WOT July 2015 Rural Living Strategy developed by Buloke Shire

 

The following is an extract from the Mayor’s report for June 2015. In it Buloke Shire Mayor, Cr Reid Mather, discusses the Rural Living Strategy, which was developed by the Buloke Shire Council, and it’s importance in creating awareness at State and Federal Government level of the disadvantages that many rural communities face.

“In simple terms, unless rural people have access to the basic services that should be available to all Victorians, we will see our smaller regional communities become more and more unlivable. In Buloke Shire we face this problem in our small communities every single day. We are doing everything we can to deliver the basic essential services, but we are falling short. Youth services, community transport, library services and child care services are just some examples of what our rural communities are missing out on.

The people living in our rural shires make a considerable contribution to the nation’s GDP, as well as paying rates, income tax and GST in the same manner as their metropolitan colleagues. So they should receive the same level of basic services their metropolitan colleagues enjoy. We need to do everything in our power to ensure that we, as Local Government, deliver the basic services that everyone, no matter where they live, is entitled to.

Now is the time for us to band together to advocate for the basic rights of rural residents. Alone, the problems we face can seem insurmountable. As a united voice, we can deliver a simple strong message – equal services for rural people - and get higher levels of government to bring about the changes that are necessary.”

WOT July 2015 Chamber Chatter with Tracey

I'm sure all will agree the rain has been good for business. Hopefully we get plenty more of it.

Great to see the market flyer growing, the more businesses we have advertising the bigger the market day for all. I will be contacting a few more to come on board for next month.

Pleasing to see continuing progress with shop front improvements. 

Finally, as businesses, we must support the other businesses as much as possible.

That's it for this month, remember:

Businesses that support each other, grow a supporting community.

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!”

Scratching for Wyche Community Resource Centre

Get your scratch tickets at WCRC to go into the monthly draw.
The July draw is sponsored by The Terminus Hotel.

WOT June 2015 Wyche P-12 College news

Cross Country:
Well they are a fast bunch of students at Wycheproof P-12! (pictured left) The House Cross Country competition is now finished and in early May a team of students went to St Arnaud to compete in the North Central District event.  The weather was cold and drizzly at times but the competition was hot. 

Wycheproof runners did well and won the Standardised Pennant. As a result a number of students have earned a place to compete in the Zone final at St Arnaud. ...More in next WoT

Test tubes and beakers: Experiments in the science room are usually for the secondary students; however, on Wednesday 20 May, the Prep/1 class and the 2/3/4 students were invited to the science room by Mr Crockett.  

Do you know what happens to a balloon if you put some dry ice in it, tie it off and sit it on top of some water in a beaker? Well the little ones do. They watched it expand (blow up by itself) without any air. They also saw a chemical reaction when dry ice was placed in soapy water creating a volcano of bubbles. 

Thanks to Mr Crockett, these children had an early insight into some of the things that can be done in science. It was a great lesson!

 Teaching rounds: Wycheproof  P-12 College supports those currently studying towards becoming a teacher. At present Wycheproof two student teachers have been learning the ropes; Whitney Boyle is working with Allison Roll in the Grade 4/5/6 area and Luke Murray is in the secondary area working with Chris Duffy in Health and P.E.

It is great to have student teachers visit the school and we wish them all the best in their final years of study.

WOT June 2015 Out & About

Local SES helping in NSW

The SES is not only active within our district and region, but is sometimes called upon to help much further afield. Local SES volunteer Jodi Munro-Foord recently travelled to NSW to assist with the storm damage and clean up. 

It’s comforting to know that people within our community are willing to share their skills and support other areas when disaster strikes. Thank you Jodi.

Beautifying Broadway

It is wonderful to see so many Wycheproof business owners taking pride in the appearance of their shop fronts. We would like to make a special mention of Tony who owns the Community Art &Craft Shop for his efforts repairing and beautifying the façade of 322 Broadway. Cynthia Fawcett and Carol Jones were seen admiring the window display in the  the Art/Craft Shop on Broadway.

 As a side note, we would like to mention that he is still not charging the Craft Group any rent, thank you Tony.

It’s great to see other local shop-fronts being cleaned up and repaired and it would be good to see more of the empty shops being attended to in order make the town look more vibrant. Unfortunately the poor condition of some of the buildings brings the rest of the town down, it is time to put on a lick of paint and tidy up. 

WOT June 2015 Shady parking at Centenary Park

For those who haven’t ventured to Centenary Park recently, these are the new shade structures installed by the Buloke Shire Council in the car park area. 

They not only look great but are very functional and it’s great to see that they match beautifully with the shelters that were already in the car park area such as those over the tourist information board.

The car park shade project has been a long time in the works. Other upgrades to amenities at Centenary Park are also planned. The park is well used by visitors breaking their trip on the Calder Highway.