Living a Local Life

Dates for the Diary

A choir where the audience does the singing!

Upcoming Dates:
27 September, 11 October, 25 October.

No experience necessary, just turn up, grab a drink and get ready to sing.

We meet fortnightly: 7.30 pm, Mulberry Room, upstairs at the Toronto Pub.

Green Waste Tour with TASNG

Wednesday 28 September,

9:30-11

Awaba Recycling Centre

Wilson Roard, Awaba

RSVP to torontoareasng@gmail.com

Wednesday 28 September, 10am-noon
Morisset Multipurpose Centre, 143 Dora Street

Natural systems with higher biodiversity are more resilient against change, pest damage, disease and extreme weather events. Learn a range of techniques to encourage biodiversity in your garden.

Lachlan Storrie of Tree Frog Permaculture is an enthusiastic purveyor of all things permaculture and the natural world. His background in Biology, ecology and 12 years of sustainable gardening will get you excited and informed, ready to do the same in your corner of the globe! Call Southlake Neighbourhood Centre on 4973 7000 to book your spot.

TASNG Monthly meeting 
2nd Wednesday of the month.

5 - 6:30pm
The Hub, 97 The Boulevarde

Next meeting is 12 October 

- All Welcome -

Sunday 16 October , 11am-3pm
Myuna Bay Foreshore Park

The Nature Conservation Council is holding their first Picnic for Nature event where local communities will host and hold picnics - coming together to celebrate nature.

Our local picnic is being hosted on Sunday 16th October by the Coal Ash Community Alliance at Myuna Bay Foreshore Reserve, 11am-3pm. They are organising an amazing program, from fun activities for the kids, to discussions on what's next for the area. Bring a picnic lunch and something to sit on.

As well as a fun day out with the family, it’s also an opportunity to celebrate our local natural beauty and biodiversity and a chance to connect with locals who also care about nature in our area. More information 

The Aussie Bird Count

October 17 – 23 Outdoors and online

Taking part in the bird count is easy, register to participate, take a seat and admire the birds!

Spend 20 minutes in your backyard, local park, farm, balcony, or anywhere you can see birds, and submit your count using the web form or the app – both come with a handy bird finder to help you identify what you see.

Count as often or as little as you like. Some people count multiple times per day, others only once or twice for the week. Every count helps.

https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/#register

The Hunter Bird Observers Club website has many great resources available, including their newly-released publication, “Birding Guide to the Cessnock Woodlands“

Dreamtime to Modern

Sunday 23 October, 2 - 4 pm 
Rathmines Theatre , Stilling Street, Rathmines

The Lake Macquarie Wind Band presents, in partnership with the Gabinya Miyay Aboriginal Dance Group, an afternoon celebrating aspects of culture, from ancient indigenous dance, a smoking ceremony and modern Australian soundscapes.

Gold Coin Donation.Bookings are recommended via the Dreamtime to Modern Booking Link.

The Great Southern Bioblitz

28-31 October- Online

The Great Southern Bioblitz returns 28-31 October when the southern hemisphere’s natural world awakens from its winter slumber.

Help us learn about biodiversity across our suburban backyards, parks and bushland reserves, and see what is recorded in this snapshot of spring across three continents.

The iNaturalist website and phone app connect you to expert scientists and other naturalists from around the world, and let you collect observations that contribute to biodiversity science. You can explore observations from Lake Macquarie and the world, and get help to identify plants and animals.
To participate sign up to iNaturalist and join the Great Southern Bioblitz 2022 Lake Macquarie City project.

Progress Parlance

Bush Blocks – A new beginning

The flurry of February activity to garner pledges of support for the 20 Laycock Street, whilst not successful in securing the site, was in fact a success in showing local support for such a project.

It is acknowledged that there were shortfalls in the process: not enough time, background knowledge, nor detail. In spite of this there were 17 pledges made totalling $47,120. Considering the 48 hour timeframe this was very inspiring and genuinely appreciated.

Many of those that pledged have rolled over their pledge as a show of ongoing support for the project. As the concept is more fully explained and direction and new opportunities arise, the pledges will provide a barometer of our community’s capacity to undertake a collaborative housing project. You can pledge support for the ongoing project at   https://hub.benojo.com/connect/org/coalpointprogress/campaigns/progress-posterity-pledge-now

The CPPA committee has endorsed further exploration of the collaborative housing concept and an invitation is warmly extended to anyone interested in joining a project team to develop a project plan with defined objectives and a crystal clear mission within our geographical area. Contact Suzanne to get involved coalpointprogress@gmail.com.

Seeking a hall booking coordinator

Feel like volunteering a small amount of time throughout the year to coordinate the bookings at our Hall? The job involves keeping a calendar of bookings, showing interested parties the hall and processing the paperwork, taking about 1 to 2 hours a week on average. Contact Ian Dennison to find out more 0412 083 130

Muso’s musings

The CPPA is willing to support and encourage a regular social jam session at Progress hall with the intention of having a musical event as a regular Progress activity in the future. If you’ve got musical ability and are interested in making music contact Suzanne and we can get together, see what’s possible and look for suitable times.

Can we be plastic free?

The Toronto cafés and about 35 other cafés around Lake Macquarie have had the strong bamboo reusable coffee cups for a month now for only $2. With the COVID concerns about handling now addressed, it’s considered safe to use reusable coffee cups. With 2.5 million takeaway cups going to landfill in Australia each day, the TASNG team are keen to get Toronto back on track and heading towards being a plastic-free community. Later in the year it is hoped to support coffee trucks and fastfood restaurants with the reusable cups initiative.

Formosa’s getting hard to find!

We’re not popping the corks yet...but it won’t be too long. Well done, Coal Pointians, on great progress in eliminating the elegant but evil Formosa lily.

We’ve noticed a significant drop in number this year, indicating that far fewer seeds have been spread along our beautiful bush ridge.

That success is in no small part due to each one of you who has kept an eye out since last summer and dug out that horrible bulb, or at least removed the flower head before it seeded.

If we can keep up this rate of reduction, soon will come a summer when we’re down to a handful of sightings.

Watch for them in your yard. And feel free to remove them from our bush reserves if you can. If we get down to five floral fiends we’re all celebrating! ...and it will be well-deserved.