Committee For Lorne: A word from the Chairman – June 14, 2018

What a huge weekend just passed as thousands descended into town for the Queen’s Birthday holiday celebration and it was winter Lorne at its best. Sunshine, no wind, mild climate, foreshore markets, local football and netball and bush and beach walks awaiting this is such a great time of the year for our town when Mother Nature continues to “turn it on”.

Graeme Wilkie; what an achievement, what a legend!!!! Graeme was honoured on Monday with a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to the visual arts, and how deserving for such a committed and passionate arts person like Graeme. Growing up in Lorne as a junior it’s probably fair to say that there wasn’t much going on when it came to cultural activities and many of us had never been exposed to the imagination of the arts world, let alone the type of thinking that Graeme Wilkie exudes and has brought to town.

Lorne has had such a proud past history of great local sports people across so many disciplines and what Graeme has created in Lorne is an arts culture that never existed over previous generations. We have such an array of brilliant performers across various sporting disciplines of football, netball, surfing and surf lifesaving that include the names of Couper and Lynch on the world surfing stage, footballers of generations past that have played at the highest level to present day local champion Jack Steven having won multiple best and fairest awards at the St Kilda Football Club.

Our town has been so blessed to punch “above our weight” on so many different platforms and I’m sure that Graeme’s influence will ensure this continues in the arts world. Graeme’s influence on our community has been without peer in the arts world and cuts deep into our community. Who would ever imagined that over a quiet beer at the Lorne Aquatic and Angling Club that sculpture would have ever been a topic of communication, let alone one of their own being a regular “unofficial” exhibitor – congratulations Graeme.

Amazing where one is at any given time in one’s life and I have to share that in my travels I am fortunate enough to be in Singapore, well fortunate I thought until I learnt that the historic meeting between American President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un was to take place in the same city at the same time and my thoughts of “what may be” and what may we experience began to surface.

Well it was like this, imagine if President Trump was in the Lorne Nursing Home, his Korean counterpart staying at Mantra and myself sitting in my office in Mountjoy Parade that was the geographic picture. How would the coming days play out, what would security be like, would the city be in lock down, what may the talks bring – I’ll share with you next week.

Ian Stewart
Chairman – Committee for Lorne