School’s back

On Saturday last, the Lorne Surf Club hosted a big weekend of summer sport with Life Saving Victoria – Victorian Masters Championships on the Saturday followed by a summer series open Surf Carnival on the Sunday.

The Masters Championship is the pinnacle of Lifesaving competition for members over the age of 30 years and Lorne has been the traditional home of the championships in recent years.

And why wouldn’t it be – with arguably the best competition arena and backdrop in the state, a full selection of food and retail services all within easy reach and a parking plan that makes it so easy for competitors and their craft to access the ocean. It was a sea of colour along the beach and a magnificent spectacle for all that were lucky enough to be enjoying Lorne for the weekend, and great to see the multitudes doing just that!

The Committee for Lorne reconvened for its first meeting of 2016 with the major item on the agenda being the aftermath of and facilitation of the Economic Recovery Plan following the Christmas fires of 2015. In line with “Achieving Lorne’s Aspirations” and specifically our defining feature of arts, culture and heritage, our community stakeholders of our arts events and festivals have linked arms and joined forces to rally for Government support.

The request has been directed at gaining support to promote and further enhance our existing festivals and events and to also pursue new events to our annual calendar. In line with our core purpose we are looking to assist with the challenges faced by our “arts community” to deliver the diverse array of festivals throughout the year that are such an important component of our local economy.

In uniting the leaders of these local groups and facilitating Lorne’s Economic Recovery throughout 2016, we are hopeful of being able to attract the support to assist the town get back on track to the road to recovery. Also able to report that members of the Lorne Business and Tourism Association are looking top address the “Cockatoo problem” to the next levels with the Surfcoast Shire so stay tuned!

This weekend the Lorne Surf Club plays host to another event, albeit of diverse nature and outcomes to the last. Plastic Pollution Solutions who are all about raising awareness about plastic pollution in our oceans are holding events all around Australia as this growing movement strives to keep our ocean clean.

This Saturday night at the Lorne Club they are hosting a Family Trivia Night from 6.30pm. The evening kicks off with a sausage sizzle and drinks from the bar from 5.30pm with all proceeds going to the Spirit Foundation to support the bushfire victims. Sure to be great night, great awareness and for a great cause!

IT HAS been a wonderful start to the new school year at the Lorne Aireys Inlet P-12 College and we welcome everyone back to our beautiful learning environments. We extend a special warm welcome to all of the new families who have joined our school community including the Foundation students at both Lorne and Aireys Inlet Campuses who are pictured below. Our new students have engaged with school life enthusiastically and are already enjoying a wide range of learning activities.

Last week our new students were given a school starter pack including a picture story book and other special goodies courtesy of the Department of Education.

During the holiday period there was considerable painting and maintenance works completed on the ‘Dolls House’ at the Lorne Campus. This historic building was originally the principal’s residence, was then used as a school camp for twenty years and is now used for welfare support and instrumental music classes. Its renovation was a joint initiative between the College and the Lorne Historical Society led by its president and past principal of the College, Mr Gary Allen, with the support of the Lorne Op Shop and Falls Festival Grant. Internal maintenance will also be completed during the next 12 months.

At the Aireys Inlet campus, improvements to the oval surface courtesy of a Surf Coast Shire grant has been completed and refurbishment of the art room and toilet block.

Further maintenance and beautification works will take place across both campuses this year with refurbishment of the RSL wing, woodwork and library wings at the Lorne campus and improvements to the junior wing allowing for more flexible learning environments.

For some of our families the summer has been particularly difficult and our thoughts have been with those who were impacted by the fires and especially to those who lost their homes. The warm and caring spirit of our school community has been clearly evident as stories and experiences have been shared and support for impacted school families has continued. It was very touching to see some of our very young students collecting funds from the community and then passing the money on to affected families.

GEOFF COUPER VICE PRINCIPAL