FORMER Dromana MP Tony Hyams is saying thanks to doctors who gave him a double lung transplant by swimming in the Pt Leo Classic on Boxing Day. The 74-year-old is tackling the 1.2 kilometre swim to raise money for research into lung disease in the knowledge that he was saved from a rare and potentially fatal lung disease four years ago. Money raised will go to clinical and research work at the world-recognised respiratory unit at The Alfred Hospital to support those suffering from lung disease. The target is $20,000. “The staff’s work at The Alfred is amazing; it’s like…
Author: MP News Group
LIFE memberships have been given to long time Pink Lady volunteers at The Bays aged care home at Hastings. Valerie Gregory (25 years), Margaret O’Donnell (23), Carole Wooldridge (17) and Janice Danaher (11) were presented with certificates at The Bays’ annual general meeting in November. “Their individual contributions are outstanding. Helping to define The Bays’ community-centric approach, they are an integral part of our culture,” The Bays Healthcare Group CEO Elena Allen said. “It is a well overdue accolade for these humble individuals who have dedicated their life to supporting the mission of The Bays within the community that we…
NO entertainment and no nonsense will again be Mornington Peninsula Shire’s approach to New Year’s Eve on the southern peninsula. Shire officers will work with police to minimise any negative impacts of celebrations. The shire says this tactic has helped in providing a safe destination for residents and holiday makers since its introduction more than 16 years ago. It provides better security, lighting, additional transport and services throughout the Nepean Ward towns of Rye, Blairgowrie, Sorrento and Portsea. The aim is to make the peninsula a safe place to enjoy the New Year period. In essence it means there will…
A CAR was burnt out after being stolen from outside its owner’s house at Safety Beach, overnight Friday 13 December. Burglars took the keys to the $20,000 Audi from a Rymer Street house and within half an hour had torched it in nearby Bruce Road. A VW Golf was stolen from outside a house in Davies Street, Safety Beach at about the same time was still missing late last week. “In both instances, the owners did not hear anything. Both cars were parked outside their respective homes,” Detective Senior Sergeant Eddie Logonder, of Mornington Peninsula CIU, said. He would not…
MEMBERS of the community are being asked to “look out for one another” as calls for help with family violence are expected to peak during the holiday period. Police typically see an increase of family violence incidents as the end of year approaches. “While [it’s] a great time to get together and celebrate with family, police certainly see an increase in trauma that happens during the festive season,” Assistant Commissioner of Family Violence Command, Dean McWhirter said. “Statistics show that police responded to 83,775 family violence incidents in a 12-month period – that’s one call for help every six minutes.…
By Barry Morris TUCKED away in a closed-up shed at the back of a Mornington Peninsula property rests a cardboard box of mouldy, moth-eaten papers and documents from long ago. Talk about a bygone era – an old copy of Scouting for Boys written by the movement’s founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell, or B-P for short. Baden-Powell became a hero in Britain for his role in the relief of the besieged town of Mafeking in South Africa during the Boer War at the end of the 19th century. Today, there’s a street named after him that traverses Frankston South and Mt…
DISCOUNTED Early Bird tickets for the much anticipated Tyabb Airshow have just gone on sale for a limited time. Every second year the Tyabb Airshow provides the community an opportunity to get up close to the action as Warbirds from WW1 to current day ADF aircraft as well as historic & rare civil planes thrill and remind us all of how flying was. Some of these planes are very rare, some are the only operating examples in the world. They are not museum pieces, they fly. Come along and hear the sound of Rolls Royce Merlins, the roar of heavy…
MORNINGTON MP David Morris wants the state government to declare a highway school zone outside Balcombe Grammar School, Nepean Highway, Mount Martha. He says there are “credible and disturbing reports” that cars are ignoring pedestrian lights near the school entrance. “While the school has funded and installed pedestrian lights to assist in crossing the highway, there are credible and disturbing reports that numbers of cars are jumping the red light,” Mr Morris said. “All too often in these situations it is a case of waiting until an accident happens before any action is taken. I do not want that to…
ELECTRICITY distributor United Energy wants Mornington Peninsula residents to prepare for extreme temperatures and the fire season by ensuring they “know what to do if the power goes out in an emergency”. The company says customers can plan for outages to ensure they stay safe and minimise inconvenience, as well as “get back on with their day quickly once the lights come back on”. It says it plans year-round for summer, with “500 people involved in inspecting poles, cutting vegetation and installing bushfire mitigation devices”. “However, [we] can’t control the weather, so these tips will help locals prepare for the…
THE carbon capture and storage company CO2CRC has delivered the first major component of a hydrogen refining plant to AGL’s Loy Yang brown coal mine in the Latrobe Valley. The pilot plant being developed at Loy Yang which employs a two-step process to clean-up, purify and separate the synthetic gas (syngas) from the coal gasifier will produce a pure stream of hydrogen with concentrations greater than 99.999 vol per cent. The plant will be used as part of the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project – a world first trial to establish the feasibility of supplying clean hydrogen for export…
SUMMER’s official fire danger period started on Monday, coinciding with the week’s predicted high temperatures and dry conditions. The CFA-announced fire restrictions will last until 1am Monday 1 May and include a ban on any burning off without a permit, including on roadsides. Lighting fires or solid fuel heaters and barbecues is illegal if a total fire ban day is declared. Fire danger ratings and total fire ban status of all area with Victoria are available at cfa.vic.gov.au, or by calling the VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226. Mornington Peninsula Shire issued a news release residents should “ensure they are…
HOUSEHOLD recycling bins will be collected weekly on the Mornington Peninsula from Monday 16 December until Friday 31 January 2020. Mornington Peninsula Shire issued a news release saying it was “working hard towards a cleaner peninsula and encourage our community to reduce, reuse, recycle”. Recyclables should not be placed in plastic bags and can also be taken free to resource recovery centres at Rye, Tyabb and Mornington and hoppers at Dromana, Sorrento and Flinders. Items that can be recycled include aluminium and steel cans and foil; rigid and solid plastic items, such as children’s toys, kitchen ware, cups and drink…
ELEVEN of the 276 VCE students at Padua College, Mornington received ATAR scores above 90. Five of the 11 were above 95 and the highest was 97.8. College principal, Anthony Banks congratulated the class of 2019 and announced Ryan De Ruyter as dux of the school with an ATAR of 97.8. “Congratulations also go to Monique Machin, who achieved the exceptional study score of 50 in outdoor education, and to her teacher Adam Cooper,” Mr Banks said. Students who scored higher than 90 included Ryan De Ruyter, Ronan Pakai, Fintan Bowe, Isabella Shannon, Shannon Christodoulou, Marcus Schaper, Alana McShane, Lily…
WORKS by students from Toorak College, Mornington Secondary College and Balcombe Grammar are all again featuring in January’s Mornington Art Show. There is a series of photographs by Toorak student Georgie Kerkhoff called “Rose coloured glasses” and Renee Pollock, also from Toorak, has printed on silk her “Trilogy of Tranquility”, her view of the purity of nature. Amber Jeffrey from Mornington Secondary College has entered several small portraits in various mood poses done in pencil. Students from Balcombe Grammar have submitted works representing several genres, including a fabric cactus piece by Soleil Stern. The annual show run by Mornington Rotary…
WESTERN Port Coast Guard crews brought Christmas cheer and help to five boats in trouble out on Western Port Bay, Sunday 8 December. Commander Jeremy West said having so many other boats out on the water on “such a glorious day” meant no one was in any real danger, although breakdowns have the potential to turn nasty if the weather deteriorates. Boats assisted off Corinella, Tyabb and Yaringa had flat batteries; one was a motor fail. These mostly minor issues reinforced the necessity of boat owners conducting gear and safety checks before going out on the water, Commander West said.…
CHILDREN feeling unsafe or suffering from personal issues at three Mornington Peninsula primary schools can sit in a Buddy Bench in the playground and someone will come to check on their welfare. Members of the New Peninsula Men’s Shed, Mt Martha, installed a Buddy Bench at Rosebud Primary last week – their seventh so far – with others having been installed at Eastbourne and Balnarring primary schools. Shed president Andrew Doncovio said sitting in the seat triggered a “hierarchy of help” for the students, meaning they could feel confident they were not alone and that others were looking out for…
GIVING more people more access to the bay’s beaches is the aim of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s beach matting program. It is part of the Beach Access program which has been running at Mount Martha beach since 2016 and is now at Mills Beach, Mornington. The beach matting is permanently on the sand offering those in wheelchairs, or with limited mobility, the chance to get to the water’s edge during summer. The matting was rolled out on Friday 8 November and will remain until Easter Monday (13 April) with beach accessible wheelchairs available on weekends during patrol hours. The Disabled Surfers…
A MOUNT Martha man allegedly stormed into two neighbours’ houses and terrorised the occupants, 12.30pm, Sunday 1 December. The man, 43, allegedly forced his way in the front door of a house on the Esplanade and began threatening and verbally abusing a middle aged couple. While they cowered the man, possibly substance-or-drug affected, left and kicked in the front door of another house, again allegedly verbally abusing and threatening the occupants. No one was injured in the incidents although the occupants were said to be shaken. The man allegedly refused to come out of the house before being arrested by…
A TERRIFIED couple in their 60s was ordered out of their car in Mount Martha by two men who then drove off and crashed it into a tree, 3.15pm, Sunday 24 November. Detective Acting Sergeant Peter Drake, of Somerville CIU, said the couple was being tailgated by a silver Honda SUV in Dickson Grove when the incident occurred. Two men in the Honda pulled in front of the couple’s Mercedes and stopped. One, who “appeared to be holding something under a white cloth”, ordered them out, Detective Drake said. One jumped into the Mercedes and it, and the Honda, was…
BEACHES on the Mornington Peninsula will be a focus of the police Operation Summersafe until March. The police are armed with an arsenal of tools and resources to help ensure community safety, including the public order response team, mounted branch, water police, drone unit and dog squad. Commander Libby Murphy said police would have a highly visible presence on beaches within the Southern Metropolitan Region. “We will focus on using real time intelligence and technology through the drone unit to detect and deter offending, giving us the ability to flexibly deploy resources to where they’re most needed,” she said. “Those…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Regional Gallery’s summer exhibition Sublime Sea: Rapture and Reality will run 14 December-23 February. This major summer exhibition will feature about 100 paintings, sculptures, photography, film and the decorative arts. They aim to reveal “how the sense of wonder and awe that has driven artists across the centuries is heightened today as the sea itself is under threat”. With loans from major galleries and museums, including NGV, NGA, Art Gallery of NSW, Queensland Art Gallery, Australian National Maritime Museum, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Museum Victoria and various private galleries, Sublime Sea: rapture and reality evokes the…
Mornington police are hoping to identify two men after a security camera was stolen from a cricket club in Moorooduc. Police have been told two unknown men driving a SUV attended the club on Derril Road about 4am on Tuesday 12 November. It is believed the pair stole a security camera which was attached to a bracket off the wall and fled the scene. Both offenders are perceived to be Caucasian in appearance and aged 30 to 40-years-old. The first man had a shaved head and was wearing a singlet top, jeans and grey hooded top. The second man was…
THE higher profile Global Day of Action for Climate Change rally, Friday 29 November, was the catalyst for an afternoon sit-down outside Flinders MP Greg Hunt’s office, Somerville, the same day. Organiser Meike Suggars said the government’s “inaction on the climate crisis [was] contributing to catastrophic fire conditions”. “People are hurting,” she said. “Communities are being devastated – and summer hasn’t even begun.” Ms Suggars said she had previously been unable to arrange a meeting with Mr Hunt “to discuss my concerns over climate change”. “So, when I saw [last] Friday was a day of action for ThisIsClimateChange, I decided…
By Brosnan Kelly IN only its second year, two hundred and forty athletes from around Victoria – and some interstate – descended upon the Thomas Barclays Oval for the annual running of the Hastings Gift. An event organised by a local community based group, ‘Peninsula Athletics Association Incorporated’, the Gift was initiated in 2018 in an attempt to raise interest in the suburb and attract tourism to the area, as well as aiding in the continuity of the richly historic sport of Professional Athletics. The AGL Hastings Women’s Gift was run and won by emerging sprint star and local peninsula…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Table Tennis Association will this week play host to the best players from Australia and the Oceania region. Stars of Oceania include Heming Hu, Nathan Xu, Melissa Tapper, Grace Yee. They will be competing for a ticket to the teams’ events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as well as the 2019 ITTF Oceania Tour of Australia, Friday to Sunday 6-8 December. Residents are invited to get in on the action at Civic Reserve Recreation Centre, Dunns Road. Association president Max Coulthard said: “We welcome all spectators to come and cheer and a give a warm welcome all…
FORMER Mornington Peninsula Shire Citizen of the Year Karen Fankhauser last week opened the season of Mornington Yacht Club’s Sailability program. As chair of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s disability advisory committee, Ms Fankhauser would have felt right at home in the sailing program which allows people of all ages and abilities to enjoy sailing in a fun and inexpensive way. The program has been running since 1999 and participants can enjoy the freedom and fun of recreational sailing, while the more competitive strive to develop their racing skills. Participants come from the general community, disability service organisations, and special developmental schools.…
A CLASS project by Year 11 Design Technology Fabrics students at Mornington Secondary College will improve life for poverty-stricken children in Africa. Their Little Dresses for Africa project began with donations of pillow cases by parents and other students that the girls crafted into colourful dresses. They will be sent to Africa through the charity and the students will be sent pictures of the girls receiving them. The school’s head of art Lea Gilbert said she came across the idea while looking for recycled fashion ideas. “I thought it would be a great thing to do for charity as well…
FRESH from rescuing a swimmer in danger under Frankston pier, Senior Constable Julie Morris is planning a pier-to-pier swim from the Frankston to Mornington. The endurance swim in January will raise money for the Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation. To be called #piertopierforourpeers the swim also has the nickname “10k for 10k”. Senior Constable Morris, a member of Frankston police and a Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor, led a distressed Corey Wood to safety from under Frankston pier on a hot and windy Thursday 22 November (“Police to the rescue in pier drama” The News 26/11/19). An accomplished long-distance swimmer, Senior…
A ROSEBUD man caught driving at an alleged 111kph, pictured, in a 60 zone near the base of Arthurs Seat had his car impounded and will be summonsed to appear in court for driving at a dangerous speed. The 23-year-old, apprehended at 7.30pm, Sunday 24 November, faces a 12-month driving ban. Somerville Highway Patrol officers also detected a P2 probationary licence holder doing an alleged 141kph on the Mornington Peninsula Freeway at McCrae on the same day. The 21-year-old man, of Yarraville, told police he was “on a car cruise and was trying to catch up with mates” about 7pm.…
A SPEECHWRITER has been hired to “provide help” to Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 11 councillors and its CEO John Baker. Christina (Tina) McGuffie was appointed in August “to support our councillors by providing help with the high demand for speeches which has always been a function of the shire’s communications team”, communications and events executive manage Randal Mathieson said. “The peninsula has a very active population and our councillors are highly engaged with their local communities,” Mr Mathieson said. “Each month we receive dozens of requests from community groups for councillors to speak at events, launches and activities throughout the shire.…