MAYOR’S COLUMN

Council’s next three Community Listening Post events for 2018 have been scheduled at locations in  Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff.

The dates and locations are: Thursday July 19 from 2.30pm to 3.30pm in the Uniting Church Bay Room, corner Hesse Street and Stokes Street, Queenscliff;

Thursday August 30 from 10.30am to 11.30am in the Point Lonsdale Primary School Hall, 22 Bowen Road, Point Lonsdale; and

Thursday September 20 from 2.30pm to 3.30pm in the Uniting Church Bay Room, corner Hesse Street and Stokes Street, Queenscliff.

Please join us at one, two or all of these sessions to share your ideas and feedback with Councillors.

100th Anniversary of Avenue of Honour tree plantings
This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War 1. In addition, July 24 2018 marks the 100th Anniversary of the first plantings of the 1918 Avenue of Honour Trees in the Narrows.

Council, with input from the Avenue of Honour Community Reference Group, has been investigating appropriate opportunities to formally acknowledge these anniversaries.

There will be a formal gathering at the former Queenscliff High School site on Tuesday July 24 2018, where I will host a commemorative event commencing at 11am. Everyone is very welcome to attend.

In the event of wet weather, the commemorative event will be relocated to the RSL Hall at the corner of Hesse and King Streets in Queenscliff.

Celebrate Community Planting Day with us
When the Borough of Queenscliffe’s 2018 Community Planting Day takes place on Sunday July 29, the occasion will mark 10 consecutive years of community planting in the Borough.

Volunteers are invited to join in with planting and maintenance weeding along the dunes in The Narrows, around Lovers Walk and the Dog Beach Car Park, on National Tree Day, Sunday July 29 2018 from 10am to 12.30pm.

The 2018 event is hosted by the Bellarine Catchment Network, the Swan Bay Environment Association and the Borough of Queenscliffe. A barbecue lunch will be provided for all volunteers from 12.30pm, and parking is available in the Dog Beach Car Park, Access Track 6B, Bellarine Highway, Queenscliff.

Visit the National Tree Website at treeday. planetark.org/site/10018997 to register for Community Planting Day 2018, or contact Matt Crawley, Program Manager, Bellarine Catchment Network at [email protected]. au to find out more.

Kerb and Channel Renewal Works
Council would like to keep you informed about the annual kerb and channel renewal works which commenced this week and are expected to run for a two-week period, depending on weather. The works are targeting a 200-metre length along Point Lonsdale Road from Kirk Road to Loch Street.

Traffic impacts are most likely to occur between Monday July 16 and Friday July 30. Parking will also be temporarily affected during this period.

Boomerang Bags
The Queenscliffe and District Neighbourhood House’s ‘Boomerang Bags’ project is kicking off, and members of the community are invited to support the project by donating fabric and participating in sewing and stencilling workshops.

Volunteers can help to mark out and cut materials, pin, iron, stamp and sew at the Neighbourhood House or collect a Boomerang Bag kit with sewing plans and materials and make the bags at home. No sewing experience is required. Donations of  material can be dropped off at the Neighbourhood House. The Boomerang Bags project is supported by Council’s Community Environment Alliance 2018 grants program, and it is a wonderful opportunity to connect with other people in our community and participate in a positive environmental initiative.

For more information about the project, visit Queenscliffe and District Neighbourhood House’s webpage, qnhouse.com.au/boomerang-bags, head over to the ‘Boomerang Bags 3225’ Facebook page or call the Neighbourhood House on 5258 3367.

Refugee Week event raises funds for local support organisations
Council thanks everybody who came along to the special Refugee Week screening of the documentary film ‘Human Flow’ at the Queenscliff Town Hall in June. There were many people present for this powerful, profound film, including me and Cr Ebbels. Everyone was moved by the scale of this human tragedy.

The event raised over $1,300, which will be shared between Queenscliff Rural Aid for Refugee’s refugee legal support appeal and Queenscliff Uniting Church’s Light Up A Life appeal. Council congratulates everyone involved in the organisation of this community event.

Highlights of Low Light
We showed off our best lights at the Low Light Winter Festival, which concluded on Sunday evening. Many, many people came to join our joyful celebration of our food, our wine, our art, our films, our literary festival, our music, our community and the Winter Solstice. Well done and heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to the staging of Low Light.