Clunes locals are being urged to register to be part of this festive season’s Christmas lights competition.

 Organisers are inviting residents to register their lights in Clunes’ ‘Let your Light/s Shine’ competition and add your location to the Google Map at www.facebook.com/christmasinclunes so others can enjoy your display!

Better yet, they say all registrations go into the competition to win cash prizes and vouchers.  A great excuse to let your Christmas lights shine as loud as you like! More information is available through the town’s Neighbourhood House.

Clunes’ streetscape is like a stage just waiting to be set for the festive season.

Once again, garlands, wreaths and simple fairy lights will be draped along the verandahs of Fraser Street to help locals get into the festive spirit and those who feel like getting involved are being encouraged to do so by contacting the Clunes Neighbourhood House now. 

Carols, the street parade, a street feast and music are all planned.

All the fun of the classic country fair is coming up Saturday, November 26 at Woodend Primary School’s Carlsruhe Country Fair.

It’s a chance to buy a bargain in the silent auction or load up a basket with plants or flowers, buy fresh bread and pastries, purchase homemade goodies from the market stalls or just sit and enjoy a cup of tea and a homemade scone.

Organisers say those who make it can also expect to find wood-fired pizza made in the onsite school pizza ovens plus plenty of homemade edibles and a barbecue.

There’ll be a giant 30m slide, bungee trampolines, an inflatable obstacle tunnel, a trackless train, arts and crafts, a sideshow alley and an action-packed entertainment stage.

People are being invited to register now to be part of Clunes’ Christmas parade set for 7pm Friday, December 9.

Clunes is a town that loves a good parade.  If you haven’t seen the photographs in the Clunes Museum of parades-of-old, then you should, organisers of this year’s event say. 

​They’re encouraging community groups, businesses and groups of friends to get involved and say all you need to do is register and turn up in Purcell Street (at the back of the town’s chemist) at 6.30pm, ready for the parade to commence at 7pm.

More details on how to go about being part of the festive fun are available from Clunes Neighbourhood House.

Federal Member for Ballarat, Catherine King, this month visited the Midlands Golf and Bowls Club to inspect their newly updated bowling green, made possible through a Stronger Communities Grant.

The Bowls club was successful in receiving $7,500 through Round 7 of the Stronger Communities Program to purchase a defibrillator and to upgrade the lining of the bowling green.

“The current lining material on the bowling green was installed over 30 years ago. This upgrade is a long-term investment, that will make the green safer for bowlers,” Ms King said when she visited the club in recent days.

Previously, the closest defibrillator was over 100 metres away from the bowling green, posing a safety risk for bowlers.

“Ensuring a defibrillator is close by is potentially life-saving.

“This is exactly what the Stronger Communities Program is all about.”

The Stronger Communities Program provides funding of between $2,500 and $20,000 for not-for-profit community organisations and local governments to deliver small capital projects that deliver social benefits and boost community participation.

This weekend offers garden lovers a rare opportunity to visit professionally designed private gardens in the Macedon Ranges during Garden DesignFest.

Over the weekend of November 19-20 five gardens showcasing different design features will open across Gisborne, Tylden and Kyneton.

They include designers Kate and Kendall Monk’s Aperture Garden in Kyneton to Bruce Honey’s nine-acre ‘Verdicus’ in Tylden.

During the weekend, visitors will be able to chat to the designers who will on site in the gardens.

Bruce Honey, the owner and designer of Verdicus, will host tours at 11.30am and 2pm. All gardens are open 10am to 5pm. Entry fees range from $5 to $12 (depending garden size).

The state government has moved to help businesses across the state to avoid waste and create
new commercial opportunities for recycled products, creating new local jobs and industries.
Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas late last month congratulated the Melbourne Water Corporation and the Blampied Kooroocherang Land Care Group for their success in being two of 45 projects across Victoria chosen to accelerate the state’s nation-leading transformation toward a circular
economy.
Melbourne Water Corporation was given a grant of $15,019 and the Blampied Kooroocherang Land
Care Group was given a grant of $46,500 as part of Circular Economy Markets Fund (Organics).
The Labor Government are supporting Melbourne Water Corporation’s project in Romsey, an onfarm trial to demonstrate the use composted urban green waste undervine in the Macedon Ranges
Shire and the Blampied Kooroocherang Land Care Group in the establishment of on-farm trials, in
Eganstown, to demonstrate the benefits of compost application in broad-acre grazing and cropping
systems.
Some of the 22 successful projects by research institutes and businesses announced today as part of
the Labor Government’s Circular Economy Markets Fund (Materials) fund include a new process to
reuse glass from solar panels in construction and a recycled plastic solution for construction
structures that significantly reduces the amount of concrete required.
A further nine projects will receive over $1.5 million to avoid waste and increase materials efficiency
through the Circular Economy Business Support Fund, with one recipient introducing a new reusable
wine keg service for events to replace wine bottles, significantly reducing waste.
The Circular Economy Markets Fund (Organics) will provide $1.87 million to 14 projects that remove
barriers and accelerate the adoption of recycled organic products, including developing a market for
compost suitable for use on sporting fields that can be blended with turf to nourish Melbourne’s
sporting grounds and public open spaces.

Recent rainfall events have left Central Catchment Management Authority with considerable work to do in assessing damage done to local waterways and the assets built to protect and enhance them.

North Central CMA program delivery executive manager, Rachel Murphy says the North Central CMA wants the community’s help to assess the damage.

“Part of that work from now on will be understanding the full extent of the impact of recent flooding on our waterways and wetlands,” she said.

“We’re keen to hear from landholders who have noticed flood damage to waterway fencing and revegetation, or significant bank erosion,” she said.

“We’re putting a register together to help identify priority locations where we may be able to support recovery efforts.

“We’ve created an easy to use online survey for people to enter in as much information as they can about any damage to waterways on their property or in their area.

“From there, we hope to get back in touch with people over the coming months to undertake more detailed impact assessments.”

People can go to www.bit.ly/cmarepair, follow the links on the North Central CMA website – www.nccma.vic.gov.au or call 03 5448 7124.

Young readers in Macedon are set to benefit from an added $16,632 in funding for local libraries
from the state’s 2022-23 Premiers’ Reading Challenge Book Fund.
The Minister for Local Government Melissa Horne and Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas
have announced the funding which will enable libraries to purchase books on the suggested reading
list for the 2023 Premiers’ Reading Challenge.
Each year, the Premiers’ Reading Challenge encourages children and students to read a set number
of books and record their efforts online.
Each year, the Premiers’ Reading Challenge encourages children and young people across Victoria to
read a set number of books, with a published list containing a range of books suited to different
reading levels.
Public libraries play an important role during the Challenge, with many young readers visiting their
local library to access the books included on the list.
The Government’s support will help libraries to purchase the books listed, allowing them to grow
their collections for young people to enjoy now and into the future.
Since the Premiers’ Reading Challenge first began in 2005, it has helped teachers and parents inspire
more than 3.5 million young Victorians to read more than 54 million books.

Daylesford’s Kadota and the town’s Lake House have both taken out two chef’s hats accolades in the newly announced Age Good Food Guide Awards 2023.

The prestigious culinary results helps cement the Hepburn Shire as a fine dining locality with One Hat accolades also going to a handful of other local eateries including Beppe, Daylesford and The Surely Goat in Hepburn Springs.

Meanwhile, Trentham’s Du Fermier has scooped the Age Good Food Guide’s Service Excellence Award while also scoring a one hat gong.

And attaining the one hat rating across the wider region are: Bar Midland in Castlemaine, Kuzu in Woodend and Kyneton’s Midnight Starling.

It’s census time for Australian pollinators, but they need our help.
The inaugural Australian Pollinator Count started on Monday as part of Australian Pollinator Week, and community members
across the country are being encouraged to take part.
The Australian Pollinator Count is being launched with funding from Wheen Bee Foundation, and is supported by Count
partners Earthwatch Australia, Australian Native Bee Association and Bees Business.
Wheen Bee Foundation CEO Fiona Chambers says the Count is an important research project that requires the power of
citizen scientists from all parts of Australia.
“More than three-quarters of the world’s food crops rely, to some extent, on insect pollination for yield or quality, and
more than 95 per cent of plant species need animal pollinators to help them reproduce. Yet there is very little information
available about the vast majority of natural pollinators,” Ms Chambers says.
“We need a country-wide review of the state of pollinators, and to do this we need everyone to take part.”
The Australian Pollinator Count is a long-term project to monitor the status and trends of pollinator populations. This
includes more than 2,000 species of bees, along with thousands of species of flies, butterflies, moths, wasps, beetles and
other insects.
“We need more information about these populations so we can make informed decisions to ensure their wellbeing and safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem health,” Ms Chambers says.

Mates, Jarrod McQuade, John Crozier and Lucas Paladino are steeling themselves to part with their prized dreadlocks tomorrow in the name of mental health.

Through their fundraiser, Cut the Dread, they aim to raise $20,000 for Youth Live4Life.

The dreadlock shave will take place at the Full Moon Saloon, Woodend, tomorrow at 1pm on Saturday, November 19 and it’s all for a good cause.

Nevertheless, it’s a hairy move for the trio who grew up together in Woodend and have become known for their dreads.

Their chosen organisation, Youth Live4Life, is a non-profit that began in the Macedon Ranges and now supports young people right across Victoria.

Live4Life is the only mental health education and youth suicide prevention model designed specifically for rural and regional communities.

It delivers teen and accredited youth mental health first aid training in schools and the wider community, create local partnerships to lead conversations about mental health that reduce stigma, and promote young leaders as mental health ambassadors.

The trio began a GoFundMe page and have already raised $6000 toward their $20,000 target.

This Saturday’s dreadlock shave will include hamper prizes (donated from local businesses), live entertainment, silent auctions, and food and drink.

A Trentham restaurant has clinched this years Service Excellence Award in the newly announced Age Good Food Guide Awards 2023.

Du Fermier has won the Service Excellence Award for The Age Good Food Guilde 2023, having been deemed by the judges to execute “the highest standard of service, from attitude and skill to knowledge and personality”.

Du Fermier has also been named among the regional eateries to receive a coveted one chef’s hat gong in the newly announced awards with several other eateries in the region also scooping a one hat award while Daylesford’s Kadota and Daylesford’s Lake House were among those to take a two hat accolade.

Recent rain may have forced the horse competition to postpone, but this Saturday’s Kyneton show will otherwise still go on, organisers say.

The impact of recent rain events means the committee will run a separate horse show early 2023 with dates to be announced after the show.

However, the committee says the good news is that the show will go ahead as scheduled, rain, hail or shine, with the dog show to move to the main oval in front of the grandstand.

“It is one of the oldest shows in Victoria that’s still running and the 160th is a great time to be celebrating the importance of country shows,” Kyneton Agricultural Society president Andrew Ferrington said. The show opens with a Friday night carnival featuring fireworks, with show day this Saturday, November 19. The Kyneton Show began in 1858, running until the military occupied the showgrounds during World War II then continuing every year until COVID shut down community gatherings. The ag society ran a free fireworks display last year when the pandemic postponed the 160th show a second time. “Last year’s fireworks kept the show alive for everybody. It gave people hope that life would get back to normal and the show would be back, bigger and better than ever,” secretary Josephine Rutledge said. The old favourite, the woodchop, returns to the show after a long absence with demonstrations during the day on Saturday.

 

Heavy rainfall over recent days has forced a disappointed Clunes and District Agricultural Society to cancel this weekend’s keenly anticipated Clunes Show.

 “I am really sad to have to advise that the difficult decision was made last night (Monday night) to cancel this year’s Clunes Show as our grounds are too wet to hold the event safely, committee secretary Gayle Wrigley said.

“On behalf of all the members of our Ag Society I would sincerely like to thank you for supporting our event -it is so important to its success. 

 “We have our fingers firmly crossed for good fortune in 2023.”