Fighting fires was once the preserve of the blokes in the brigade, but these days it’s nothing unusual for the person on the end of the hose to be a woman.
This week the Mail catches up with some of the women of the local Castlemaine and Harcourt brigades – all longtime volunteers – to gain insights into their experiences as firies on the front line. Full story in today’s Castlemaine Mail …
Women who fight fires
Tours bring history to life
Countless intriguing stories and characters have long lain buried in Castlemaine Cemetery at Campbells Creek but now a new tour is about to bring quite few of them back to life.
Starting this month colourful local guides, miner Andrew O’Reilly (aka Castlemaine’s Andrew Le Clercq) and school mistress Miss Myrtle (aka Elphinstone’s Helen Gramberg) will lead visitors on the Saturday evening tours, introducing them to some of the remarkable people interred in the historic resting place. Catch our full story in today’s Castlemaine Mail…
Ready to race
The Camp Reserve will be a hive of activity tomorrow January 5 for the annual Castlemaine Gift twilight race meeting. See today’s Mail for the full story…
MAAW Coffee Bar opens
Mount Alexander Animal Welfare (MAAW) has unveiled its newest venture – Pause at MAAW Coffee Bar. See today’s Mail for the full story.
Time ripe to cherry pick
This Sunday is a special one out at Harcourt’s Blackwood Orchard cherry and berry farm.
Owners Colin and Suzanne Pickering are opening the gate to their Big Block with members of the public invited to come and pick their own chemical-free cherries. Full details in today’s Castlemaine Mail…
Jazz jam returns
This Sunday marks the return of the popular monthly jazz jams at Castlemaine’s Maurocco Bar.
“We’re keen to start another year of community jazz,” the jam’s co-founder Ken Turnbull says.
Founded by Ken and fellow established local muso John Hannah, five-and-a-half years ago, the monthly jams at the Maurocco have gained a staunch following, pleasing their co-founders no end.
“We can’t believe what a success it’s been,” John says. ~ Get the full story in today’s Castlemaine Mail…
MaCapella at the carols
It started with three music-loving mums getting together in Castlemaine to sing three-part harmonies.
Three years down the track MaCapella – the local a cappella singing group for mums – is clearly striking a chord, and now boasts two Castlemaine and two Bendigo branches.
Locals will get the chance to see just what it is that this unique singing group’s members enjoy about being part of MaCapella as the group is part of an impressive line-up of artists to feature at this evening’s Carols by Candlelight in Castlemaine’s Victory Park.
Equinox evokes
Local audiences will be invited to take a plunge into the unknown this March when the Castlemaine State Festival, Australia’s largest regional arts festival, presents 10 days of over 70 performance, visual arts, talks and music programs.
People can discover more about what’s in store at the public launch of the full 2019 Castlemaine State Festival program at the Castlemaine Goods Shed tomorrow, December 8. See today’s Mail for the full story.
Newshounds crowned
Last Saturday the budding reporters that took part in the 2018 Castlemaine Mail Newshounds program were recognised at a special presentation held in the foyer of the Castlemaine Library.
Castlemaine Mail journalist Donna Thomas was pleased to announce that each school in the Mount Alexander Shire participated this year and 15 completed news pages proudly supported by sponsor Don were published in the Castlemaine Mail throughout the year.
The Mail team thanks all the talented students and wonderful teachers for their efforts to make the pages possible.
The winners this year for ‘Best Overall News Coverage’, judged by the team at the Castlemaine Mail, were Maldon Primary School.
The ‘People’s Choice’ award as voted by community members at Castlemaine Library went to St Mary’s Primary School.
Other award winners were as follows:
Best sustainability Story – Chewton Primary School for its article, ‘Who’s up for seconds’ about how the reuse coffee seconds.
Best Headlines – Maldon Primary School for catchy headlines like ‘Cheeky Chooks, ‘Super Safe Supervisor’, and ‘Happy Hospital Visits’ and their great use of alliteration.
Best News Photograph – Campbells Creek Primary School for its fantastic shot of students in costume for their book week parade.
Best coverage of a national news story – Olivet Christian College, for its story about their study of WWI.
Most creative page – Taradale Primary School – Taradale provided an abundance of material and used their space well.
Best sports story – Castlemaine North Primary School – For their story titled ‘Castlemaine North strikes with hat trick!’.
Best arts and crafts feature – Castlemaine Steiner School – for their article about their craft work.
Best feature photo – Elphinstone Primary School – for their ‘Paddock to plate’ photo.
Best Poetry – Harcourt Primary School for its ‘Imagery’ poetry.
Best Short Story – Langley Primary School for ‘Olympian visits Langley’.
Best Vox Pop – Newstead Primary School for its Vox Pop on ‘If I could do anything in the world, what would it be?’
Best Overall Design – St Mary’s Primary School for its wonderful design and extensive content.
Best Feature Story – Winters Flat Primary School for ‘Camp Marysville’.
Best Science Story – Castlemaine Primary School for ‘Super Science Days.’
Best News Story – Castlemaine Secondary College – for ‘Raising Rainbows’.
The Mail team will visit local schools which missed the awards ceremony next week to present their awards.
Dogs on show
Hundreds of dogs of all shapes and sizes, and their devoted owners, are headed to Castlemaine as the Castlemaine and District Kennel Club hosts its twilight show this evening followed by its 69th annual show tomorrow.
Club Treasurer Muir Calderwood says the two championship shows, taking place at Camp Reserve, are not just a great opportunity for owners and breeders to show off their pedigreed pooches, network and catch up, but also a great chance for spectators to find out more about specific breeds. Full story in today’s Mail…
Amended offer accepted
Maintenance workers at Castlemaine’s Don KR factory this week voted to accept an amended enterprise offer from George Weston Foods and to end their series of rolling work bans and stoppages.
About 70 maintenance workers at the Castlemaine site – members of the Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union – earlier this week voted in favour of accepting the new offer from George Weston.
This followed months of negotiations and the workers’ October decision to reject an original pay and conditions offer from the company with union representatives stating that it was unacceptable, below CPI and represented an erosion of conditions. Full story in today’s Mail …
Push for park upgrade
Leafy and imposing, Newstead’s historic Memorial Park is popular among many locals and visitors passing through the town – but it’s lack of toilets and even a proper bin is holding it back say more than 370 people who have signed a petition calling for its upgrade.
They’ve presented the petition to Mount Alexander Shire Council calling on the council to install public toilets and upgrade the barbecue, seating area and playground.
With many locals using the park to walk dogs, signatories to the petition would also like to see a doggie-do bag dispenser installed and at least one proper bin as they say the park is heavily used by motorists as a break stop.
Residents had presented the petition to the council at its October meeting and at the council’s November meeting, last week, the matter came before councillors for a formal response.
