HEALTHCARE services need to plan for a rise in pancreatic cancer, Peninsula Health’s Endoscopy boss Dr Leon Fisher has warned. His warning coincides with this week’s launch of the 2015 cancer appeal to buy the $500,000 cancer detecting machine. “An endoscopic ultrasound and endoscopic bronchial ultrasound machine is a critical piece of equipment for diagnosing and treating a range of cancers,” Dr Fisher said. “Currently, local residents must travel outside our catchment zone to access diagnostic services for pancreatic cancer and are often put on long waiting lists. “We have CT scanners, MRI scanners, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy … everything…
Day: May 18, 2015
A NAME synonymous with spectacular fireworks displays all over the world has its Victorian base at Balnarring. Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics – one of the country’s best-known fireworks artists and producers – is run locally by master pyro-technician Rusty Johnson. The designer and programmer uses advanced digital pyrotechnic and musical software to bring his vivid imagination to life. “Our state-of-the-art computer firing system and design software enables our performances to be choreographed with music and all multimedia. As well, the use of special computer firing hardware allows fireworks to be fired from an unlimited number of locations to produce the…
RATEPAYERS are again being asked for their views on the shire’s waste recovery plan as pressure is said to be growing on the landfill at Rye, predicted in some Mornington Peninsula Shire reports to be full in two years or less. The current draft ̔Municipal Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy’ follows several previous similar documents, including the 2009 ̔Municipal Waste Management Strategy’ and a proposal in 2013 following the Environment Protection Authority’s refusal for a tip at the old Pioneer quarry on the Arthurs Seat escarpment. The new community consultation was approved by councillors at the 11 May meeting. It…
AUSTRALIAN squash legend Geoff Hunt brought his skills and coaching abilities to the Tonic squash courts and gym, Dromana, last week. Now 68 and retired and with an MBE for his services to the sport – Hunt is widely regarded as one of the greatest squash players in history, having been ranked world number one 1975-1980. He won the World Open title four times. Accompanying him to Dromana was Qatar champion Abdulla Al Tamimi, who took part in coaching sessions at the club in Collins Rd. Hunt was a senior Australian Institute of Sport coach for several years before moving…
NEPEAN LEAGUE HASTINGS dropped from second place on the Nepean Division leader to fourth after being overrun by Somerville on Saturday. It was the first loss of the season for the Blues and once again highlighted how close the top teams of the competition were. After trailing by 14 points and being kept goalless in the opening term, the home side hit back in the second and led by seven points at the main interval. Luke Clark, who finished the afternoon with five majors, started to get his hands on it in attack and Josh Mulheron began to get on…
PENINSULA LEAGUE PINES continued its slide down the Peninsula Division ladder after copping a hiding at the hands of Frankston YCW on Saturday. The Pythons started the year in superb fashion and won its opening four games of the season, however, it is starting to realise that the powerhouses of the competition have a little more to offer. Mornington was able to touch the Pythons up last week and it was Frankston YCW’s turn to give them a bit of stick on Saturday. Coming off a loss against Langwarrin the previous week, the Stonecats again started slowly in their match…
INTERLEAGUE FORMER Richmond, North Melbourne and West Coast Eagles forward Aaron Edwards has cut short his Bali holiday so that he can represent his league at the country championships this weekend. Edwards had organised to go to Bali for a week, leaving last Sunday straight after the game against Frankston YCW, return on Saturday morning to play against Ovens and Murray. However, upon hearing that the team was travelling together by bus to Albury on Friday, Edwards rearranged his flights to ensure that he could join the team on the bus. Peninsula Division chairman of selectors, John Hynes, who played…
The secretary of the Frankston Football Club acknowledges with thanks a donation of £1 1s from Mr Booth. *** Mr S. S. Price, dentist, of Melbourne, wishes it known that he will attend at Garroods’ Hotel, Frankston, this week-end, for the convenience of those who may wish to consult him. *** Three of Miss O. Sherlock’s pupils were successful in the musical examinations for May, held by the Musical Society of Victoria. Among the names of the students who have passed are: Honors in piano, Pass in Theory, Willmott Croskell. Pass in Piano, Dorothea Thornell, and Florence Vines. *** The…
THE sorry saga of the destruction of Portsea’s front beach continues with further damage being done during last week’s windy weather and rough seas. The extent of the erosion is increasing with ocean-like waves now also pounding either side of the sandbag wall, or revetment, installed by the state government in late 2010 at a cost of more than $1 million after the beach and foredune started being swept away in 2009. Last week’s waves removed thousands of tonnes of sand and foredune from the eastern end of the beach, exposing the roots of old trees as well as rocks…
THE shire council has released a draft management plan for Safety Beach foreshore that will guide its use over the next 15 years. But Safety Beach Foreshore Landscape Committee is concerned replanting work it had done since 1999 could be removed to enable car parking areas to be sealed and marked. Committee president Tom McCullough said that according to the draft plan, which was approved for public exhibition mid-April, at least two parking areas would encroach on plantations. “It’s a hostile environment to grow plants. Volunteers from our group have laboured long and hard for many years and it would…
CLIENT services formally provided by nurses at the former Royal District Nursing Service offices at Rosebud and Frankston are now being handled from Moorabbin. The service has given assurances that the change will not affect “service levels”. A revamp of RDNS operations across the state has also led to the loss of 45 full time nursing positions. The RDNS says there were no forced redundancies at Rosebud or Frankston offices, although seven management staff “chose to take redundancies rather than work within the new structure”. Australian Nursing and Midwives Federation Victorian branch secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said the union had “given…
IN ROSEBUD, “a dark and stormy night” was threatening. This, the much-derided first sentence of the 1830 novel Paul Clifford was apt, even though this night was merely dark, pre-meeting. The popular English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton followed up his opening purple prose with this: the violent wind was “fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness”. Phew! We had Neons. That’s winter on the Mornington Peninsula, too, the cold darkness exacerbated by a distinct lack of biscuits for those warming their frozen fingers on a cuppa before the meeting. But CW digresses, and will digress…
OPENING of the rebuilt outer section of Mornington pier has been delayed due to problems with the way wave screens have been attached to the seaward end of the structure. Ten large concrete wave screens have been removed and are being reattached using a different, stronger system. The wave screens are a crucial element to protect the harbour from storms. They have been installed on both sides of the pier to provide the best protection of the harbour since a pier was first constructed more than 150 years ago, however the harbour will still be vulnerable to big northerly storms.…
THE award-winning screen musical The Sound of Music, which first charmed audiences in 1965, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Worldwide celebrations to mark the milestone including gala concerts, marionette exhibitions, tours of the movie settings and cast reunions. Not to be left out, Mornington audiences will be treated to a new junior version performed by students. About 50 have jumped at the chance to be in two special performances, 11am and 4pm, Sunday 28 June, at the Peninsula Community Theatre, Wilson’s Rd. “This unique film is still as popular half a century on as it was when it…
A LONG-running campaign to improve safety at a Mt Eliza traffic black spot has been successful with the area’s federal MP Bruce Billson securing funding for a signalised pedestrian crossing that will also enable cars to trigger the lights. The $400,000 for signals was revealed in an email Mr Billson sent to interested parties on 9 May including Mornington MP David Morris, shire councillors and Mt Eliza safety campaigner and businesswoman Joanne Kidder. Mr Billson said a signalled pedestrian crossing would be installed on Nepean Highway “in the vicinity of Tower Rd and Volitans Ave (near the bus stops) and…
CONTRACTORS working for VicRoads returned to the task of constructing a second right-hand turn lane at Mornington’s busiest intersection last week after a delay of about five weeks due to “an issue with traffic signal hardware”, as VicRoads told the shire council. But this might be only a small glitch as residents are predicting the new turning lane could cause a traffic jam at the Nepean Highway end of Main St, the town’s main north–south artery and shopping strip. After completion of the work, three lanes of traffic will be turning into Main Street’s single northbound lane – two from…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire says it has removed potential hazards from its 17 Maternal and Child Health centres after an eight-month-old child was hospitalised with a head injury sustained at one of the centres. On Friday, the shire confirmed an anonymous report received by The News that the child had been injured in an incident involving a wall heater. The report claimed the child had been severely burnt but shire communications manager Todd Trimble said this was incorrect. “The child was not ‘severely burnt’, but rather sustained an impact injury to the head as a result of a heater grate landing…