News
-
Gisborne ALDI soon
Construction has commenced on an ALDI supermarket at Gisborne that will provide 15-20 permanent and part-time jobs to the local community. A company spokesperson said the store was due to open this year. “The council has approved the temporary structures currently occupying the site,” the spokesperson said. “We are eager to bring our unique shopping…
-
New public events policy clamps down on waste
New requirements governing waste management – including plastics – at local public events will be phased in over the next two years after Mount Alexander Shire Council adopted its new waste-wise events policy last week. Once fully implemented, the new policy will require a range of more environmentally sustainable practices aimed at reducing landfill and…
-
Looking after locals
Riddells Creek Foodworks has employed security to check identification at the door to prevent outsiders from stripping the shelves bare. The move comes after reports of busloads of Melbourne shoppers flocking to regional towns and clearing the shelves. Since 10am last Wednesday, anyone without proof of residency within a 12km radius of Riddells Creek was…
-
Trade takes new shape
Trade is taking new shape for many innovative local businesses adapting to COVID-19 precautions. Drive-through options, online platforms and extra delivery services are helping locals adhere to spatial distancing and assuring the region is still open for business. Malmsbury Hotel owner Anda Gazzard said it was important for local businesses to adapt as needs and…
-
Kyneton volunteers deliver meals to those in self-isolation
A small group of Kyneton volunteers are helping those in need and in self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic by cooking and delivering meals to residents in Kyneton and surrounds. The group was started by a Kyneton resident who wanted to help the elderly, vulnerable and those who could not access supermarkets or food outlets…
-
Council public facilities closed, events cancelled or postponed as COVID-19 precaution
Many of Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s public facilities will be closed and events will be cancelled or postponed as a preventative measure following the outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19. Chief executive officer Margot Stork said council was taking a proactive approach in order to protect the health and wellbeing of the community, especially elderly and vulnerable…
-
Poster art provokes
Peter Drew has had one or two confrontational moments in his successful career as a street artist of renown. His work – displayed in very public places – tends to elicit strong response. “My intention is not to change the world but to put art into the world to see what happens,” the Adelaide-based artist…
-
Macedon Ranges Council shake up – Redundancies expected in restructure
Council staff fear job losses as a major organisational restructure begins to shake up Macedon Ranges Shire Council. Chief executive officer Margot Stork confirmed last week the council was in the process of transitioning from four directorates to three. Hundreds of council staff will not know the full impact of the restructure for 10-12 weeks,…
-
No more water hazard at Trentham club
Teeing off at the picturesque par-three 13th hole at Trentham Golf Course is usually accompanied by the soothing noise of a waterfall. The problem is none of the club’s members can ever remember actually seeing it. “It’s pretty noisy. We have always known there was something there,” club president Keith Webster said. The golf course…
-
Dancing a jig with dad
By Sandy Scheltema It’s been two years since Matt Harding, an internationally renowned sculptor living and working in Trentham, tragically died from suicide, leaving behind his beloved partner Freya Maclaren and their four young children. His death shook the local community, where Matt lived with his family. Trentham resident Jacinta Bourke thought it was a…
-
Out in force
The role of women in policing was celebrated with a special International Women’s Day event at Castlemaine Police Station on Sunday. Inspector Donna Mitchell, local area commander for the Goldfields, gave one of our journalists and a couple of Castlemaine Secondary College students the opportunity to join her on a behind-the-scenes tour of the station…
-
Funds needed to boost Macedon hub
A bold plan to transform Macedon’s much-loved former maternal and child health centre into a community hub is fast gaining community support. A group of dedicated Macedon residents who rallied to save the old Victoria Street house from council sale, have raised about $4000 since launching a fundraising campaign last week to renovate and revive…