CPPA Members and Volunteers End of year Lunch & thank you

CPPA Members and Volunteers End of year Lunch

A final opportunity to get together this year will be a lunch at Progress Hall at noon on Thursday 15th December.

It will be a mix of catered and bring a plate to share. There’ll be some very light entertainment to brighten the mood, locals to mingle with and much joyousness to share.

If you’ve been meaning to join the CPPA you can drop in and fill in a form.

If you’d like to attend please RSVP by 13/12/22 to cppasecretary@gmail.com to assist in catering.

Thank you One and All- Lois Simpson

A heartfelt, huge, end-of -year thank you from your Landcare team to so many of our community . It has been a very challenging year with all the rain but we’ve been working hard to keep our bushland reserves weed-free and healthy.

Your support has been part of the successes achieved. Perhaps you have been part of the "one weed each walk" action, or the "no garden or lawn rubbish over our back fence" brigade. You may even be a "let's pull out those garden escapees just outside our fence" helper. If you are a "let's choose our plants wisely" gardener, you are having an enormous and positive impact on the war against weeds.

It's heartening to know that, in our neighbourhood, there are so many who understand and value healthy native bushland. If we were to lose it, Australia would not be Australia anymore.

It's so heartening, too, to see a growing understanding in our next generation. Our patch is in good hands.

Our very best wishes to all, over the festive season and in the new year, from your local Landcarers.

Progress Hall working bee 22/1/23

Progress Hall is owned by the CPPA, it is truly a community hall. As such the CPPA works very hard to cover the costs of owning property and the tasks associated with maintaining a community space for community use.

We are starting off the new year with a working bee to get the hall in tip top shape to host events, functions, groups and get togethers.

Many hands make light work so if you’d like to lend a hand there’ll be something for everyone. Lots of cleaning of walls inside and out, gutters, spaces, also sorting storage options, de-cluttering, repairing termite damage… and more.

If you’d like more details contact cppasecretary@gmail.com or one of the committee members on the back page.

Want an Electric Vehicle(EV) for Christmas?

The Good Car Company are hosting an online presentation Monday 12 December 2022, 7.00 - 8.00pm covering EV Charging, Integrating home solar with your EV, EV servicing & maintenance, EV batteries, road trips, the good Nissan Leaf cars & vans and the December EV offer. You can register to attend here

Want to help those in need over the festive season?

The Pamper Care Project has been busy! With the increase in rents and mortgages, increase in domestic violence, illness and issues in the food supply chain, more and more people are struggling.

Pamper Care is putting out a call out for donations of food items such as 1kg rice, long life milk, baked beans and tinned spaghetti, breakfast cereals, dog and cat food (dry and wet).

Donations can be dropped off at Woodrising Neighbourhood Centre.

The Soul Café is also collecting and creating “Hampers of Hope’ and Hunter Back Care at the Carey Bay Shopping Village will be accepting donations till COB Monday 12th December.  

The items wanted to make the hampers are ring pull tins of baked beans, spaghetti, soups, chunky stew, tinned fruit. Other items include instant noodle cups, bottled water, cans of soft drink, packets of chips, soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste or a Christmas bauble.

The Rathmines Catalina is on the Move - Rod Mellor RCMPA Volunteer

Rathmines Catalina PBY-5A is on the move to new premises at Beresfield, just off the end of the M1. After eight years on private land in Ridge Road it was time to move to a suitable site where restoration work can continue whilst providing facilities for public tours & memorabilia displays. The fuselage is planned to be moved on the 15th December with the centre wing and other major components currently stored at Centennials’ Awaba mine head site shortly after. Smaller components, tools and other equipment will be moved by volunteers as time permits. It is planned to recommence restoration work at the new premises after the Christmas break.

We are hoping for extensive media coverage so expect to see it in the Newcastle Herald and on NBN News.

The Rathmines Catalina Association volunteers normally meet on Mondays and Wednesdays for restoration efforts. There are several retired aircraft trades people, both civil & RAAF, but most volunteers are locals just interested in doing something worthwhile to represent the history of our area. It is hoped that the fully restored aircraft and the associated Rathmines RAAF base memorabilia will become a permanent static display at Williamtown in conjunction with Fighter World.

Please review the website https://rathmines-catalina.com or the Rathmines Catalina Association | Facebook or email info@rathmines-catalina.com for any further information including by arrangement visits to the aircraft and a look at the on-line shop.

Finished

Prepped

au-naturel

On location at Kilaben bay

Landcare Legends

Congratulations to four of our local Landcare crew who were recognised for their landcaring prowess at the annual Lake Macquarie Landcare Environmental Excellence in Landcare Awards.

Local Legend Awards for a Landcarer who has made a regular and colossal contribution for more than two years were bestowed upon Rod Mellor and Nico Marcar.

Wendy Davidson was honoured with the Carl Fulton Memorial Community Education Award for spreading the Landcare ethic within the community.

Our local landcare leader, the amazing Lois Simpson, was awarded with the John Hughson ‘Soaring with the Eagles’ Award for a Landcarer who has made a regionally significant contribution but also is a local champion, educator and has been around for 20 years. Lois’s love of landcare is infectious and she spreads it around at all the Coal Point Progress Association Landcare reserves, Toronto Lions Park Landcare, Arbre Close Landcare and ‘Crocodile Point’ (opposite the Lions Park at Fennel Bay bridge).

Nico, Lois, Rod, Wendy

What would happen to your home if there was a bushfire in our community?

Now there’s a way to find out. The Hunter Joint Organisation has a Simtable and they are travelling around our region. The Simtable can model bushfire movement and outcomes based on what bushfire plan you implement to protect your home and it helps communities understand their bushfire risk and develop preparedness and response plans.

The CPPA will be bringing the Simtable to our hall in February for community members to test their response plans.

Recently members of local Sustainable Neighbourhood Groups were able to see the Simtable in action as it modelled the 2002 Killingworth fire. The Teralba Landcom development, currently under construction, would have been consumed and in a scenario where it kept burning, even the Coal Point peninsula, surrounded by water was impacted right out to the tip of Coal Point.

At the workshop Craig Holland, LMCC’s Bushfire Officer, commented that 87% of homes in bushfires are lost to ember attack, not the actual flames or heat from the fire front. He also emphasised that Lake Macquarie was largely untouched by the Black Summer fires of 2019-20 and how important it is to prepare your house now for summer as the wet weather has also resulted in a lot of growth and it isn’t taking long for the ground to dry out.

The RFS website, has a wealth of knowledge to assist us in preparing for this bushfire season and there are some must do actions for our bushland community.

1. Get your bush fire survival plan in place, it only takes 5 minutes to think through and discuss with your family what you’d do if a bushfire was threatening your home- 

2. Prepare your home and gardens now before the bushfire season kicks in. 

• Trim overhanging trees and shrubs,
• Mow grass,
• Remove material that can burn from around your home e.g wood piles, mulch, paint, straw door mats,
• Clean out your gutters,
• Make sure your hoses can reach around your house

3. Know the bushfire alert levels. They’ve been simplified to Moderate, High, Extreme and Catastrophic.

You can download the Fires Near Me App and set it up for a radius of 10km around your home which will keep you informed f

4. Keep Key information handy to stay up to date on local conditions. Keep your phone charged, have a battery powered radio available to access local radio 1233 ABC

If you need a hand to prepare your home the RFS runs the AIDER (Assist Infirm, Disabled and Elderly Residents) program , a free, one-off service which supports some of our most at-risk community members. They can assist people who have limited domestic support available from family, relatives, friends or other services to do the tasks outlined above to prepare your home.

If you would like to know more about the AIDER service, call 02 8741 4955 or email aider@rfs.nsw.gov.au or download our fact sheet. You can also fill out an online form. https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare/aider

Other handy information includes the Lake Macquarie Council’s Disaster Dashboard. It’s a glimpse into the future in a climate changing world. Information is provided on 14 disaster scenarios; bushfires, heatwaves, storms, floods, East Coast Lows, tsunamis, infrastructure failure, Human infectious diseases, biosecurity, coastal erosion, earthquakes and landslides.

It also offers some general tips

1. Know your risks
2. Plan now for what you’ll do
3. Get your home ready
4. Be aware
5. Look out for each other:

If you like your plants there’s a way to have a garden and still be bushfire safe. A demonstration Fire Retardant Garden is at the Toronto Fire Station.

There are fire retardant plant selections in Lake Macquarie Landcare's Fact Sheet, Native Fire Retardant Plants  and Trees In Newcastle’s TIN Topic 13 Fire Retardant Plants 

… and did you know The Toronto Workers Club is the local Emergency Evacuation Centre!

Car Boot Catch Up Wrap Up

It was a glorious sunny day, the 40 car-booters rolled onto Puntei Park and seamlessly set up their displays, the sausages sizzled and the coffee van brewed. There were bargains to be had, conversations a plenty and it was indeed a community catchup.

Thank you to all who participated and visited.

Feedback from the day was it would have been nice to have more people attend the event and the location was hard to find, but overall a great event worth doing again, and TASNG and CPPA are indeed thinking about that prospect.

 

TASNG Update – Steve Dewar - Chair

Outcomes of the Graffiti community meeting held on 9 November included an anti-graffiti campaign commencing 2023 possibly involving murals by High School students and by the Awabakal aboriginal group and the 1st graffiti removal success from the wall of the Toronthai restaurant. This is a great initiative by one of our members Joanna Rees.

The Awabakal aboriginal group is keen that more prominence is given to the historic, unique connection between Reverend Thelkeld, soon to be seen as an SBS Documentary, at the Toronto Foreshore redevelopment. We can support them in their efforts.

One of our biggest projects is the Landcare site opposite Lions Park at Fennell Bay bridge, nicknamed “Crocodile Point”, led by Lois Simpson. We have cleared many invasive weeds so far! The group meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday 8:30-10am

We have also held initial discussions with the franchisee and manager of Toronto McDonalds to run a campaign on recycling fast food material, particularly home delivery material by Menulog. Also, we have had discussions with Stanley Tang, head of sustainability for Costco, Australia and New Zealand, about similar issues of recycling and over-packaging. Hopefully, a campaign to educate the public about recycling at these 2 venues can occur next year!

DAs In Play 1/11/22 to 8/12/22

The CPPA endeavours to provide a summary of active applications in our area as outlined in the table.
Please consult LMCC’s website for a full listing:

• DA = Development Application
• BC = Building Information Certificate
• TA = Tree Assessment
• CC = Construction Certificate
• CDC = Complying
• Development Certificate
• REF = Review Environmental Factors
• SC = Subdivision Certificate.
• MU = Mixed use
• RFB = Residential flat Building