PLANTING shrubs, cleaning off graffiti, picking up litter and even lobbying for a new public toilet in the shopping centre are worthwhile tasks being undertaken by the Chelsea Bonbeach Train Station Group. And commuters are reaping the rewards. The volunteer group, running for more than six years and with around 20 members, meets each month to plan working bees, arrange supplies and assign tasks. Last Saturday 15 helpers donned their gloves and set to work at Bonbeach station planting shrubs and grasses, cleaning up rubbish and beautifying surrounding areas. And rail operator Metro was impressed: they put on a sausage…
Author: Stephen Taylor
CELEBRATIONS marking last week’s 50th anniversary of the Beatles tour of Australia struck a resonant chord with Rosebud’s John (Johnny) Chester. The popular musician was a support act for the Fab Four when they played to packed – and screaming – houses in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and then New Zealand. Memories came flooding back when the phones ran hot last week after the screening of an ABC documentary on the landmark tour. Australia had never seen anything like it before, with half of Adelaide’s population jamming the route from the airport and Melbourne’s streets a sea of eager young faces…
IT’S a big challenge but Edithvale cyclist Alexandra Gale-Grime says she’s up or it. Next month she will cycle 600km through Thailand to raise money for a cause close to her heart. She and her team hope to raise awareness about the sporting abilities of people with disabilities and raise money to help Victorians with disabilities to participate in sport. The event is being run by CyclePower which is an initiative created by Disability Sport & Recreation. Her dad, Warrick, is the driving force. This is the fourth CyclePower trip – the others went to Vietnam in 2011, Cambodia in…
THE state government is being asked to climb aboard a plan to electrify the railway line to Hastings between Frankston and Baxter. Frankston Council says benefits include being able to stable on the line overnight instead of blocking a third line from Frankston to the city and letting commuters from the peninsula park their vehicles and board at Baxter. The council wants up to $1 million to help prepare a business case for the estimated $40 million project. “Everyone would be better served all round,” Cr James Dooley told The News. “The population is growing steadily around Langwarrin and Baxter…
THE number of affordable rental properties in Kingston has slumped by 92 per cent over the past 10 years – making life even tougher for low income earners. Figures released by the Council for Homeless Persons show the number of homes able to be afforded to families on Centrelink benefits had shrunk to just 2.4 per cent of the total number of rental properties in Kingston, down from 29 per cent in December 2003. The situataion for one-bedroom rental apartments was even worse, with none considered affordable for a single person on benefits. The affordability figure for two-bedroom apartments stands…