The Year of the Rabbit is a time to catch your breath and calm the nerves, with a focus on local relationships and peaceful lifestyles. We'll be doing some local socialising with a Flood Fundraiser in March, planning for the future of the organisation at the AGM on March 7th and supporting growing your own vegetables through talks and garden visits.
The International Year of Youth is a good time to think about what we can do to support local youth in our community. There are LMCC Youth Week grants open at the moment for activities during Youth Week, April 1-10, the theme is Own It! Young people 12-24 years old must be involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the events / activities. If you're young and want to help organise a local event come along to a workshop at 6pm at the Hall on Monday 7 February to get ideas and the application underway, which is due on 16/2/11. It won't happen unless you Own It!.
The International Year of Forests will get its share of attention as we continue to landcare in the urban forest which surrounds us. Additionally grant funded projects at Stansfield Close and Yural Reserves will get finished this year and a brochure celebrating our local bushland will be delivered into everyone's letter box.
Since the last Chronicle there have been a few significant occurrences. The Art & Craft show came and went and in the process raised $3400 towards painting the Hall. It was an amazing event with such a wonderful display of local talent filling every corner of the Hall. Congratulations to the sub-committee who did a fantastic job on making it all happen and to everyone who came along and shared in the community joi de vie. Special thanks to Whitakers Jewellers who donated the major raffle prize, and Anacapri and Double Take cafes for the additional prizes.
On the last day of the Art Show there was also a meeting of like minded people interested in helping locals transition into backyard vegetable gardening as part of the Transition Town (TT) project. The Vege-TT-able group was formed and has had its first meeting to plan the project.
At the Lake Macquarie Environmental Excellence in Landcare Awards local landcarer Robyn Garret was recognised for being “continuously and thoughtfully supportive of the work of the Coal Point Landcare Group". Congratulations!
We were also saddened at the loss of a long-term Progress stalwart and gentleman, Geoff Teague, whose talents in cello and calligraphy were often admired and shared. Geoff's local commitments to caring for the Carey Bay wetlands and Chronicle distribution for over 15 years were respected and appreciated. Our condolences go out to Olive and her family.
Suzanne Pritchard, President
