Compiled by Cameron McCullough
A FULL house is expected for a school concert, but it is seldom that the people attend in such overflowing numbers as they did for the High school students’ concert held in the Frankston Palais on 22nd inst.
The widespread interest taken in the High school may be judged from the fact that five car loads came specially from Dromana for the evening. Mornington and places near at hand were also well represented.
Long before the time for starting enthusiasts thronged the, doors looking for the best seats. Even, the commodious Palais had its seating capacity taxed to the utmost and the management were being asked for more seats.
Mr. W. J. Bishop, B.A., the headmaster, had arranged for the stage to be extended forward to accommodate the large groups in the folk dances and extra curtains and coloured footlights were placed in front of the extension.
Punctually at 8 o’clock the curtains were drawn aside and revealed the whole school massed on the stage girls in white and boys in navy eight rows one above the other, with about twenty in each.
The opening songs, “The Wattle” and “The Ash Grove,” were rendered in good style under the baton of Mr. Holt, who has voluntarily taken time from his business to conduct the students at school.
No finer work could be accomplished than choral work of this kind.
Maisie Pope sang very sweetly “Come Sing to Me,” and Miss Dorothy Crawford, L.L.C.M., of St. Kilda, recited feelingly “The Baby’s Rose,” for which an encore was demanded.
Folk dances were a special feature of the programme, the first being a Scandinavian “Klapp Dans” by the senior girls, half of whom were dressed to represent boys of that country.
Miss Broughton must have been proud of her girls when they acquitted themselves so well.
Although there was a long programme ahead the audience demanded an encore.
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ON Friday night last, shortly after 7 o’clock a terrific storm broke over Frankston.
It was something in the nature of a cyclone, for many cases of damage to property resulted.
The coal shed at the Gas Works was unroofed, several sheets of iron were torn from Moran & Cato’s building; the hoardings at the railway station were levelled to the ground and sundry other damage inflicted.
Several sheets of roofing iron were carried by the gale from Moran & Cato’s and lodging on the overhead gear at the railway station, caused a short circuit and dislocated the train service for several hours.
The Railway Commissioners met the position by meeting Seaford and Frankston passengers at Carrum with motorcars, and arrangements were very much appreciated by late travellers.
By midnight the train service to Frankston was restored.
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FOOTBALL on the Peninsula is going to boom this season; everything points to that.
The probable strength of the various teams is not easy to judge, but it is reasonable to assume that representative sides will be the rule.
The Keast trophy, which was presented to the association in 1922 by W. S. Keast, Esq.; has to be won three consecutive times to become the permanent property of any club.
Frankston won it in 1922 and 1923, but in 1924 and 1925 the Naval Depot took possession.
If the latter carry off the premiership again this season the trophy will become their property for all time.
Frankston club intend making another strong effort to get possession of the trophy, and the appointment of a playing coach signifies a paramount effort in that respect.
Mr. C. E. Johnson (of the Frankston High school staff) the new coach, is no raw recruit, but an experienced player, not with League or Association experience, but with leading country clubs, and football fans will soon realise that he is the right man in the right place.
It was at first intended to have only one team in Frankston, but at the last meeting of the committee it was decided to enter a team in the Seconds Association.
There were some good colts in the seconds team last year, and the senior team this season have put them into training, and with a number of experienced men Frankston have the nucleus of a good side.
With reference to having two teams in the district, it is a good thing for the game and a boon to the young manhood of the town, and provides healthy exercise and opportunities for a number who would otherwise be looking over the fence every Saturday afternoon.
There are plenty of young men and youths resident in the district to complete two teams, and with the services of a reliable coach to put the polishing touches on the rising players the standard of football would improve to the benefit of the club and football in general.
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Tyabb – The Late Mr R Mair
The passing away of this gentleman has left a gap in the public life of Tyabb that will be very hard to fill, as there were few public bodies in which he was not a prominent member.
Mr. Mair was born in 1853 on the farm of Balcormo, at Newton, near Pittenweem, Fifeshire, Scotland, and the farm is now occupied by a brother and like many Scottish farms, has been occupied by Mr. Mair’s forbears for very many generations.
As a young man, Mr. Mair was apprenticed to the building trade, and had the experience then not uncommon of starting in the pine forest and helping in the breaking up of the pine logs in the old saw pit, and following the timber through all its different processes till it became part of some building.
Mr. Mair followed his trade in Glasgow, Perth and Edinburgh. While resident in Edinburgh he was present as a volunteer in a kilted corps at what was known for years as the Great Review, when Queen Victoria reviewed the volunteer forces from all parts of Scotland in a deluge of rain.
Also about this time Mr. Mair was a member of a local committee on behalf of W. E. Gladstone in his famous Midlothian campaign.
Mr. Mair arrived in Melbourne in 1882 and worked for some time in the Carron timber yard. Coming to Tyabb in 1894, just after the collapse of the “boom,” he took up ten acres of orchard land, which he eventually increased to 60 acres.
As showing the wide scope of Mr Mair’s interests it may be mentioned that he was a promoter and filled the chair in the following companies: The V.O.C. and Latrobe Timber and Case Co. Ltd., and Tyabb Cool Stores; also a promoter and sometime president of the Central Fruitgrowers’ Association, and the Affiliated Cool Stores Association; a trustee of the Somerville Horticultural hall and ground.
As one of the promoters and for about 25 years treasurer of the Tyabb hall, Mr. Mair’s services to the hall will long, be gratefully remembered, as also his connection as treasurer of the Church of England.
Mr. Mair’s motto in public and business affairs might be summed; up in the one word “Thoroughness.”
Though sometimes aggressive in debate, his faults were of the head, not of the heart, as after a heated debate he would admit that his fellow members’ objective was as sincere as his own, though trying to arrive at it from a different angle.
The deep sympathy of a host of friends in the district has been extended to the widow and two sons and daughter of the deceased, all of whom are taking their share in the public life of Tyabb.
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From the Pages of the Frankston and Somerville Standard, 30 April 1926
