“YOU don’t look for appreciation, but I suppose it’s nice when it comes your way.”
Those are the humble words of Hepburn Shire’s 2022 Citizen of the Year Danny Moynihan, who has spent the past 37 years helping improve the lives of others through countless volunteer roles with more than 24 organisations.
At the January 25 Community Awards and Civic Ceremony, Mayor Tim Drylie described Danny, as a “quiet achiever”.
“Once he makes a commitment to be involved in a community cause or project he is there for the long haul.”
Danny moved to Daylesford with his wife, the late Roz Moynihan and their two young children, Justin, then six, and Natalie, then three, in 1984.
Born in Ballarat, he joined the Post Office in 1968 as a postal clerk in training. Danny was sent to Melbourne for what was meant to be a six-month stint which lasted 16 years.
“I was at Huntingdale and the office was downgraded so I didn’t have an ‘attachment’ to a post office and was transferred to Daylesford.
“The fellow here, Lloyd Williams, had died, just in his 40s, so I thought I might as well come up to the bush. I was also sick of the travelling in Melbourne. We had a house in Mulgrave but I could be working at Seaford, or Port Melbourne or City Road. It was a long way to go to all these offices.
“So I moved in December 1984 and Roz and the kids came up in January 1985 so Justin could go to school. We bought a house in Hospital Street, opposite the hospital, which we eventually sold to the hospital and then moved to Tipperary Springs in 1987. And we have been here ever since.”
That’s except for a short transfer to Maryborough for Danny just eight months after he started at Daylesford. Again, it was supposed to be a short stint of just three months but lasted 18 months. With just one car between them he stayed during the week and returned on weekends so Roz could have the car to ferry the kids around.

He and Roz eventually bought the post office in 1998 and ran it until 2006.
“When I came up here it was a corporate office owned by Australia Post. The exchange was there as well, all under the one building. But they subdivided the building in the 1990s and after 30 years as a postal manager I became a licenced postal manager.
“The building was quite dear at the time, well I thought it was because they were selling other post offices for less, but they said quite rightly it would be worth a lot more in the future. It’s been good superannuation.”
Danny said Roz was always keen to get involved with the community and causes and when he arrived back from Maryborough she was already well known. But it didn’t take him long to make his mark as well, joining many of the same organisations but also doing his own thing.
Among those he has been with, or the 11 he still is with, are Daylesford Rotary, Hepburn Regional Community Cheer Committee, ChillOut, Daylesford Good Grub Club, Hepburn Shire’s White Ribbon, Daylesford Hepburn United Soccer Club Junior Group, Hepburn Shire Neighbourhood Watch, Daylesford Agricultural Show, Daylesford Community Op Shop, Daylesford Indoor Recreation Facility Organising Committee, Community Based Bushfire Mitigation Group, Daylesford Hospital Redevelopment fundraising committee, Daylesford Hospital Redevelopment Committee, Daylesford Scouts Management Committee, Daylesford Girl Guides Management Committee, New Year’s Eve Parade, Daylesford Speedway, Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal, Daylesford RSL, Very Special Kids Annual Appeal, Daylesford Probus, Daylesford Gift Run on New Year’s Day to raise funds for Camp Quality and the Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal street collection.
One of his most remarkable, or perhaps different, achievements was being elected the first, and probably only, male president of the Daylesford Girl Guides.
He lasted three years and in that time painted the hall, upgraded the kitchen and “did a lot of fundraising”.
Danny said hearing his name called as Citizen of the Year was “more pleasing for the family than the individual.
“Roz was placed on the Hepburn Shire’s (Heather Mutimer) Women’s Honour Roll in 2019 so I said to Nat now I can put my certificate alongside hers.
“And I said on the day that volunteers really do quite often get a lot more out of it than what they put in. Although it seems very hard to get people to join things now days, they don’t like to commit.
“If you are looking to volunteer, just place your name and what you want to do on Facebook, someone will be in touch pretty soon. Although it would be nice if the council had a volunteer and organisation register to put the two together.”
And Danny’s last piece of advice for would-be volunteers, although it seems a little at odds with his own experience. “Don’t spread yourself too thin, if you do, you won’t be able to do the job properly.”
Pictured: Danny with his family, from left, daughter Natalie Moynihan, grand-daughter Wynter Grey, Natalie’s partner Joel Grey and son Justin Moynihan

Words: Donna Kelly | Main image: Kyle Barnes

A FEW evenings ago Carol and I were sitting in the lounge room in front of the television, looking at Netflix, and it must have been a Thursday because she had control of the remote. So anyway, we’d been there a few hours before we realised that we hadn’t actually watched any programs, we’d just been flipping through previews and listings.

“You wanna watch this?”
“No.”
“What about this?”
“We watched it last winter.”
“Oh, yeah. OK then, this.”
“We started it before Christmas, you hated it.”
“Are you sure?”
And on and on.

Here’s a bit of what we in the journalism game call “background”. Also a clumsy segue. On January 24, in Shasta County, California, where we live, population almost 181,000, the local Health & Human Services Agency announced that the county had a Covid-19 transmission rate of more than 1000 per 100,000 residents. This is 10 times higher than what the national Centre for Disease Control and Prevention considers to be a “high transmission” rate.
There was also an item on the news that said these numbers are likely on the low side because they don’t include DIY testing.
According to CNN, transmission levels are based on the number of new Covid cases per 100,000 people, and the positivity rate, measured over the past seven days, which basically show how much virus is spreading around us.
“The level of coronavirus transmission is an important determinant of how much risk you’re in, if you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated,” CNN medical analyst Dr Leana Wen said.
Shasta County officials have thus far responded to the demands of their constituents by doing nothing.
All of which leaves us returned to self-imposed lockdown, aimlessly browsing through TV channels and streaming services.
But on this particular evening I remembered something from my many years commuting to and from Melbourne on the Bendigo V/Line train, from Kyneton to Southern Cross, five days a week, an hour each way. Much of the time I’d try to do something useful related to work, but often all I wanted was entertainment.
That’s when I discovered old radio programs.
Most of these shows ran for 30 minutes, although there were some one-hour programs. You can sit quietly or get up and do things while you listen. It is liberating to be freed from the TV screen.
In the 1940s and ’50s radio was the leading form of home entertainment. There were hundreds of different programs, most produced in the US but many made in Australia and Britain.
Dozens of private detectives prowled the airways, some with familiar names such as Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, but others like Jeff Regan, Barrie Craig, Richard Diamond, and female sleuth Candy Matson lived only on radio. British crime fighters such as Sherlock Holmes and Bulldog Drummond had their own shows.
Cowboys were also popular, and many of their programs galloped straight from radio to television, including Gunsmoke, Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok.
If you listen to enough of these shows you find the same actors turning up in hundreds of roles across every genre. Gerald Mohr starred as the voice of Philip Marlowe in a long-running series, but he also appeared in supporting roles in hundreds of other shows. John Dehner played Paladin in the radio version of Have Gun – Will Travel, which began on television and was adapted for radio, and also he starred in the western series Frontier Gentleman. Both actors successfully moved between jobs in radio, TV and film.
Many big-name film stars also enjoyed work in radio. Frank Sinatra had his own show, Rocky Fortune, a “foot-loose and fancy-free young gentleman” who had a knack for finding trouble.
Alan Ladd’s show Box 13 ran along similar lines. James Stewart played a laconic cowboy on his show The Six Shooter.
Raymond Burr had dozens of roles along with his own western, playing a virtuous US cavalry officer in Fort Laramie.
There was plenty of comedy on radio, from sitcoms to variety programs. Groucho Marx’s You Bet Your Life worked a treat on radio, and radio was the ideal medium for the humour of Jack Benny and George Burns. Eve Arden in Our Miss Brooks and Ann Sothern in The Adventures of Maisie were both long-running programs.
Many of these radio shows were originally broadcast live, and occasionally you can hear actors miss their lines. Often they have been preserved on acetate records, so sometimes it’s like listening to an old scratchy record.
On a few of these recordings the advertisements have also been preserved, and it is so entertaining to hear the benefits to be had from various brands of cigarettes. Jack Benny’s program was sponsored by Lucky Strike, and Milton Berle’s sponsor was Philip Morris. Wild Bill Hickok’s sponsor was breakfast cereal maker Kellogg’s, which boasted that its sugar corn pops were so sweet, you could eat it like candy.
The internet is rich with sites from which you can easily stream these radio shows. The programs produced in Australia aren’t always easy to find but the National Film and Sound Archive is an excellent resource for discovering this great form of entertainment. There is also a treasure trove of programs from a source called Internet Archive. One of the best collections of these old radio shows is the Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod.

After many happy years living in Victoria and working at The Age, former Wheatsheaf resident Jeff Glorfeld went back to California, the land of his birth, where in the past three years he has survived bushfires, snowstorms and drought. And Trump. And Covid. The cicadas and locusts didn’t arrive. Well, not yet.

Main image: Alex Blăjan on Unsplash | Inset: Kyle Barnes

The Local, usually in print and online, has now also appeared in oil paint. Occasional editorial contributor Peter Young says he slammed out his painting Reading The Local, after the bright colour combination of his wife Sal’s blue homeknit, the reds and greens of Trentham cafe, Chaplin’s, and the white of the newspaper pages, caught his eye. The image will now illustrate his latest Trentham Trumpet column, Sketchy Musings. “The column discusses the importance of The Local and trustworthy local news in this day and age of fake news and toxic tabloid print and electronic media commentators.” Peter said.

CRESWICK’S triple threat performer Maureen Andrew, pictured above, was one of the stars of Channel 7’s four-night production of The Voice – Generations starting on Monday, January 31.
Maureen said she was invited to participate “which was a great honour”.
“The total drive for me was to celebrate those of us who are over 40. We are all bloody amazing and deserve to be heard, seen, respected, working, creating, for as long as we darn well need to.
“No, I am not saving up for that age-reducing pill, only when I look in the mirror with my glasses on.”
Maureen said it was wonderful to see families, father and daughter, older and younger, sharing their music together.
“That’s how I grew up and that’s what the world needs to enjoy again. The lovely Crystal Hegedis was my partner in crime. About half my age, so bless her for agreeing to join me in this crazy adventure.”
Maureen has spent her life in the arts with more than 30 musicals including performing with Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz, Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard, Elton John’s Billy Elliot, Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Hair.

“I write, produce and direct and perform my own productions including Marlene Dietrich (inset photo), Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Gertrude Lawrence and Eartha Kitt.
“I am also a dance/ballet/tap/jazz teacher, a vocal and communication skills coach with a solid background in role playing, devising and interpreting for both commercial and professional companies.”
Maureen was also a gym manager for 20-plus years teaching pilates and weights, and she currently works as a personal trainer.
“I also work professionally in a variety of fields including communication skills coach, drama and singing coach. And I continue to perform with varied and ongoing experience in film, stage, TV series, commercials and music theatre.”
The casting call for The Voice – Generations asked for people who “perform alongside other singers or musicians from other generations, if you jam out with your dad’s mates, rock out with your neighbours, sing with your daughter, perform as a family around the campfire then apply. It’s time to bring all generations to The Voice stage, all at once!”
Words: Donna Kelly | Main image: Kyle Barnes

HEPBURN Shire Council hosted its annual Australia Day Eve to welcome new citizens and announce community award winners.
The council welcomed eight new citizens and presented the 2022 Hepburn Shire Community Award Winners for 2022 at a ceremony at the Hepburn Springs Sound Shell.
The winner of the Community Event of the Year was Feast on Fraser Street/Christmas in Clunes organised by Clunes Neighbourhood House with coordinator Deb Bright accepting the award.

Young Citizen of the Year went to Katie Topp. Katie, who lives in Hepburn Springs, is completing an internship at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, and is a volunteer with Riding for the Disabled Daylesford.
Citizen of the Year went to Danny Moynihan, pictured with his family. Danny has served the wider community in many roles over the past 37 years, involved in at least 24 community organisations and causes including Daylesford Girl Guides, Daylesford Scouts, White Ribbon, ChillOut, Hepburn Regional Community Cheer and Daylesford’s Agricultural Show.
Life membership award for services to Town Crying and the Community went to Philip Greenbank. The award was presented by the council on behalf of the Australasian Guild of Town Criers.
Top, from left, Ballarat MP Catherine King, Mayor Tim Drylie, Danny Moynihan, Clunes Neighbourhood House coordinator Deb Bright, Katie Topp and Macedon MP Mary-Anne Thomas.
Above, Mayor Tim Drylie, second from far right, welcomes the eight new Australian citizens

Hepburn Hub at The Rex

I just read The Local (Page 9, Your Say, Issue 245) and (Hepburn Shire) Councillor Jen Bray’s point of view.
Well, it’s about time we had a councillor who expressed the community’s view, you little ripper Jen.
Other councillors will see the light, we have so many talented people in our community who can make this project a reality if we work together.
Everyone I consult supports keeping The Rex Theatre for our community to develop and use.
Set up properly it can bring in revenue as there are a multitude of wonderful uses it can be put to.
Community involvement and ownership is very important as this will build happier, healthier communities.
We, as long-term resident ratepayers, are sick and tired of council officers dictating to us as this does not make a recipe for happy, healthy communities in accordance with council plans.
We the people must take this project on and show Australia what we can really do as a community and the kids, teenagers, adults and elderly can really benefit from such a great project ongoing.
Let’s get together and make The Rex happen.

• Chris Eyles, Shepherds Flat

Letters to the editor are always welcome at The Local.
Keep them to the point and local.
Email news@tlnews.com.au Any addressed Dear Sir will be deleted.

IN AUSTRALIA , Avenues of Honour are a ubiquitous feature of the landscape. Planted to commemorate those who fought and died in theatres of war, particularly WWI, there are 547 known Avenues of Honour in the country with over half of them in Victoria.
While many are overgrown or patchy, in the small hamlet of Kingston, north east of Creswick, the column of Dutch elms stretching for nearly three kilometres, retains its original character. All thanks, in no small part, to the work of the members of the Kingston Friends of the Avenue.
Over a period from August 1918 to 1919, 286 trees were planted by the local community to commemorate the WWI service of 272 men, nine women and five unknowns who lived in the former Shire of Creswick. Kingston, as the geographical centre of the region and the location of the council chambers, was selected as the location for the Avenue of Honour.
However, as was the fate of many such avenues across the state, the site fell into disrepair. Over the years the effects of time and weather took their toll. Cattle and sheep were allowed to graze around the trees damaging the roots and allowing suckers to emerge. Many of the original plaques identifying the service men and women fell off, got broken and were lost.
But in 1999 a Kingston Friends of the Avenue group was formed to protect and preserve the place. Very soon people came together to tend to some long overdue maintenance and replace dead trees. While the original Friends of the Avenue dissolved in 2000, the group was reformed in 2014 and has been active ever since, as president Julie Baulch, pictured, explains:
“The present state of the Avenue of Honour, which secured Victorian Heritage listing in 2015, has come about primarily due to the hard work and dedication of a small number of people who have given freely of their time, energy and expertise through working bees, fundraising and grant applications.
“Most recently we commissioned a professional arborist to produce a tree management plan as part of a larger conservation initiative which also covers the name plaques and other historic infrastructure. It is being developed for submission to Hepburn Shire Council and also to access Heritage Victoria funding. Such efforts are to ensure the upkeep of the site in perpetuity on behalf of the families of those who served.”
Rural Avenues of Honour are often charged with an ethereal significance obscured in built-up areas. Aside from major city monuments, the pace of development of suburbs surrounding such historic sites can often diminish the resonance of memory imbued in each tree. But in Kingston, despite the fact it has been over 100 years since the avenue was established, many descendants remain in the area and the country has hardly changed since those young people answered the call so long ago.
This is the principal reason why the proposed AusNet towers development is such a cause for dismay in the village despite the fact the planned route does not directly impact the avenue itself.
“After many years putting in the effort to restore and maintain our Avenue of Honour, suddenly we have the prospect of 85 metre high towers disrupting this historical landscape. We would like to see the entire project go back to the drawing board and put a greater consideration to undergrounding along current easements outside the boundaries of private farming land.”

The next step in putting the brakes on the development for the residents of Kingston is a public meeting on March 6 at the Kingston Showgrounds. The meeting will provide an important opportunity for coordinating a community reply to the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project Environmental Effects Statement to be released in May. The meeting will also include an update from Stop AusNet’s Towers with input expected from community representatives and local politicians.
Without a concerted and strong response to the AusNet-authored environmental effects statement, it remains a real possibility that high voltage towers will become the dominant presence over the region; substituting the ghosts of those immortalised for generations on the Kingston Avenue of Honour.

Words & image: Tony Sawrey

IT’S just weeks until the community celebrates 25 years of ChillOut.
Festival director Em Ireland said this year’s theme was Our time to shine, “so get your shiny wardrobe ready for some well-deserved celebrations”.
“ChillOut’s 2022 silver jubilee is about connectedness of community to celebrate unity and feel the sun on our faces, experience laughter, dancing and survival in Covid-safe environments. It’s our time to shine and feel a collective lust for life. We can’t wait to create this environment and experience for everyone in March this year and for years to come. There are heaps of free events for everyone too.”
Ms Ireland said tickets were selling fast for the main events: the opening night, Daddy and Ballroom Blitz.
Other featured events include the Bush Dance, Radius Gallery exhibition (featuring portraits of many locals from the LGBTQIA community), Hepburn all-ages Sound Shell (run by the Daylesford College Pride Bri-GAY-de) with fashion parade, Homophonic symphony, and Q&A panels for the young and old.
Ms Ireland said street parade entries were open online and Carnivale at Victoria Park was back with new additions including a Glitterati hair and makeup tent, Try-hard-athalon sporting games and the Best in Show fur-babies event.
ChillOut artists range from Eurovision’s KEiiNO (Norway), Kylie Auldist and Devil Goat Family String Band to DJ DuJour, Leather Lungs and Art Simone (as seen on RuPaul’s Drag Race). Ambassadors are Nate Byrne (ABC weatherman), Molly Meldrum, Ro Allen (Commissioner for Equality), Dolly Diamond, Frock Hudson, Sexy Galexy and Freddie Merkin.
There is a shuttle bus running around town from Friday to Monday, some special bus services from Melbourne and return, and the ChillOut Hub for information, tickets, bus passes, volunteer registration and merchandise. The hub is next to the Daylesford Post Office.
“Get involved, come have a dance and support your local artists and community whilst we all share our time to shine at ChillOut’s 2022 silver jubilee.”
www.chilloutfestival.com.au
Pictured, Sheldon Riley (Eurovision – Australia Decides) will be performing on Sunday, March 13 at the Vic Park Carnivale

Water features

“Hey Glen, my water feature is about to have its first water plants – water lilies (nymphaea hybrid pink), and swamp ludwigia (ludwigia palustris). I’m considering repotting into larger pots and I am asking how to make up a good mix for each drainable pot. The idea is then for a long period of little maintenance.
Stefan.”

Stefan, the news is all good. Aquatic plants are a great addition for the garden. Whether destined for a life in a water-filled bowl, bath tub, pond or even a ‘bog garden’, they just need a stable anchorage for their roots and with easy access to nourishment and clear water.
When it comes to choosing the soil/compost mix, like orchid fanciers, everyone has their own best blend. But really almost anything goes – just as long as it’s stable, won’t leach out into the surrounding water, or drift off up to the surface, leaving the roots bare. Most importantly it must provide a ready source of organic nourishment for the roots. No chemicals, either fertiliser or insecticidal. Everything that goes into the water, stays and infects the water, and consequently the plants.
I’m led to believe that one useful potting mixture would consist of a blend of coarse sand or small pebbles for the base, then a good layer of well-rotted cow manure or compost topped with a quality potting mix. And all covered with a generous layer of coarse sand or fine gravel to keep everything from floating away. At least that’s what my grandfather told me and he specialised in aquatic plants and pond fish during his long reign in the family nursery.
As for containers, he used the wire hanging plant baskets with a hessian lining as a perfect method to hold everything together. These days we have those ready-made fibre liners to do the job. As an alternative, there are plastic pots of all sizes with slotted sides available at most garden outlets. But be sure to put in a fine net lining to prevent losing the soil, something like non-rotting shade cloth will do.
If you are planning to keep your newly repotted plants intact for two or three years, be sure to use containers at least three times the size of the existing ones to allow for future plant growth.
When placing the plants into your pool, be conscious of the depth of water above the new plants. The ludwigia, with their long frond-like foliage are quite content to find their way to the surface, but nymphaeas (pictured above) need a little help although grow naturally until their lilypads and flowers can float majestically on the surface.
Once established, the water lily should be submerged to a final depth of between 30 and 60cm, a depth that will allow the new leaves to reach the pond’s surface.
It may be necessary to give them a helping hand by building an adjustable plinth with bricks until they reach the desired height.
A water feature, in any size, shape or form can add a new dimension to your garden, providing colour and movement, if you add a few fish. And even gentle sounds if there is movement added to the water.
It can be as simple as a large water-filled urn or old concrete trough, filled with waterlilies and other favourite plants or a glamorous, landscaped pond. If well planted and given the right setting, water features are easy to look after and a joy to behold. I’ll tell you how to create and maintain yours next time.

Got a gardening question: Email glenzgarden@gmail.com

IF YOU’VE ever visited the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens glasshouse, you will have seen the amazing tuberous begonias, flamboyant, colourful and huge – but only viewed from behind the glass walls.
Now they are easily accessible with Jesse and Peter from the Tuberous Begonia Garden showing and selling these amazing plants and hanging baskets every weekend, from Saturday, February 5 until Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 8.
Also on show and sale are the old fashioned fuchsias – you may remember them from your nan’s garden – now riding a wave of popularity.
Jesse said both tuberous begonias and fuchsias were shade-loving plants and so went hand-in-hand for showing and sales.

“We have a large shade house and one side is where people can come and look at our plants and the other is where they can buy them if they want. They will flower from now until past Mother’s Day and make the most wonderful and unique presents. After that they die back to tubers and the following year they will come back again.
“We have about 60 varieties of fuchsias and we are growing tuberous begonias in the thousands as we only sell them when they are two years old. And they don’t have names because each one is individual. You never have two the same so you can name them yourselves – tuberous begonia variety Donna and Kyle for example. And they will always have that name.”
Jesse said tuberous begonias were very difficult to propagate and Peter had been working on that side of the business for the past five years, only showing and selling them for the past two.
But while the propagation is time-consuming, keeping a tuberous begonia is pretty easy going, and Jesse has prepared both an instruction sheet and YouTube video to keep things simple. (The video can be seen at www.whitehousenursery.com.au/tuberous-begonias)
Jesse said anyone who loved colourful flowering plants would love both tuberous begonias and fuchsias. “We have had lots of customers from last year calling us to say how happy they are with their plants, and how much pleasure they are getting from them. They can both be brought inside during the day, to enjoy their colour, but they do need to spend the night outside.”
The Tuberous Begonia Garden, 691 Ashbourne Rd, Ashbourne, is open weekends from February 5 to May 8 from 10am to 4pm. Covid-safe practices include checking in to the QR code, sanitising on entry and preferably wearing a mask, even outside.
Link: www.whitehousenursery.com.au/tuberous-begonias

The MANet upcoming I Be Human portrait prize exhibitions will be held at the EDGE galleries in Maldon.
The painting, drawing and mixed media finalists exhibition will be held February 5-13 and photography exhibition February 19-27. All entries for the People’s Choice Award will be at www.maldonartistnetwork.org.au
The I Be Human photography portrait prize will open on February 19 and run until February 27.
Details: maldonmanet@gmail.com

Love Song is the first production of the year at The Mountview Theatre, Macedon in February and March.
Beane is an exile from life – an oddball. His well-meaning sister Joan and brother-in-law Harry try to make time for him in their busy lives, but no one can get through. Following a burglary on his apartment, Joan is baffled to find her brother blissfully happy, and tries to unravel the story behind Beane’s mysterious new love Molly. John Kolvenbach’s offbeat comedy is a rhapsody to the power of love.
Tickets: www.themountplayers.com

The Lyonville Woodchop returns for its 50th year after being stopped by Covid last year.
Join in the fun and see the woodchips fly from 10.30am on Saturday, February 5 at Lyonville Hall. Barbeque, bar, coffee and cakes, raffle, spinning wheel and more. All vaccinated folk are welcome to attend. Entry is $5, kids free. All proceeds to the Lyonville Hall.

To market, to market.
Craft Markets Australia is holding a market at Hanging Rock Reserve on Saturday, February 19 and Saturday, March 19, and at Victoria Park, Daylesford on Saturday, February 26. All from 9am to 2pm. Something for everyone at these country markets. Get in early to grab a bargain.

STAFF working in clinics and hospitals have received plenty of well-earned praise, but those trying to offer both vaccines, medication and advice, pharmacies, are also in the firing line.
Some would be feeling overwhelmed but Blooms Daylesford retail manager Lisa Samulski and her team are loving helping the community get vaccines – they are now open for walk-ins, over the counter and prescription medication, the right advice, and finally the much sought-after RAT tests.
“With the RAT tests I asked the owners, Andrew Lesley and Huy Huynh, if we could roll out a program specifically designed to support our local businesses so that they could trade responsibly, keep their staff safe and continue to trade for the betterment of our whole community and the visitors to our area,” Lisa said.
“I think that the hospitality industry in particular has had a tough ride during Covid and it’s been my absolute pleasure to be able to give them support.
“We have scrolled the country to purchase the kits to support this community and businesses and Andrew and I had many meetings to nut out where we could source this much-needed gold – and we succeeded. Andrew does not take no for an answer!”
Lisa said the support of the community had been fantastic with free coffees delivered by Frangos, flowers and cards dropped off by appreciative customers, some great Google reviews and even community members offering to help out when there were staff shortages.
But there had been a few moments, with Covid stress on the rise for everyone, that had been difficult for staff to work through, Lisa said. Especially when the store had to close its doors for a day – while still delivering medications around the region.
“The Covid pandemic has been a difficult time for so many people on so many different levels. While there were some people that were not as kind to our staff as they should’ve been, when I spoke out to the community via Facebook to remind them that we are all doing our best and to extend the respect deserved by my team, the Blooms crew were blown away by the fabulous supportive response shared by our awesome community.
“And I’m so proud of my team who are diverse in personality, ages and experience. But myself and each of our crew are aligned with offering the highest level of commitment and care to the Blooms brand and the Hepburn Shire community. Myself and Andrew and Huy are committed to helping everyone in our community with the objective to not only meet but exceed expectations wherever possible.”
Lisa, who moved to the region just over 18 months ago with her son Steffen to be with her family – mother, two sisters and a niece – and her partner Christine Lewis, said she adored the “fabulous community in Hepburn Springs where we live, Daylesford where I work and the region where we are meeting new people on a regular basis.
“I come to work each day and feel excited and proud and while I am often stretched to navigate areas that I too am still learning particularly because of the vaccinations and Covid requirements, I have never been more thrilled to go to work. My employer, my team and the Hepburn community make my heart swell daily.
“The leadership of Andrew is the most nurturing and committed in terms of wanting to provide old-fashioned service blended with the most contemporary management style. It is our ultimate aim to be number one, the absolute best in regional pharmacy.
“I encourage the community to keep sharing smiles with my team and if there is anything I can do to better support, please come and have a chat with me. But of course the store is always super busy so please be patient. There are still more wonderful things to come, so watch this space.”

CENTRAL Victorians are being encouraged to get to know their local growers and purchase their fresh produce from the many farm gates in the region.
With disruptions to the delivery of food to supermarkets due to the impact the pandemic is having on supply chains, there’s never been a better time to support local farmers.
An initiative of the Veg Action Group of the Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group, a new website is helping connect families to the abundance of farm gates that are open locally for people to purchase their food fresh from its source.
As well as discovering local producers, the Get To Know Your Grower website has details of farmers markets in the region and profiles on many of the stallholders.
After years of selling their fruit, vegetables, herbs and nuts at local markets, Irene and Andrew Brooks decided two years ago to establish a farm gate at their property in Trentham East.
“Our philosophy is simple,” says Irene. “Grow it, cook it, eat it. All our produce is grown on our farm and any fruit or vegetables that are not used fresh are turned into sauces, jams, chutneys, curds and fresh pesto.”
As well as produce including apples, berries, rhubarb, saffron and asparagus, plants and fresh flowers are also available to purchase. Details on opening times can be found on Trentham East Farm Gate’s Facebook page.
The Get To Know Your Grower website encourages people to eat and grow more vegetables. People can search for what is in season, get tips on growing their own produce and find home delivery vegetable boxes. There is also a list of cafes and restaurants that do plant-based meal options as well as vegetarian recipes.
Supported by Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health, Macedon Ranges Shire Council, and the Healthy Heart of Victoria project, it is hoped that Get To Know Your Grower will expand as more suppliers are added.

Link: www.veg.mrsg.org.au

I HAVE been watching a fair bit of TV lately. Just relaxing a little, staying at home, breathing deeply – without fear. You know the drill.
It’s been nice. I don’t even mind the adverts. Well, some of them are hard to watch. I don’t like the ones where the blokes yell – selling ladders that flip into all sorts of shapes, and cookware that you can throw in a handful of nails and they still don’t get scratched. Not sure who is doing the cooking at his home but if I found Kyle throwing in a few nails under the spag bol I would be a bit worried, scratches or not.
But the advert that is really getting under my skin is the one for Fire Rescue Victoria. I Googled it a bit and I think it is put out by the United Firefighters Union. I did email them but got nothing back but it sort of makes sense because do you remember the argy-bargy between the union, the state government and the CFA – that’s the Country Fire Authority for all you newbies to our region. And welcome.
Back to the advert, which I find rude, galling and an insult to the many, many, highly trained, caring, always professional, CFA volunteers. Yes, that’s right, volunteers. As in, do this in their own time. For no money. And no glory. Walking away from their businesses, or waking up in the middle of the night, to help both their communities and people they have never met. Many all their adult life.
Yes, the FRV operates mostly in metropolitan Melbourne but some of their 85 stations are in places like Bendigo and Wodonga, Ballarat and Portland. And I have nothing against career firefighters. A number of them saved one of our dogs during a house fire in Frankston many years ago. But have a read of the advert’s wording and see if you don’t feel a tad annoyed:
Ready for a house fire or emergency? Ready to free a passenger from a car? Ready for a medical emergency? Ready to tackle a toxic warehouse fire? You don’t have to be because your new Fire Rescue Victoria is. Find out if your community is now protected by professional firefighters from FRB with four years of specialised training, state-of-the-art equipment and guaranteed rapid response. Professional fire fighters are ready for anything.
Maybe it’s just me but I feel like there is an underlying hint of volunteer or professional. You can’t have both. Which is rubbish. We live next door to a CFA station and those volunteers are there every Sunday from 9am, training, making sure everything is ready to go. They not only attend bushfires but also housefires, accident call-outs, searches for missing people. In 2009 they were sent to Kinglake and Marysville to look for bodies. Doing that is the meaning of “ready for anything”.
Look, I am sure there is room for both services, just not these adverts. And what about the idea you don’t have to be ready for any emergency. Nice thought but we saved ourselves and one dog before the firies turned up at Frankston. And Kyle gave some pretty good first aid when a bloke on Stradbroke Island suffered third degree burns after the generator in the shed he was in blew up. Surely we need to take some responsibility for ourselves. So just take the adverts down and get back to the core business of saving lives and property. It’s not a hard ask.
Final thought, not on firefighters, but on local businesses. I know we are meant to be “living with Covid” after “letting it rip” but with Omicron being so contagious, it is like we are in a little bit of a self-imposed lockdown. Which is fine if that makes you feel safer but if you can support a local business in any way, please think about it. They are doing it tough again – and with no government support this time around. Just sayin’…
(Oh, you can watch the ad at www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4F4ToblVOM)

THE summer holidays have ground to a halt, our New Year’s resolutions are a bit of a distant memory and we have wheeled the dumpster fire known as 2021 into the back lane, filled it with accelerant and let it rip.
And it seems now we can quietly welcome 2022 into the world with very steady hands and breathing shallow, sort of like a member of the bomb squad, we will see how this annus horribilis presents itself or not.
Will it be full of wonderment, rainbow slide rides that end in soft white marshmallow clouds, filling us with joyous memories? Or as we slip into the alcohol haze of Christmas time this year, will we be wanting to whack its head like a red- headed stepchild. And before the woke generation put the boot in, yes, I was a red- headed stepchild and yes, they did.
Already Meatloaf, the famous, larger than life character who wrote the soundtrack of my early teens Bat Out of Hell has departed this mortal coil. He recently jumped on the anti-vax train and declared “I won’t do that” and as it turns out he probably should have, the poor old bugger.
Speaking of poor old buggers (actually I am just trying to tidy up a jarring segue the editor asked me to sort out after a writing sabbatical) this poor old bugger is a bit perplexed by the prices of a rapid antigen test or a RAT.
I appreciate the value things have. When a plumber comes in to do some work, writes out the invoice for an eye-watering amount, I am happy to pay. I haven’t hired this person to simply fix the plumbing and I know their knowledge doesn’t stop at “shit runs downhill and pay day is on Friday”. I have hired them for their prior experience of years on the job.
The same can be said for when I turn up to a photography job. I am not just clicking a button on the top of my camera. Well actually, sometimes I do just click the button with a hasty retreat when it comes to those bloody giant bloody cheque handovers that I have nightmares about and these days refuse to do.
But for the most part you are paying for a guy with years of experience, a couple of awards and a good eye for photojournalism.
But I digress. Back to the RAT tests. These things range from $10 to $15 and, as aforementioned, I appreciate the science and knowledge gone into making these things, but open the pack and what have you got?
An individually packed cotton bud, which cost retail $6 for a 50 pack – and these things only have one end making them worth five cents apiece.
There is an instruction card and a plastic thing that looks like it’s the disposable interchangeable tip to one of those lights that a doctor shoves in your ear. These two pieces combined would be about 10 cents.
Then there is the business end of the test. The vial of stuff that co-mingles the bacteria from your nose, maybe twenty cents worth of brew in that. And finally, the pregnancy test tray, for which I will be generous to the scientists that developed it and give it a mass-produced value of $1 per tray.
That, in my estimation is $1.35 worth of test kit, and I know down the logistical line everyone who handles these items must clip the ticket and make a bob, but $15 seems a bit beyond the pale.
RATTY rant over…