January 1st, 2025Looking back on the year that was …

Christmas is done and dusted and now it’s time to kick back and chill – whether you want to add Netflix or not is completely up to you. 

It’s also time for the crew at The Local to have a little bit of downtime but not without completing a great look back at the year that was. 

Some people might think this is a lazy edition, an easy way to fill a paper without much work involved but I can sincerely say it is probably the most work I have done in a while – especially because I kept slipping down memory lane and reading way too much from each edition. Like when you look in a real photo album. But I digress.

This edition is mostly, well completely, about the good news that happened over 2024 – because we get enough bad news on the morning television.

 So, while I understand many things happened which were challenging and led to plenty of tears (the Daylesford tragedy anniversary) and others led to lots of conversations (Hepburn Shire’s town plans), we decided to focus on the festivals, the people and then fun – all the things we all love about living in the Central Highlands. 

If you have a read through you will see most of the people we wrote about during the year and if you didn’t make it onto these pages don’t worry, it just might be we had too many great stories in one month to choose all of them. 

This edition is also featuring our Artists of the Central Highlands which run every second edition, along with our Walks of the Central Highlands. Both are written by our talented journalist Eve Lamb, whom many of you would have met by now. 

She is always out and about with not only writing her stories but also taking great photos. And we all know she will never run out of artists to interview or interesting walks to trek along. 

I would also like to thank all of our wonderful crew and contributors – they really put in the hard yards and keep The Local punching well about its weight. 

I hope you enjoy this edition and feel free to delve into more stories from the year at www.tlnews.com.au under archives.

 Oh, if you have any ideas for next year please let us know. Someone recently said sudoku would be a good idea – but they still want us to keep the crossword going. 

Personally I can’t do it but I did see many people on our recent cruise heading to the library every morning to pick up the latest puzzle. I guess I am more about the words. 

Catch you in 2025, January 13 to be precise or online on January 12, with all the news that’s fit to read. And more. Happy New Year, Donna