|
Another school year ends on a high note
Towamba Community Hall was filled on Tuesday 15 December by family and friends of Towamba School for its annual play and presentation night.
In Video and the Terrible Twins, ‘Mum’, Holly Bennetts, tried to save her ‘kids’, Claire McKenna and Theo Kelly, from the dangers of too much TV watching but didn’t stop them from being sucked into Video Land, haunt of, among other things, talking pet rabbits, apes, lions, zombies and wrinklies.
Under the direction of Sam Martin, music teacher extraordinaire, the play for the first time had its own orchestral accompaniment, and students and audience joined enthusiastically in the carol singing that finished up the evening.
Achievement awards went to Wally Samuels-Connell (Creative Arts), Doug Caldwell (Sport), Hannah Kelly (Citizenship) and Claire McKenna (Academic Excellence).
Principal, Gareth Hocking, paid tribute to the community of teachers, parents, and other supporters who have given the children of Towamba a wide range of learning experiences throughout the year. He also farewelled, with many thanks, Trish Castillo who retired, after eight years as school administrator.
Theo Kelly, Claire McKenna, Caleb Smith and Will Wiebe graduated and will move on to high school next year, but their loss will be offset by new, 2010 kinders, Jasper and Ty Boffink, Michael Fulton, and Rhiannon Samuels-Connell.
Bill Bourne bequest benefits brigade
The Towamba fire service is grateful to the family of Bill Bourne for their donation of items from Bill’s house. These raised $905 at a garage sale last weekend.
Bill, who sadly died recently, had lived in Towamba for about 12 years and was an active contributor to fire service activities.
Shayne Mitchell, Towamba Fire Chief, also sends a timely reminder to everyone in and around Towamba Valley to be extra careful with fire this summer.
“After the good spring rains there is a lot of dry grass around to create fuel so people need to be even more vigilant than usual,” he said.
The inaugural Ray Gardaya music festival?
Ray’s 60th birthday back in November was both huge and a huge success, and he and Kim want to thank everyone who helped make it that way.
“There were more than 250 people, not counting children, and we couldn’t have done it all without the help of so many people in the community,” Kim said.
Among the people attending were Ray’s brother, Rick, from Japan whom he hadn’t seen for 30 years, and musicians both local and from as far away as Bright, Newcastle, Port Campbell, Canberra and Numeralla. So numerous were those wanting to entertain the crowd that compere, Sam Martin, had to limit them all to three songs each.
The changing face of Towamba
Towamba will be welcoming a host of new comers over the coming months and will also be farewelling Jeff and Leslie Knight who are moving to Eden. I hope to introduce specific individuals in future columns but for now, a general welcome to everyone moving in.
And, for those who are new to Towamba, as well as for those who aren’t but who haven’t previously been involved, here’s a rundown on the activities available in the community in 2010. Everyone is welcome at any or all of them.
Felting – the Towamba felters start up again on Saturday 16 January and will be on at 10 am every third Saturday of the month. Nancy Blindell (64967075) advises that they are very excited about the prospect of a workshop, some time before Easter, with Liudmila Abramova, a highly talented textile artist with first prize wins in felting at the Sydney and Melbourne shows.
Social Tennis – will start again on Monday 4 January. During the hot months it will start at 8.30 am. This is for all ages and both sexes and is purely for fun. Joining costs $8 for adults and $4 for kids and then $2 for adults and $1 for kids each week. Tea and coffee are provided, but please bring a small plate of goodies to replenish your energy. If you’d like to play, just turn up, or contact Janelle Knight on 64967005.
Spinners – the Towamba spinners have been going for some 20 years, though the name is a bit misleading as the group works on just about any textile craft including knitting, crochet, and quilting in addition to spinning – anything, in fact that you can work on while having a yarn (maybe they should be called Yarning while Yarning!). They meet next on Tuesday 5 January at 11.30 am. Contact Phyllis South on 64967123.
Library – the Towamba community library, with more than 1,000 books available for loan, reopens on Tuesday 5 January and will be open every Tuesday after that from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm.
Tai Chi – classes run by Leo Bunyan have been very successful and will continue in 2010 every Wednesday during school terms, at the community hall from 6.00 – 7.15 pm. All you need is flat shoes and comfortable clothing, and $12 per class.
Southern Valley Folk Club – meets at the hall ever third Saturday of the month from 2.00 till 5.00’ish. Bring along your acoustic instrument and/or your voice and any talent you may (or may not) have, or ring Ray Gardaya on 64967196 for more information.
What’s been happening ...
A packed Towamba community hall rocked to the sounds of Eden Marine High’s choir, band and drummers on Saturday 26 September, when Towamba hosted the school’s annual band camp.
Twenty-five students (many of them from Towamba, Burragate and Rocky Hall) and teachers, Sam Martin, Robyn Martin and Trish Mills, repaid Towamba hospitality with a Saturday afternoon show that raised the rafters and brought shouts of ‘encore’ from the audience.
The students arrived on Friday 25 September and had a fun night, putting on a variety show for their own entertainment, roasting marshmallows and getting very little sleep – though you wouldn’t know it from the energy they brought to a Saturday morning pick up soccer game, rehearsals and then their lunch-time performance.
Kim Gardaya, one of the many Towambans who helped with the camp, said, ‘It’s just terrific watching the kids perform so confidently. And it was great to hear comments that our hall was one of the best facilities they’ve ever had for a camp.’
Kim also commented on the dedication of the teachers, the contributions of parents and helpers from the Towamba community, and the food donations provided by Woolworths, Bi Lo, Pambula Fruit and Vegetables and Wild Rye Bakery.
Sporting Towambans have also been busy. On Sunday 27 September, the Towamba School soccer players, coached on Saturdays through the year by Todd Wiebe and ranging from infants to high school age, showed off their skills in a match against their Mums and Dads that resulted in a draw. They then celebrated the end of the season with a BBQ. It was also BBQ time on Sunday 18 October, to mark the end of this round of competition, for the night tennis group, a social competition that aims to give Towamba kids the chance to play real games with adults.
And what’s coming up...
Dates to mark on your calendar are Friday 23 and Sunday 25 October, and 15 November.
Friday 23 October at 5.30 pm is the grand opening of Kimberley Dodd’s new art exhibition, ‘Waterworld and the Lubbers’ Demise’ at the Whale Rider Gallery (perhaps better known as the former bait shop) at Snug Cove in Eden. Everybody is welcome.
The exhibition, which will feature all new paintings of whales around the theme of global warming, rising sea levels and human greed, as well as carved cuttlefish bone and bone carvings of dolphins and whales, will run from Wednesday 21 October to Wednesday 4 November, coinciding in part with the Eden Whale Festival. It will be open daily from 9.00 to 4.00.
Kimberley has lived in Towamba for three years and has been painting seriously for five. She is fascinated by whales and finds much to inspire her in the Eden region. She has recently returned from exhibiting at the Seascape Art Festival in Milton.
On Sunday 25 there will be an opportunity for bargain hunters as household goods, furniture, fishing gear, and original paintings go on sale at David Stock’s garage sale in Towamba Road.
David, a long-time resident of Towamba and a former teacher-in-charge at Towamba School, is selling up as he has moved to Bimbimbie Retirement Village.
One of the many lovely sights when travelling in parts of Asia is the slow dance of Tai Chi practiced by young and old in city parks in the dawn light. The exact time has yet to be decided (so stay tuned) but Towambans won’t have to get up that early to give Tai Chi a go. On November 15, Leo Bunyan will run a 1½ hour introductory session of Tai Chi at the Towamba Community Hall and if there is sufficient interest, he will look at continuing the sessions fortnightly and then weekly from 2010.
Towambans need to get fired up about bushfire prevention
The Towamba Rural Fire Service was called out three times in August to hazard reduction burns that got out of property owners’ control, and fire chief, Shayne Mitchell, is warning people to prepare for an extremely bad fire season.
“Everything is so dry that the fires we attended burnt far more than we would expect at this time of year,” Shayne said. “One fire, at Wog Station, burnt nearly 20 hectares and the fire’s behaviour was quite worrying for the time of year”.
Shayne noted that permits are now needed to burn off but that conditions are so bad that he will not consider issuing any permits unless and until there is substantial rain.
He urges property owners to take extra caution with any fire, to clear around their homes and to ensure that all access roads are clear of any obstructions that might prevent fire brigade vehicles from getting in to provide help.
Shayne also urges people to call Fire Control in Bega on 6494700 for advice about what measures they might take to minimise fire risk, and to call 000 if they see any unattended fires.
Vicki McCredie – a woman of many parts
Vicki McCredie returned to Towamba in August after a sojourn of some six months in Murwillumbah that saw her write and publish a book and produce some 50 works of art to illustrate the ideas in it. The book, “Don’t I Know You? - A Novel Idea” was launched at a gala function at Castle on the Hill in Uki on July 18, alongside an exhibition of the works of art.
Professor Robert Pope, Director of the Science-Art Research Centre of Australia, described the book at the launch as ‘of unique scientific importance’ and as an excellent example of the new ‘feeling logic’ or ‘female cosmological intuition’ that is ‘needed in science for our culture to survive and prosper’.
Vicki uses plain language and simple scientific analogies to explain her theory that individuals are not just the sum of their own experiences but also inherit the memory of their ancestors’ experiences.
Vicki plays with ideas from a range of disciplines including mathematics, science, linguistics, history, geography, spirituality and art, and her ideas take flight from her own experiences of the connectedness of all people and of discovering her own genetic memory.
Asked what she would like people to take away from reading the book, Vicki said that she is not a guru and is not trying to convince anybody of anything. However, she would like people to understand that all life is intimately connected and that we need to live our lives lightly, cleaning up unwanted energies that we have inherited and ensuring that we don’t create ‘dirty laundry’ that our descendants will have to clean up after us.
Vicki’s book is for sale for $25 at Art on Imlay, the Candelo Bookshop in Bega, the BOOKtique in Merimbula and from Vicki herself (phone: 64967313).
Progress Association AGM
Twenty-four members attended the Annual General Meeting of the Towamba Progress Association on 25 August. The main business of the meeting was the election of office bearers, and the new Committee is a mix of old hands and new faces. Rod McLean was elected as President, Tony Ovington and Sara McGregor remain Vice-President and Treasurer respectively, and Rachel Seymour has taken over as Secretary from Liz Hrouda who is now looking forward to spending more time with her goats and on her craft work. Committee members are David Gatrell, Lorna Findlay, Ken Connell, David Ashburn and Siobhan Stewart, and Pam Bradford is the auditor.
From the new to the little bit older
Towamba welcomes a new honorary Towamban, the new daughter of Gareth and Melanie (Mel) Hockings who was born on 17 July at Bega Hospital. Gareth and Mel live in Nethercote but Gareth is, of course, the principal of Towamba School and says he will introduce little Maya to the Towamba community very soon.
For those keen on statistics, Maya weighed 3.4 kilos at birth and was 50.5 cm long. According to her mum, Maya is sleeping well and is very well behaved. Both sets of grandparents and a couple of uncles have visited and the consensus is that she is gorgeous.
And another Towamban also celebrated an important birthday in July.
Amber Gardaya was 21 on the 22nd and more than seventy family and friends from as far away as Newcastle gathered to party with her.
The BBQ rocked on into the early hours with entertainment provided by local musos, Undersun, and by anybody else who felt like singing (including, according to Amber’s mum, Kim, those who probably shouldn’t!).
Amber has grown up in Towamba and, as well as working at the Eden Whale Museum, teaches ballet and tap at Wyndham and is an enthusiastic member of the Far South Coast Dressage Club.
Progress Association AGM
If you can only make it to one meeting of the Towamba Community Progress Association this year, then the Annual General Meeting, to be held on Tuesday August 25 from 7.30 pm, should be the one – and not just for the wine and cheese that will be available.
Among other things, the various interest groups in Towamba will be reporting on the year they’ve had, and membership fees of $2 will be collected for next year. It’s not much to pay, and the more members, the greater the clout the Association has when applying for grants to improve and maintain the community hall and recreation area.
This year the Association will be thinking more about the facilities and safety mechanisms that need to be put in place to make the hall an effective refuge in times of emergency. It will also be welcoming the installation of the free solar electricity panel that the hall has qualified for under the Pyramid Power/Clean Energy for Eternity Shine On scheme.
A Knight into battle ...
Jeff Knight of Towamba is urging other Towambans who share his environmental concerns about the way the Council went about its recent work on tarring a section of Towamba Road to join him in his campaign to ensure a more responsible approach to conducting road building projects in future.
Drawing on some 50 years of knowledge of the Towamba area, qualifications in agriculture and horticulture, 28 years experience running a demonstration tree farm and some 30 years experience as Tree Management Officer and Eden Team Leader for Council works, Jeff says there are many questions that need to be answered about the way this work was done.
‘For a start there was no environmental assessment done or any consultation with those in the community who could have identified some of the issues,’ Jeff said. ‘As a result, The Pump Well, an old bullock teams’ camp and a heritage site, has been contaminated as a result of poor silt control and dumping of overburden; trees hundreds of years old were destroyed in massive clearing for no apparent reason; and the road has already collapsed once into Shadrack’s Creek after heavy rain because it is built too close to the edge of the creek’. Jeff said that extra work had been done at considerable expense on the creek edge but it is insufficient to prevent another collapse.
‘We can’t fix what they’ve already done,’ Jeff said, ‘but the Council needs to change its procedures to ensure proper environmental assessment and community consultation, as well as more efficient expenditure of public funds’.
Grand Designs at Burragate
More than thirty Burragate people braved the cold and the wind on Saturday 4 July to celebrate the opening of a bus shelter that will prove to be more than a bus shelter.
Built to provide some comfort to school students waiting for buses to Towamba Primary and Eden Marine High School and for local residents using the weekly Towamba Valley Access Bus to Merimbula and Bega, the shelter also proved, on its opening day, to be a great venue for social gatherings. Plans are already being made to use it as meeting place for other Burragate functions and to house a community notice board.
The shelter was built by more than twenty volunteers using locally milled timber and mud bricks made on site. It was funded by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal/Ian Potter Foundation under the Small Grants for Small Rural Communities scheme.
Project co-ordinator, Nancy Blindell, said that she would like to thank Marty Webster for his major role in managing the construction and in bringing to fruition an idea that had been discussed for many years during many uncomfortable waits at the unsheltered Burragate bus stop. Nancy also thanked Brent Occleshaw, who was instrumental in the design of the structure, Lindsay Caldwell who contributed his milling and mud brick expertise and a long commitment to the project, and the many other local people who were involved as labourers.
Photos of the project in progress can be viewed at www.thebegavalley.org.au/burragatebus.html
Introducing another talented Towamban
Towamba artists and crafters are well represented at the community art gallery, Art on Imlay in Eden, and Lia Van Valen is the latest to join their ranks.
Lia discovered she could draw portraits while helping her youngest child with a school assignment. She began with pencil and white paper and has progressed to the range of possibilities offered by pastels and coloured paper.
Since retiring from a hectic life as mother of seven children and small business operator, Lia has finally found the space to spend time on her painting.
The results speak for themselves. Leah’s portraits, of both famous people like Jimmy Barnes and of local Towamba residents, capture not just the likeness but the personality and spirit of her subjects.
Fresh from the Towamba Primary garden
Towamba Primary School garden club students played hosts on 7 July to student radio presenters and the adults from the Towamba Community Radio Station who tutored them.
The garden club students picked fresh ingredients from their garden – spinach, silverbeet, dill, Chinese cabbage, parsley, coriander, spring onions, garlic chives and leeks – and prepared a feast of cheese and spinach triangles, crunchy noodle salad and choc-chip cookies that was hugely enjoyed by the radio tutors, teachers and helpers, and students.
According to Hannah Webster, one of the chefs for the day, the food was delicious. “I had a fantastic time,” she said, “even though the cooking involved my least favourite subject, Maths.
Hot stuff and musical mayhem
Sixty-six adults and a horde of children from infants to adolescents competed hotly, and noisily, on Saturday 20 June for first place honours in the Towamba Valley Radio’s annual Curry and Music Trivia Night.
The night raised more than$1500 to fund the radio station for another year.
The hall was transformed for the evening by swathes of streamers and walls of CDs, music posters, LPs and LP covers, and the effort of choosing from the dozen or so different curries was enough in itself to work up an appetite.
Eleven teams, named from well known songs, answered questions that covered everything from classical and country to grunge, punk and hip-hop, and from every decade since the fifties.
The Little Red Corvettes started well with an almost perfect score on classical then collapsed dismally and progressively as questions moved into the 20th and 21st centuries. They ended the evening by winning the wooden spoon by a large margin.
At the less dishonourable end of the scale, Knights in White Satin carried off the trophy (‘the Brain’) with 76 points in a narrow win over the Pink Panthers on 75. Knights in White Satin members were Ray Gardaya, Todd Wiebe, Phil Dodd, Kim Gardaya, and Ruth Hamilton. According to Ruth, the Knights’ success was a result of having a team with a balance of expertise across the categories. It included a veritable platoon of youngsters who must have given a real advantage when it came to questions relating to the 21st century.
‘Celebrities’ from Ossie Osborne and the Slash Twins to Brittany Spears and Blondie rubbed shoulders with the plebs. Ossie Osborne (aka Nancy Blindell) took out first prize for an adult in costume and Kane Gardaya and Sol Stone, as the Blues Brothers, won the children’s prize. Sol was also thrilled to win the Dogge BMX bike raffle.
ABC Radio’s Ian Campbell, as MC, kept the laughs happening and the questions flowing, and paid up with good grace when hit with fines that emptied his wallet.
Half-time entertainment was provided by Amanda Moss (as Sarah Blasko), Cabrini D’Arcy-Stewart and Siobhan McKenna, the Towamba Women’s Singing Group (Amanda Moss, Tina Janssen, Lorna Findlay and Sara McGregor) and Phil Dodd (doing the Angus skip).
The organisers (too many of them to name individually) wish to thank those local businesses that provided assistance with the evening: Airwares of Merimbula, Chester’s Foodworks of Eden, Eden Music, Magpie Music in Bega, and Wild Ryes Bakery in Pambula. Thank yous also to Belinda Rogers who donated the BMX bike raffle prize and to Paul Boyer whose annual loan of his sound system makes the whole thing possible.
The questions will be up on the Towamba Valley web-site soon for those of you who weren’t there and want to test your knowledge. But beware, they weren’t at all easy – the person who thought of translating song titles into Chinese then Arabic then back to English must have had a previous career as an Abu-Ghraib torturer!
Big Morning Tea brings out big-hearted Towambans
Tuesday’s Big Morning Tea, organised by Sara McGregor, brought twenty Towambans to the Community Hall for a morning of ignoring calorie and cholesterol counts in a good cause. The event raised $508 for the Cancer Council (and probably added 20 kilos to the collective weight of the valley!).
Not a single opportunity to raise funds was missed – even the left over cakes, slices and scones were sold off at $2 a plate, raising an extra $20. There were ten ‘pick of the table’ raffle prizes, and two major prizes of hampers, which were won by Liz Hrouda and Gordon Haberecht.
Sara McGregor has organised the event for the past three years. Sara lost her father to cancer and has had other family members suffer from it. “It’s a disease that touches everybody at some time so it’s a really worthwhile cause,” she said.
Sara congratulated and thanked everyone who took part, noting that all morning tea goodies and raffle prizes were donated.
Towamba’s Crafty Kids
Volunteers, teachers and children all worked together on Thursday 28 May to make Towamba School’s annual Art and Craft Day a great creativity-fest.
While the infants worked on paddle pop creations, the older students were able to choose from spinning, copper embossing, tie-dying, string art and mosaic making.
Greg Comparini, putting the finishing touches to his copper embossing said, “I thought it would be boring, but it’s actually quite fun.”
Under the guidance of teacher, Lucy Macey, Greg and other students, Douglas Caldwell, Bronte Balodis and Hannah Kelly, produced very professional-looking copper clowns, witches, dragons and dinosaurs.
At the spinning table, Liz Hrouda with the help of Maureen Hadley (now of Eden), showed Ryan Vandermey, Jarrah Haynes-Smith, Hannah Webster and Rarnie Knight how to convert her wonderful hand-dyed fleeces into spun thread and then how to make pompoms with it.
Principal, Gareth Hockings, also dropped in for a lesson and discovered he needed at least three hands to keep the spindle spinning while also feeding fleece into the thread.
Will Wiebe, Caleb Smith, Emily Love and Claire McKenna opted for tie dying with Nancy Blindell. Their colourful creations, hung up to dry on the bare branches of some trees, looked like exotic flowers.
According to Caleb, the hardest part was getting the elastic bands in the right places but it was all ‘pretty enjoyable’ and the children were looking forward to wearing their dyed garments.
Natalia Bossink, Jezebel Ashburn, and Alice Wiebe decided that making string art and mosaic panels would be fun, and with the help of teacher Jo Caldwell and volunteer helper Rachel Ashburn, produced art works to be proud of.
Commenting on the day, Principal, Gareth Hockings said, “The Towamba Valley is such a creative community and it is wonderful to have its creative people involved with the school”.
Weeding out the undesirables
Twelve enthusiastic Landcare members joined Derek Lewis, Towamba Valley Landcare Coordinator, on Saturday 23 May for Towamba’s twice yearly ‘weed walk’.
The group checked Towamba roadsides for Lovegrass, Serrated Tussock and Fireweed and, according to Derek, found far fewer weeds than they have in the past. “This suggests that we are getting the population under control,” Derek said, “and this is critical to species diversity in the valley”.
Derek would like to hear from any landowners along the Towamba River who know or suspect they have Blue Hound’s Tongue on their land. The Council is currently funding the Bobberru Gudu Earthcare Group to work on eradicating the weed at the Kiah river mouth and there is funding for them to continue that work wherever the weed is found.
You can reach Derek on 64942194.
All hail the Spag Bol Queen!
Mothers’ Day in Towamba saw, among other things, the great spaghetti bolognaise cook-off between 8 year-old Jezebel Ashburn and (the somewhat older) Gordon Habarecht at the Towamba community hall.
About twenty people (eight of them children) tasted and tested the entries and voted Jezebel’s effort the spoons-down winner.
Jezebel’s secret ingredients are basil, onion, tomato puree, mince, and salt and pepper. According to Jezebel, her sauce was much tastier than Gordon’s because it was less spicy – a good reminder that often the foods that appeal to children are not the same as those that pique the appetites of adults.
According to Jezebel’s mother, Rachel, Jezebel has been cooking for a couple of years now but this was her biggest, solo effort so far.
Unleash the Dogg! - Music Trivia and Curry Night raffle
Belinda Rogers has generously donated a fantastic BMX Dogg bike worth $385 as the prize in a raffle to raise funds for Towamba Valley Radio. The winning ticket will be drawn at the Music Trivia and Curry Night on 20 June.
Tickets are only $2 (or 3 for $5) and can be bought at Wyndham store and, until the end of May, at Towamba school. After that, contact Maureen Volentras (64967065), or watch out for Tina and Lorna who will be selling them in Eden at a date yet to be decided.
And on the subject of tickets, please note that tickets for the trivia night have sold out already – a good indication of what a great night those of you who were too slow will miss out on!
Maureen Volentras is still looking for materials and ideas for decorations and is especially interested in hearing from anyone prepared to lend their precious band, concert or otherwise musically themed T-shirts for the night.
Welcome Bob and Elaine
The Towamba Valley community has expanded again with newcomers, Elaine and Bob McEwan, who are currently living in a caravan on their son, Bob’s, Burragate property while they arrange to have their retirement house built there.
Bob and Elaine are no newcomers to country living. Elaine is originally from Burrundulla, near Mudgee, and Bob is from Copmanhurst on the upper Clarence River. They have been living for the past 30 years at Winmalee in the Lower Blue Mountains, where Elaine was a teacher and Bob an air traffic controller.
Bob and Elaine have visited their son many times over the past nine years and find the area somewhat more peaceful than their heavily trafficked road in the Blue Mountains.
They don’t mind the people either. “We’ve found the people in the Towamba Valley to be very friendly and sociable and we have been able to meet and get to know a number since our arrival”, they said.
Towamba felters felt the cold on Bega Fibre Day
Three of the Towamba felters braved an icy morning on the 9 May to demonstrate felting techniques and to meet other felters at the Bega Fibre Day. As a result, May felting was cancelled and the next felting day will be June 13 (the 2nd Saturday instead of the usual 3rd due to the hall being used for the Music Trivia and Curry night on the 20th). The session will focus on dyeing.
In the meantime, some Towamba felters, having found last year’s exhibition very inspiring, are going up to Canberra on May 30 to visit the Canberra Feltmakers Rapt in Felt Exhibition to be held at the CSIRO Discovery Centre. They are looking for others to car pool for the trip, so if you can help, ring Nancy Blindell on 64967075.
Towamba News email
Thanks to Nancy Blindell, Towamba News now has its own email address. So, if you have any information you’d like to see in Towamba News, send me the details at towambanews(at)gmail.com and I’ll get in touch as soon as I can (power and satellite failures allowing!).
Anzac Day
By any standards the Towamba Anzac Day march and ceremony was a small affair. There were no marching bands, no ritual wreath laying, no uniformed veterans or officials of any kind.
But that’s what made it so moving: that twenty ordinary Australians from young kids to the elderly came together on their own initiative to remember and give thanks.
They marched behind the flag and to the strains of Lili Marlene played through a car radio from the church to the war memorial at the community hall. Then they stood before the half masted flag while Jeff Knight, who initiated the occasion five years ago, opened the ceremony with a reminder of what the day represents and our obligation to remember with pride and gratitude. William Wentworth spoke the Prayer of Thanksgiving and the Commemoration of the Fallen, and Pam Bradford the Prayer for the Nation.
Then everyone faced west and looked out over the rolling green fields of Towamba Valley on a sparkling autumn morning, a perfect symbol of what was worth fighting for, while The Last Post worked its magic.
Jeff Knight proudly wore his grandfather, Charlie’s, World War I medals, which include the Military Cross, while his brother Peter wore their other grandfather, Fred Parker’s, World War II medals. It was as a result of researching his family’s military history that Jeff initiated the Anzac Day ceremony in Towamba five years ago and, with the help of Rod McLean who sourced the seed, planted a lone pine from Gallipoli near the war memorial three years ago.
And other Anzac Day celebrations
The Anzac Day marchers shared the community hall on Saturday morning with an army of workers preparing for Mick Gropler’s 60th birthday party to be held there that afternoon. Mick shares his 23 April birthday with his mate of 32 years, Bob Reed, and eighty people came from as far afield as Adelaide and Brisbane to celebrate with them.
While Mick worked with others to get the meat going on the spits, his wife, Diane, said that the family had much more to celebrate: their daughter, Mandy, had a birthday last Sunday, Mick’s brother’s was on the 22 April, and their son, Jesse, was married last Saturday.
Fire shed grand opening
The ribbon is finally being cut (metaphorically speaking) on the new Towamba fire shed, with a John Cullen special barbecue (a treat I gather if you like onions and snags!). It’s BYO drinks and starts at 12.00 am on Sunday 3 May and everyone is welcome.
Go Solar!
Pyramid Power, in conjunction with Clean Energy for Eternity, is offering people the chance to do themselves and the planet a favour by installing grid-connected solar systems at a heavily discounted price. And, if 30 people within 25 kilometres of Towamba sign up, there’s a chance to do the community a favour as well with Pyramid Power offering to install a free 2 kw system to an eligible community building.
With government subsidies, the cost of a fully installed 1 kw system will be well under $2,000. Four people have already signed up and paid, and a further 12 people have expressed interest.
If you’re interested in more details, contact the Towamba community representative, Norbert Hrouda, on 64967310 or call 1300 660 553 for your Shine On information pack. But hurry, because the government subsidies end on 30 June.
What’s on ...
Towamba Primary School will be holding an Art and Craft Day on 28 May and the school would love to hear from volunteers who would be willing to share their craft skills with the kids on the day. If you’re interested, please call the school on 64967159.
On the subject of craft, two of Towamba’s craft groups – the Felters and the Spinners – will be participating in the Fibre Bazaar to be held next month in Bega in conjunction with the Alice Springs Beanie Festival exhibition (which produces some truly weird and wonderful creations that somewhat stretch the definition of beanie and are well worth seeing). It’s an opportunity for anyone interested in fibre crafts to go along and try their hand at a variety of crafts. The date has not yet been set but, in the meantime, entries are sought for Bega’s own beanie display and parade (though as entries are required by Friday 24th you might have to dig out one you’ve made previously if you’re not a very fast worker!). Beanies submitted can be donated after the display to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.
Towamba Radio’s famous Music Trivia and Curry Night will be on the 20 June, so everyone has plenty of time to put their tables (maximum of six adults) together, buy tickets and plan their (optional) musical personality costumes and performances. Tickets cost $17 per adult and $7 per school age child (kids under school age are free). For that you’ll get a great night’s entertainment with the music trivia quiz MC’ed by ABC Radio’s Ian Campbell, and the chance to win some great prizes, as well as a curry feast that would do a Bollywood wedding proud. Please note that no tickets will be available at the door and only a limited number are available so get in early and buy them as soon as they become available on 1 May from Tina Janssen (64967016) or Lorna Findlay (64967248).
Maureen Volentras, who is responsible for decorating the hall for the night, would like to use something other than used Jazz Festival posters scrounged from Merimbula shop windows for a change. She would very much like to hear from anyone with ideas and/or materials for creating a special musical ambience.
... and what’s off
Shane Mitchell, Towamba Fire Chief, has advised that there will be no Fire and Wood Carnival this year.
The Fire Brigade has decided that in the current economic climate it is unfair to approach local business people for the donations that are needed to make the day a success. Given that the Fire and Wood Carnival is a major fundraiser for several Towamba groups, as well as a great day out, Shayne hopes that it will be back bigger and better than ever next year.
Towamba Road update
For those tired of having to build in an extra ten minutes on every trip along the Towamba Road because of road works, Graeme Williams, Roads Assets Manager for BVSC, says they expect to be pouring tar by the end of the month.
Mr Williams also explained that the project is being financed from the roads component of the Federal Financial Assistance Grants and is costing $330,000 (up from an original estimate of $295,000) to tar a stretch 1.2 kilometres long (down from what was originally planned to be 1.5 kilometres).
Mr Williams, commenting on the massive work done to cut some corners out of the road, conceded that the money could have been spent to tar a slightly longer stretch of the existing road. ‘However, the council has a responsibility to build safe roads,’ he said, ‘and when a road is sealed people tend to drive faster on it, so the blind corners on the existing road could become a real danger’.
Wined, Dined and Educated
Twenty Rotarians from Eden joined 45 locals at the Towamba Community Hall on Saturday 14 March for a dinner that raised more than $800 for painting the interior of the Towamba church.
Ange Wood, Sara McGregor, Joy Ovington and Liz Hrouda laboured for days to produce a superb feast of nibblies, salads, barbecue meats and desserts and then, while the rest of us relaxed and imbibed and indulged, worked hard on the night to serve and clean up. Many thanks to them and also to Norbert Hrouda, who did a great job wielding the barbecue tongs, Tony Ovington who helped set up and collected money at the door, and to Jeff Knight, who, as MC, kept the raffles and games rolling.
After-dinner speaker, Ray Alcock, from Bemboka, representing NANA (Native Animal Network Association Inc), described his life-time interest in caring for native wildlife and the development of organisations like NANA and WIRES. He then shared his considerable knowledge of wildlife care, taking questions from the floor which, if they didn’t cover all things wildlife from A-Z did at least cover from B (bats) to W (wombats).
And the sad news is ...
Shane Mitchell has advised that this year’s Fire and Wood Carnival is off. As a newcomer to Towamba I’m very disappointed as I’ve had so many people tell me what a great day it is. But the Fire Brigade has decided that in the current economic climate it is unfair to approach business people for the donations that are needed to make the day a success. Let’s hope that the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve is right and that 2010 will be a better year for everyone, and that the Fire and Wood Carnival will be back, bigger and better than ever.
Shellharbour’s trash is Towamba’s treasure
Not everyone would appreciate a present picked out at the local dump, but Sara McGregor of Towamba was thrilled to receive something that her uncle, Stan Richards, stumbled upon recently at the Shellharbour tip. The shabby piece of paper with the word Towamba on it that aroused Mr Richard’s curiosity turned out to be a document dated 1886 ‘shewing’ the ownership of land in the Parish of Towamba at that time.
Much has changed since then (including the price of documents provided by local councils – this one cost 1/-). But with the help of local historian, Kate Clery, Sara has managed to relate some of the then portions in the Village of Sturt (the name of Towamba village until 1970) to what exists today.
Many of the names on the portions exist today only as street names in the village. The Falkners and the Mannings, for example, are long gone but have left as their legacy Falkner Road and Manning Street, while the Beasley name, well known in the valley, is remembered with Ben Beasley Road.
Tarring Towamba Road
I’ve heard several people wonder why BVSC is going to such lengths to cut a few corners off the Towamba Road before it tars a new section of nearly 1.5 kilometres to just before the Nullica quarry. Some have suggested the money would have been better spent tarring a longer stretch, or even grading the whole road more frequently.
So, I rang Graeme Williams, Roads Assets Manager for BVSC, to ask him about it all.
Mr Williams explained that the project is being financed from the roads component of the Federal Financial Assistance Grants and is costing $295 000, which is the council’s entire road building budget for this year.
Mr Williams conceded that this money could have been spent to tar a slightly longer stretch of the existing road. ‘However, the council has a responsibility to build safe roads,’ he said, ‘and when a road is sealed people tend to drive faster on it, so the blind corners on the existing road could become a real danger’.
And as for grading, Mr Williams explained that the BVSC has an arrangement with the Department of Water Resources about what water it can draw from rivers and streams and, since November, it has had no access to water. The recent grading of the Towamba Road and the Snake Track were only possible because the council was given access to a private water source.
For those impatient with delays on the road, Mr Williams assured me that they are very close to laying gravel and that the project should be completed in a month.
Winners are grinners
Liz and Norbert Hrouda of Towamba Station are very happy to have taken out two first prizes at the recent Bega Show.
Liz’s first was for a very huggable teddy bear that she made from an Angora goat hide supplied to her by Gay and Ron Harris of Burragate. Norbert’s was for olive oil and proves that emus have no taste when it comes to olives – the winning oil was pressed from the few olives left of their 2008 crop after emus had feasted on the trees.
Liz and Norbert were also very encouraged to receive some awards for their goats.
Liz, commenting on their experience with the Show, said they had never had any previous experience with country shows and they found it to be a great learning experience as well as a lot of fun and a great way to bring a community together.
“Towamba has so many talented people doing such a wide range of activities that I’m surprised more people don’t enter shows like this,” she said. “I would really encourage them to do it”.
And more prizes went to ...
Towamba axemen also took home a stack of prizes. Old hands, Shayne Mitchell and Fred Whiter, took out first in the Butcher’s Block, and second and third respectively in the Championship, while two young blokes who have only been chopping for a couple of months showed that they have great promise. Josh Hayes took out second in the Novice Standing Block, while Daniel Buckley took out third place in both the Novice Standing Block and the Novice Underhand, and was first in both Junior Standing Block and Underhand.
All of the local axemen did very well also at Milton recently and several hope for similar success at the Canberra Show in a couple of weeks. All the best there guys.
New faces and old
In that no-man’s land between Towamba and Kiah, known as either Lower Towamba or Upper Kiah – or sometimes Lower Towamba/Upper Kiah – there have been quite a few new settlers in the past few years and on Saturday, 21 February, one of them, Ian Denny, held a BBQ to bring some of the “newbies” and old timers together.
In particular, he wanted to introduce Ron Rawlins to the locals (though Ron is himself not exactly a stranger to the area having served as a police officer in Eden for six years some 27 years ago). Ron has spent the intervening years farming lychees, avocados and custard apples in Queensland and living in Sydney and Wollongong. He came to the Towamba area to help his son, Adam build a house there and then, last year, bought Ivy Farm on the Snake Track. Ron is very happily settled into semi-retirement there with his cattle and some newly acquired sheep.
Ian Denny, himself a relative newcomer, is already well known for his cooking skills and love of entertaining and laid on his usual amazing array of food, while Steve Christie, a long-time resident, provided after dinner entertainment on the guitar (his own composition, “I think I’ll take an Asian Bride” could have caused a major inter-gender conflict but was just too funny to get all feminist about!).
Coming events
On Saturday 14 March there will be a Rotary Club of Eden dinner at the Towamba Community Hall to raise funds for painting the Towamba Church. Everyone is welcome and is guaranteed a fun night with games, raffles and a guest speaker. There will also be nibblies followed by a BBQ, salads and bread, then tea, coffee and desert, all for $15 per head. Drinks are BYO and donations of small ‘somethings’ for the raffle table will be gratefully accepted. If you’d like to come, contact Liz Hrouda on 64967310.
Shane Mitchell, Towamba fire chief, tells me the new shed is ready and functioning and that there will be a grand opening BBQ as soon as he gets himself organised.
TAFE comes to Rocky Hall
If you can’t bring the people to TAFE, take TAFE to the people ... Five Towamba residents, with fifteen others from Rocky Hall, Burragate, Wyndham and Merimbula, are grappling with the complexities of digital photography under the guidance of TAFE teacher and very experienced photographer, Paul McIver, each Thursday morning at Rocky Hall pre-school.
The course is being provided free by the TAFE Outreach service, which is based in Cooma and which services a large area of south-eastern NSW. TAFE Outreach has been very surprised, and pleased, with the response to the course and will consider extending it into term 2 if the level of interest continues.
It will also consider providing other courses where there’s a demand for them – so if you’re out there thinking how nice it would be to learn some skills that might increase your chances of employment or your enjoyment of a hobby and you can’t travel to a TAFE campus, you should ring Tracey at TAFE Outreach and let her know what you need.
|
Submitting your vote...
