October 4th, 2020Just sayin’…

Glen Heyne, our now gardening, man about the house, writer was on the board of the Daylesford Community Bank and Kyle chatted to him about us starting The Local. Glen, a very community-minded person, was keen and got us our first corporate advert. He also gave us a lot of graphic design help.
Nick Bunning and Lindsay Smith knew Kyle from the info centre at Daylesford. They are amazing proofreaders and read our first edition for us back in September 2013. Then they just kept reading. I think it was about a year before we thought it might be nice to actually pay them something.
Dianne Caithness emailed out of the blue asking if we had any graphic design work available and that she just wanted the experience, not money. We said the clients would pay her, and they did, very happily for her amazing talent.
Kate Taylor was writing for the Moorabool News and we were invited to their Christmas party in Ballan and met her. We clicked over wines and later hilarious emails and just love her amazing take on the world. When she had her baby Bella, she said the worse experience was the “explosive poo”. Kate is blind. Think about it…

Jeff Glorfeld and his wife Carol were regulars, like us, at the Radio Springs Hotel and Glenlyon General Store, and we chatted away about his editing work at The Age. The offer to write for us now and again was quickly taken up. Even now, living in America, Jeff will still put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard.
Kevin Childs sent me an email asking if he could write for us. Hmmm, I thought. That name seems familiar. And of course Google brought up The Age, Saturday Paper, The Guardian and myriad books. I wrote back and explained The Local was “down here” and he was “up there” but luckily for us he ignored me and joined the crew.
David White saw an ad and called us looking for work but like Kevin, we soon realised we were in the realms of genius. David’s photography is amazing, he even still uses film here and there, and he is not scared of getting in and having a go. Even when a ferret latched onto his hand at Kyneton. Ouch.
Indre Kisonas started writing design columns for us after someone mentioned her name. She is a fantastic writer, with a great eye for design, but best of all she found us an affordable upholsterer who has just finished mid-century chairs and a couch for us – and they are fabulous!
Glenn Robinson came highly recommended by former RACV Royal Auto magazine cartoonist George Haddon. We found an old cartoon George had done of the geese at Lake Daylesford and asked if he would like to draw for us. He said no, but Glenn said yes. And he is pretty much the ying to Kyle’s column’s yang.
Julie Hanson runs her advert in The Local’s classified section so when we needed an accounts person she was a given. She also keeps us in the know about golf at Trentham and her husband Phil is a dab hand at sausage sizzling, which we found out when we held a fundraiser for the Woodend CFA a couple of years back.
Tony Sawrey came to us as a writer with an eye for quirk and photography which has led to some terrific yarns. He is also the friendly face, albeit covered by a mask these days, behind the delivery of The Local and The Little Local and keeps a keen eye on distribution and our baskets, which really, are our shopfront.
Tanya Loos approached us offering her wonderful Nature’s Diary column, already well read from appearing in another newspaper, but taken to the next level and given the room to breathe it needs in The Local.
Finally, Matt Richardson has been our accountant for many years. He came recommended by a Ballarat friend and we have never looked back. Throughout COVID he has been a great ally and always supportive as we ducked and weaved.
Yes, there have been a few other people in the crew who have moved on for different reasons. Danni decided camels and Alice Springs were more exciting and Paul headed to Tasmania with his expanding family.
But everyone has played a part and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our crew over the years for their support, hard work and friendship. It’s been a privilege to work with you all – and connect our community.
Really finally, thanks to my late mum Betty. She was The Local’s number one supporter. True, she would sometimes read the copies I posted and call to complain and that she was going to kill Kyle for something about her in his rant, but she was really very proud of what we were achieving.
Two hundred editions. It is a lot to look back over. And a huge thanks to everyone including our readers and advertisers. We certainly didn’t do it alone.
Just sayin’…