August 1st, 2025Just sayin’…

First up, a huge congratulations to Trentham and its wonderful people for being awarded the 2025 Victorian Top Tourism Town in the Tiny Tourism Town category. That should keep the lovers of alliteration happy.
If I didn’t live in Glenlyon, and had more money, I would happily live in Trentham. It has great businesses including fantastic pubs, a local IGA supermarket, The Mechanics Trentham has just celebrated its first anniversary and then there are the people.
I have always thought there was something in the water in Trentham to have so many creatives in the one town. (The Little Gallery Winter Show has just wrapped up but you can still buy tickets for the raffle – which will be drawn on August 1.)

The town just pumps. It used to be only on weekends but we had a meal at the Trentham pub during the week recently and it was really busy.
To celebrate, The Local is going to do a Trentham special in the next edition – so keep an eye out for that.
Next up, The Block has finally wrapped up with it now screening on Sunday evenings on Channel 9.
We were lucky enough to be invited to the media event on Friday, July 18 and meet all the contestants and have a chat to hosts Scotty and Shelley.
It was really interesting going through all the houses, each with a different style, although I am not sure the pools will get a good workout even during summer.
Maybe just one communal pool would have been better. They could have put a cover on it and called it the Daylesford Indoor Aquatic Centre…and charged an entrance fee.

Or skip the pool and create a communal gathering space and call it The Hub. Perhaps Hepburn Shire Council could have one day made the move from its rented premises in Vincent Street to 9 Raglan Street.
The show, that is The Block, seemed to have changed a bit this year. No all- nighters, a family visit after just two weeks away, lovely furnished caravans for all the contestants rather than bunking down on a mattress on the floor. The couple of times we went to the site during production, you would always see a few of the contestants in their deck chairs enjoying a bit of a natter.
One of the contestants also told me they had been pleasantly surprised by the very dry weather during the weeks of construction. They had thought the rain would be a problem but it had luckily held off. Not so lucky for the farmers, but still…
I reckon a lot of people from our region will be watching the show, not so much for the houses, but for the special projects with the Rex Cinema, Hepburn Bathhouse and Daylesford Men’s Shed…and hopefully the final auction will give a push to the currently pretty stagnant real estate market. Watch this space.
Finally, sad news for Clunes with the imminent closure of not only their Bendigo Bank agency but also the newsagency.

Picking up your papers, buying a magazine, trying for a Lotto win and just doing local banking are all really important activities for small towns. Stores provide community hubs – sometimes the only interaction a person will have for the day.
Closing them down might make economic sense but not community sense. I don’t know the answer though. Clearly the bank has crunched the numbers and quite a few of their local agencies are closing this year. But it can’t always be about the numbers. Like home care for the elderly, there is a human element that should override dollars. But it generally doesn’t. Just sayin’…