WoT #106 Sept 2015 News with Amanda

This month we celebrate the beginning of spring, and some wonderful happenings around town.  There are two engagements, that I know of; congratulations to James Coatsworth who popped the question to Casey Tonkin and to Tessa Allan and Jason Coles.  We wish you all many years' happiness.

Often we don’t take the time to appreciate what we have in this community, and sometimes it takes outsiders to remind us of what we do have. This month I was reminded of this after receiving an email forwarded to me from Mark Remnant at the Buloke Shire from some people travelling through town. They were so impressed they felt compelled to write to the Shire, see letter below:

“To the CEO of the Wycheproof Shire Council (Buloke Shire Council), 

As my husband and I pulled into Wycheproof I was blown away by the innovation and creativity I saw on the corner opposite the shops, an amazing installation of creativity and imagination and a high degree of skill! As a practising artist myself I investigated and had the pleasure of meeting Jimmy Johnson!

What talent this retired welder has! He was so friendly, informative and his work inspirational. After admiring I bought two walking sticks but plan to return to look at his more serious sculptures to purchase! They are incredible in concept skill and structure. I could only admire them and dream of purchasing one, one day. 

My further thoughts were what an asset to this town this creative man is. It adds a most interesting dimension and installation to the streetscape, which we also found neat and tidy. Well done local community. 

I also met a very nice woman selling tickets for a trailer of red gum  competition for  your Agricultural and Pastural Show. We are so excited as we now know when your Agricultural Show is on.

Thank you Wycheproof community we will return with pleasure.         Celia & Greg”

Footnote:

I emailed Celia and Greg to thank them for their kind words and to ask permission to publish their story, and I am pleased to report that they are planning to return to Wycheproof for The A&P Society Show in October.

Wycheproof on Track #105 August 2015: News with Amanda

There are so many things to celebrate in Wycheproof this month. Some are happy things and some sad. But they all need celebrating in their own right.

Our July Wycheproof VISION meeting was a celebration as it was our first meeting in the newly refurbished Railway Station. At the meeting we welcomed two new community members who are prepared to take a vested interest in this town we all call home. Being a member and being interested does not mean you need to be at everything, it means you are prepared to stand up for what is important for you and your family. All input and correspondence is important and feel free to contact me if you would like to receive our meeting minutes.

At the meeting we paused and a condolence motion was minuted as we remembered Gordon Hutcheon. Our town lost a great community man, an active participant in so many groups, they are too numerous to mention, but we extend our condolences to the Hutcheon family and give thanks for the man we all knew as 'Hutchy'.

On a happier note, how could this issue of Wycheproof On Track go to press without celebrating James Coatsworth’s mammoth achievement reaching Cape York, the northern-most tip of Australia. Riding alongside him was his partner in peddling Jamie Ison (Freddy). Together they conquered 3700km in just 23 days, an amazing effort indeed. Just a reminder that it’s not too late to donate to James' special cause, diabetes research, on the website www.toptotip.com.au 

Activities this month

Wycheproof VISION hosted a brief meeting with the Murtoa Progress Association on 11 July 2015. The Murtoa association is interested in restoring their railway station to allow it to be used for community use and used the visit to Wycheproof as a chance to view the refurbished railway station and to share information on how the project happened. We wish them well.

 The following is a copy of an email received in Wycheproof VISION's inbox this month:

Hello everyone up there, Are you skiing off the Mount yet? It is COLD here, at Metung, East Gippsland. My sister, Win Tunstall, sent me a copy of Wycheproof on track (great title), with the section about James Coatsworth, and since then I have been following his progress. What an amazing achievement for both him and Freddy. He must have a wonderful support team with him too. What grit, what determination. I hope he writes an article or something about it, although I don’t think he would see many of the sights. Perhaps on the way back, though. I do hope the town does something special for him.

Best wishes to you all. Judith Williams (nee Taylor).

WOT July 2015 News with Amanda

This month I would like to talk about the fantastic community we live in and some of the services we have access to on a regular basis.

Last week, as I was walking home from the supermarket, I came across a mobile Hearing unit from the Wimmera region. I struck up a conversation with the lady in charge of this service who informed me that she had only seen two clients in the two hours she had been sitting there. Apparently signs were up down the street; however, I had neglected to see them.

The point is that we often complain about having to travel out of town for services, when actually some of them come to us, we just need to use them better. Optometrists come to Wycheproof, as well, we have regular access to physiotherapist’s, podiatrists, mental health support workers, dietitians and diabetes educators, just to name a few.

So what I’m trying to say is, think about using the services we have access to before travelling elsewhere. We also need to ask our medical specialists if we can have review appointments via Skype or Video conferencing as this would save us time and money.

As we know we have minimal access to transport options, and while investigations are being made into alternative sources of transport, we are a fair way off having a viable solution.

So where possible use our local services, because as they say……”Use it or lose it!”