2.75 million in Victorian Grants Commission funding – to be spent in the 20-21 financial year – having been already officially received this financial year.
“Don’t get hung up on the deficit because it’s partly a false deficit and partly a real deficit caused by our need to spend to get our shire working again,” Cr Bronwen Machin said.
Outside the meeting, Mayor Cr Christine Henderson also told the Mail that the $2.75 million which appears as part of an overall $3.4 million deficit in the proposed 20-21 budget is money the council has actually already recorded as receiving via the Victorian Grants Commission this financial year – while the balance of the deficit is earmarked on spend to help the shire recover from pandemic fallout.
Cr Dave Petrusma mentioned recent reports that some members of the public had been abusing council staff due to their personal anger over anticipated civic finances.
He and other councillors encouraged struggling ratepayers to make use of the financial hardship policy that the council has instated to support pandemic-impacted struggling ratepayers, residents, businesses and community groups.
“Ringing up and abusing our office staff is not the appropriate way to deal with it,” Cr Petrusma said, also urging those who take issue with the new proposed budget to make a submission.
The council will now advertise the new budget, will receive submissions up to 5pm on July 15 and will hear verbal submissions at an online meeting scheduled for July 28.
Local councillors will then be tasked with deciding whether to adopt the new budget at the ordinary council meeting on August 18.

Brew to benefit enviro

By
Eve Lamb
-
Shedshaker's Jacqueline Brodie-Hanns is encouraging beer appreciators to grab a brew and support the environment following the launch of a special initiative on World Environment Day. Photo: Eve Lamb

A Castlemaine brewery is encouraging locals to grab a beer to support the environment.
Last Friday – World Environment Day – Castlemaine’s local Shedshaker brewery announced that throughout June it’s joining forces with Cassinia Environmental in an initiative to benefit the environment.
“We are really very excited to support Cassinia who are a revegetation organisation, working all throughout the country, primarily in Victoria,” Shedshaker’s Jacqueline Brodie-Hanns says.
“We have joined a program where, if you buy a beer they will plant a tree.
“So $3 from the purchase of a pint or a six-pack and $6 from the purchase of a slab of beer will directly go to plant trees and help revegetate. They’re really beautiful projects that they’re doing including some local ones at Glenhope and Baynton.
“We’re hoping to also brew a dedicated beer and we will donate money from sales of that beer as well.
“So we’re looking at various native plants that complement beer and looking at potentially including some of those elements into a beer.
“There are a lot of Australian native plants that will complement beer. We’re hoping we might do that closer to spring. We’ll be experimenting with it over winter.”
Jacqueline says the local business with its Taproom venue, has had to innovate as a response to the COVID-19 crisis, having lost a significant portion of its revenue due to restrictions imposed in response to the pandemic.
“It has been unrelenting because we’ve kept eight staff members on and because they haven’t been able to do their normal jobs we’ve had to be innovative with their work,” the local brewer says.
Switching some of the Taproom’s regular events like the popular PubSing online, and upping Shedshaker’s presence at farmers markets across the wider region has been part of the way the business has had to quickly adjust.
“We’re very resilient and we’re very positive,” says Jacqueline, noting also that government initiatives, including JobKeeper, have played a big part in keeping her business going.
Now, with restrictions easing in recent days their popular Taproom venue has finally been able to start welcoming back patrons – albeit with limits such as 20 at any one time permitted inside.
But Jacqueline says they’re already optimistically planning for a strong comeback to hosting live music again.
“We’re hoping to get live music back in August starting with a showcase of local musicians,” she says

Locals celebrate library reopening

By
Lisa Dennis
-

Castlemaine Library re-opened its doors to the public on Tuesday this week and long time library user Ritchie Jones was the first through the door!
Castlemaine librarian and Humans of Castlemaine Library Facebook page curator Marion Yates said Ritchie has been coming to the library every week since he was 14 years old. He’s now 87. That’s a solid 73 years of library use! See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.

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