Featured
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Local brigades step up
Local firefighters are stepping up to to fight depression, PTSD and suicide in this year’s Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb. Each participant will race up 28 floors at Crown Metropol while wearing 25kg of firefighting gear to raise funds and awareness for the cause and are calling for community support. Joining forces for Gisborne Fire Brigade…
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Fire exercise hones skills
With a high number of well-publicised serious house fires in the Macedon Ranges and surrounding areas this winter alone, it is important local CFA brigades are up to speed when it comes to dealing with these emergencies. To reinforce a range of firefighting skills to protect lives and property, a number of brigades were involved…
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Frightening near miss
The Victorian Goldfields Railway Murder on the Orient Express movie train gave passengers more than they bargained for when the train was involved in a near miss last Saturday night. The movie was being screened as the train travelled from Castlemaine and was nearing Maldon at 8.50pm when a car sped through the level crossing…
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On the write track
Preparing for this month’s Bendigo Writers Festival, Barkers Creek-based festival founder Rosemary Sorensen has cause to celebrate. After working on some of the nation’s leading metro writers’ festivals, the Castlemaine district local accurately identified the potential for a writers’ fest in Bendigo more than seven years ago. “Now we have more than 15,000 seats during…
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Highbank hopes
Watching your home go up in flames is dreadful. Watching it burn after having spent years meticulously restoring and renovating it is utterly heartbreaking. But it’s not enough to keep Tonia Todman and Michael Dowding from starting over and restoring their historic Kyneton homestead Highbank, which was gutted by fire three weeks ago. The couple…
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Luke’s legacy
Since Luke Brown’s tragic and sudden death in April, life for his family has been unbearably tough. But amid the darkness of their grief, the Brown family has dug deep and found a positive message which has become Luke’s legacy. At Luke’s memorial service, his family encouraged the congregation to get health checks. Last Thursday…
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Woodend win-win – Neighbours back developer’s new plans
Objectors to a proposed housing development in Woodend have become its biggest supporters in a rare turn of events. Thompson Builders’ Ian Thompson scrapped his original plans for 16 townhouses at 27 Corinella Road after residents convinced the developer to go back to square one on the project. “I have done all I can to…
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War on fruit fly
Efforts to avert the threat of fruit fly before it impacts on local fruit and veg producers have been ramped up at Harcourt with the announcement of a new series of state government grants. Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards visited local organic fruit producers, Mount Alexander Fruit Gardens, on Friday to announce just under $20,000…
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TRACK DEATH TRAP
Commuters are risking their lives to catch the train because of a move designed to reduce delays for morning peak services on the Bendigo line. Melbourne-bound V/Line trains previously picked up commuters from Platform 1 at Kyneton station but for the past week have instead arrived at Platform 2, requiring commuters who park in the…
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Workshop’s creative spark
A one-off women’s welding workshop in Romsey has sparked huge interest with 70 locals now on a waiting list to try their hand at the trade. High demand for the Romsey Neighbourhood House offering has since led to a series of new welding workshops and the team has Bendigo TAFE Community Services student Danielle Stanton…
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Boxer pays it forward
Underneath David Cannon’s tattoos and behind his boxing gloves lies a real softie at heart. The Sunbury gym owner and competitive boxer has embarked on a ‘pay it forward’ home renovation for a Romsey woman doing it tough. David met Nikki Anticevic, a disability pensioner, after responding to an advertisement for a caravan she had…
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Rage at lives lost
Twelve empty chairs, 12 empty pairs of shoes. Stark symbols of the deaths of 12 asylum seekers held in detention on Manus and Nauru over the past five years – and in Castlemaine there are many who are outraged and want those deaths to be noticed. Last Thursday members of Castlemaine Rural Australians for Refugees…