MORNINGTON father-of-three Ian Thompson felt his head go “cloudy”, couldn’t think straight and became disoriented; to make matters worse, he began to lose his vision. Although the 64-year-old did not know it at the time, he was having a stroke. “After meeting other stroke survivors I feel lucky, as if I had dodged a bullet,” he said last week. “Thankfully, the staff at Frankston Hospital’s emergency department recognised the signs and responded so quickly.” The stroke hit while he was working on his arrows at Frankston Archery Club. “I was using this new solvent to repair the arrows and it’s…
Author: MP News Group
WHEN generations come together, good things happen. That’s the message being learned through a social program at CraigCare Mornington in which youngsters from the Pelican Child Care Early Learning Centre visit the elderly residents to talk, read and sing. “Each week the children spend time with residents playing, reading stories, singing and making arts and crafts together,” manager Sarah Mitchel said. “This brings great joy to both the children and the residents and they look forward to it each week.” The youngsters absorb traditions and wisdom, while developing respect and empathy. At the same time, the elderly residents expand their…
THE policeman killed when hit by a car during a memorial motorcycle ride in Gippsland last week was serving at Somerville. Detective Senior Sergeant Vic Kostiuk, 59, was a member of the Mornington Peninsula family violence unit based in Eramosa Road West. He died when his motorbike collided with a car on the Princes Highway, near Orbost, Friday 14 September. The driver of the car, Jesse Reid, 21, of Botanic Ridge, later appeared in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court charged with culpable driving and dangerous driving causing death. He was remanded in custody to appear at the Bairnsdale Magistrates’ Court…
A NUMBER plate recognition camera, pictured, set up in Mornington-Tyabb Road, Mornington scanned 2506 sets of plates, 10.30am-1.30pm, Monday 17 September. The operation, run by Mornington and Somerville highway police, detected plates which were unregistered or stolen, as well as registered owners who are unlicensed or required to have alcohol interlock devices fitted. It also advises if the vehicle, or owner, is linked to outstanding sheriff’s fines. Nine drivers were fined for unlicensed or unregistered driving and two will be summonsed to appear at court for driving while suspended. Acting Sergeant Sarah Blackmore, of Mornington police, was pleased with the…
FOUR Mornington Peninsula cyclists will ride 1200km in Western Australia next month to raise $5000 for road safety programs for peninsula school children. Hayden Fenn, 35, of Frankston South, Scott Lovegreen, 43, of Mt Martha, Rhys Buzza, 42, of Mt Martha and Gregory Pratt, 48, of Mornington, plan to take 90 hours to complete the Perth-Albany-Perth ride, 1-4 October, organised by Audax Australia Cycling Club. The men are using the ride to prepare for the world-famous Paris-Brest-Paris epic next year. Fifteen peninsula students from 13 schools met up with The White Bike Foundation founder Chris Savage last week to wish…
A $130 MILLION upgrade of South East Water’s Boneo water recycling plant will connect another 16,000 Mornington Peninsula properties to the Peninsula ECO scheme. The reticulated pressure sewer network is replacing septic tanks and mini-treatment plants which cause groundwater and waterway pollution on the southern peninsula. South East Water last week described the works upgrade as “pretty significant”. It will aim to provide for low-energy nutrient removal and energy recovery processes to achieve emissions targets of 45 per cent by 2025. It is expected 160 jobs and 10 apprenticeships will be created for the design, build operation and maintenance of…
REPRESENTATIVES of power company AGL on Saturday were met with chants and informed questions about their employer’s plans to moor a floating gas conversion plant at Crib Point. The 300 metre long floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) – if allowed to operate at Crib Point – will use seawater to turn imported liquefied natural gas back into gas before being piped to Pakenham. Save Westernport member Rod Knowles said “emotions were running high” at the AGL-arranged information session held at the RW Stone Pavilion, Somers. “The drop-in session was seen by AGL as an opportunity to explain to the…
THE Escape from Antarctica exhibition being shown by the Hastings-Western Port Historical Society focuses on the life and work of British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, right, whose expedition to Antarctica turned out to be one of the greatest survival stories of all time. More than 100 years ago, Shackleton set out on a bold plan to cross the frozen continent from coast to coast via the South Pole. His quest was steeped in the grand traditions of the British Empire and the glories that would come to the first to achieve the epic feat. With his ship trapped in the…
THEY might be among the most common animals in our backyards, but they are also among the least seen. Microbat expert Dr Casey Visintin will reveal much about these flying animals during a talk at the Australian Garden Auditorium, Cranbourne Gardens. Microbats are among the most common animals in our backyards and in bushland. They come out at night to feed on insects. Children are much more likely to hear their high-pitched squeaks at night than adults. Microbats use echo-location (sonar) to navigate and hunt and consume huge numbers of insects each night, including mosquitoes and other pest insects. Through…
RED Hill artist Jennifer Riddle has been voted by exhibition visitors as the winner of the Mercury People’s Choice Award in the 2018 Hadley’s Art Prize, with her depiction of a Red Hill garden cloaked in mist. The $5000 prize was a welcome surprise to Riddle, who visited the exhibition during its opening in July when local artist Neil Haddon took out the $100,000 landscape prize with his War of the Worlds inspired artwork. The Hadley is considered to be the world’s richest landscape art prize. Riddle, who was also the recipient of the People’s Choice Award for the Glover…
AN experienced Pt Leo surfer paddled out to rescue a teenage girl stranded in choppy and gusty conditions last week. Hastings police Sergeant John Cannon said the girl, 18, got into trouble on her board at popular Suicide break just north of the Pt Leo Lifesaving Club, 12.45pm, Tuesday 11 September. She had been surfing with a friend when they got into difficulties in the strong north wind and current and was exhausted. With conditions deteriorating, her companion managed to paddle ashore and alert authorities. The girl was unable to follow him. First Constable Daniel Crisp, of Hastings police, said…
A WOMAN on the run after she and her male friend crashed a stolen car on the Frankston Freeway last week ran across eight lanes of traffic to escape police causing two cars to collide. Detective Senior Constable Ryan Collins, of Frankston CIU, said the couple was driving a stolen Nissan Pulsar towards Carrum Downs when they left the road and ran into a fence. Both jumped out and ran off towards the Eastlink turnoff, with other motorists reporting the incident to triple zero. Police set up a cordon to corral them but the woman, 31, allegedly ran off and…
A FREE community expo during Anti-Poverty Week (14-20 October) offers “support and hope to anyone experiencing hardship”. The expo will raise awareness and address issues around housing affordability and homelessness on the Mornington Peninsula. Mornington Peninsula Housing Network is holding several activities during the week and is encouraging community groups and service organisations to help highlight the issues surrounding poverty and hardship. The expo will enable those on low incomes and Centrelink payments to learn more about services that can easily and affordably be accessed. It will offer giveaways, information and low cost products, including food, dental health checks, haircuts,…
Police are appealing for information following a suspicious house fire in Blairgowrie this month. The blaze broke out about 5.30pm on Father’s Day, 2 September, completely destroying the Fawkner Avenue home. No one was inside the house at the time. The fire has since been deemed suspicious. Investigators are hoping to speak to anyone who may have noticed any suspicious behaviour leading up to the fire, particularly around Fawkner Avenue, Langdon Avenue, Hughes Road and Point Nepean Road. They are also keen to speak to anyone who may have dash cam footage between the hours of 5pm and 6.30pm. Anyone…
A PERFORMANCE space, market space, and nature-based play area, is being built at Balnarring to encourage outdoor recreation activities while residents make friends with other visitors. The first sod for the works at the Civic Court Reserve was turned Friday 31 August. The mayor Cr Bryan Payne joined Cr David Gill, MP Daniel Mulino, Balnarring Bendigo Bank chair Heather Goddard and members of Balnarring Village Common Community Group on a rather wet day. Also on hand were teachers and pupils from Balnarring Preschool who often use the vacant reserve for outdoor play and activities. The $640,000 project includes $290,000 from…
THE former Russian fighter plane that crashed in Gippsland last week killing the pilot was previously owned by a member of Peninsula Aero Club, Tyabb. The single engine Yakovlev Yak-9UM fighter crashed near Moe, Friday 7 September. The pilot’s name had not been released yesterday (Monday). Long-time Tyabb resident Jim Wickham sold the plane to its new owners, based at the LaTrobe Valley Airport, near Traralgon, late last year and it flew east in February. Classic Aviation News reported that the Yak-9 was the only example of the type in Australia. It was built in Russia in 2004. First published…
THE cause of a house fire at Blairgowrie, Sunday 2 September, is being investigated by police. No one was at the two-storey brick house in Fawkner Avenue when the blaze broke out at 5.30pm. However, police want to identify two-three men in their 20s seen earlier trying to put out the flames before CFA crews arrived. One was wearing a red track suit. Firefighters from Sorrento, Rye and Rosebud worked hard to control the blaze. Anyone knowing the men or who assisted with the house fire is asked to call Detective Sergeant John Coburn, at Mornington Peninsula CIU, 5978 1431.…
SUSTAINABLE House Day will be celebrated at the Eco Living Display Centre at The Briars, 10am-4pm, Sunday 16 September. The day provides an opportunity for those interested in sustainability to observe all the features of leading “green” homes and experience how they are environmentally friendly, cheaper to run and more comfortable to live in. The centre features a range of energy-saving practices, including solar power with battery back-up, lighting, heat pumps for water/heating, ventilation, insulation, window covering and glazing. It also has greywater recycling, water tanks, flow restrictors on taps and shower heads, and water-efficient appliances. The garden has been…
POLICE have apprehended three men after a violent incident in East Melbourne early Friday morning, 7 September, in which a Rosebud man was left with serious injuries. A 27-year-old and 24-year-old, from Fitzroy North, and a 27-year-old from East Melbourne, have been charged with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury and other assault-related offences. They have been bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 4 December. The charges relate to the alleged assault of the Rosebud man, 61, and his friend, 45, of Mt Evelyn, on Wellington Parade after the Hawthorn-Richmond game at the MCG. Police media officer Leonie…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has appointed Kelvin Spiller (right) as its interim CEO while it searches for a permanent replacement for the departed Carl Cowie. Mr Cowie left Friday 30 August after almost four years at the helm to take up the vacant CEO’s position at Nillumbik, in the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne. The council voted on Monday 3 September to appoint Mr Spiller who is regarded as an experienced local government CEO with 35 years’ experience in business, local government and community sectors as chief executive and board member. He reportedly is highly regarded for his abilities in…
LIKE Phoenix rising from the ashes, so, too, is one of Hastings’ favourite op shops: Holy Trinity Church Op Shop, which is undertaking a rebuilding project. The vision for the new building is for a larger, purpose-built facility that encourages the Mornington Peninsula community in their efforts to recycle and re-purpose unwanted household goods. It aims to be an open, welcoming space for the community to meet, volunteer, browse, read and connect with others. The rebuild follows the devastating fire of March last year that destroyed the building which had been an op shop since 1994. Since then, the shop…
HASTINGS Liberal MP Neale Burgess is ramping up the law-and-order debate while campaigning for the November state election. He said a Liberal Nationals Government would focus on having “more police on the beat, tougher sentencing and $24 million for more local community safety measures, like CCTV cameras in at-risk areas across the Hastings electorate”. This would include funding a police mobile CCTV camera rollout. Mr Burgess said grants of up to $250,000 would be made available to “local councils to develop public safety and security infrastructure like CCTV systems, improved lighting and creating local solutions to local crime”. “Councils will…
SOMERVILLE Primary School pupils have been busily knitting for a very special project. They, along with family members and staff, are making squares to be sewn together to make blankets to be donated to The Salvation Army. “The children love being involved, and it has been wonderful to see them developing their skills, making new friends and developing a sense of pride in contributing to a project that is helping others,” Chaplain Kylie Nicholas said. Chaplain Nicholas, who started the Thursday Lunchtime Knitting Club this year, said she had been “blown away by the incredible level of support the project…
AUSTRALIA’S favourite kidult comedians, The Listies, are bringing their best-smelling book Ickypedia: A Dictionary of Disgusting New Words to Frankston Arts Centre’s stage these school holidays! Ickypedia is a seriously silly show that answers all of life’s unimportant questions: How do you take a smellfie? What exactly are udderpants? and what happens if you never-ever clean your room? With snot-monsters, bubble machines and toilet paper guns, it’s a mix of clowning, slapstick, and improvised chaos that the whole family will enjoy! Richard Higgins and Matt Kelly are acclaimed kidult comedy duo The Listies. In 2008, their show More fun than…
DRIVERS unsure how to correctly turn left from Coolart Road into Frankston-Flinders Road heading towards Peninsula Link and Frankston are causing problems, police say. To solve the problem they must use the dedicated merging lane – but some are incorrectly stopping at the give-way sign, causing traffic on Coolart Road to bank back from the intersection. Merging straight out of Coolart Road into the westbound lane of Frankston-Flinders Road across the solid white line marked on the picture is illegal. Left turn vehicles should turn into the merging lane, get up to an appropriate speed and then use their right…
Two organisations that have applied for funding in the state government’s Pick my Project community grant have banded together to “preference” each other. “Projects are granted funding depending on how many votes they get,” said Adam Westaway from the Alexandra Park Project. “And voters have to nominate three projects when they vote, so we decided to get together with Stewart Morgan from ‘Sunday Sessions’ and preference each other.” The Alexandra Park Project have applied for two grants under the scheme. The first is to install new lighting on the Mornington oval on Main Street to allow it to be used…
AN outbreak of influenza-A at a Mornington aged care home has prompted the Department of Health and Human Services to warn of the importance of limiting the spread of the disease. Department spokesman Graeme Walker said 20 residents and two staff at Park Hill Gardens Aged Care Facility in Tyabb Road had been affected. The facility has 68 residents and 90 staff. He said one resident had died “with the flu – not of the flu” in the recent outbreak but that “the department is unable to provide details as to the cause of death”. The highly contagious viral infection…
A CENTURY old artists’ society with links to the Mornington Peninsula is holding its annual – read 100th – exhibition this month. The Twenty Melbourne Painters Society, whose president Bill Caldwell lives in Mt Martha, is exhibiting members’ works at Glen Eira City Council Art Gallery, Caulfield, 10am-5pm, until Sunday 9 September. Caldwell, a member for the past 15 years, said it had been a “great honour” to be invited to join the group, which has never had more than 20 members at one time since forming in 1918. New members must be invited to join – it’s not a…
MORNINGTON and District Historical Society members last week welcomed the return of the Balcombe Fountain to Mornington Park. It is now working as a drinking fountain with a solar light in the cupola which brightens when people approach. The fountain was originally outside the park’s entrance, when work was done on the arches by unemployed men during a job-creation scheme in the Depression of the early 1930s. Members of the Balcombe family gave the monument to the people of Mornington in remembrance of Alexander Balcombe who had the park and much of the foreshore reserve set aside for public use.…
POLICE are investigating four incidents in which cars have been set alight in the Frankston area. A Holden Commodore was pushed down a driveway and into Bush Court, Langwarrin, property and an accelerant used to set it alight, 1.56am, Wednesday 29 August. Carrum Downs police are investigating. A Toyota Landcruiser was destroyed by fire in Narambi Road, Mornington, overnight, Monday 27 August. Somerville CIU is investigating. A silver Ford with false plates was set alight on Jubilee Park oval, 11.10pm, Sunday 26 August, and a Holden utility was set alight at Ballam Park athletics track, 4am, the same day. It…