On the Grapevine

The 51-year-old had been thinking about participating in the program for some time and after submitting a written application and attending an interview she was accepted as one of 28 participants for the 2023 course, to be launched in Echuca today.

Rachel will be among a group of motivated individuals in a program designed to build individual leadership skills and educate emerging leaders about the challenges and issues that are impacting the Goulburn Murry region.

The program began in 1997 and came about as a result of McPherson Media Group managing director Ross McPherson’s participation in the Williamson Community Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Participation comes at a cost of $6000 (plus GST) and Rachel is grateful to Moira Shire Council for providing funding to the value of $5000 to assist with her expenses.

To this day approximately 650 people have graduated from the leadership program, with many taking over senior positions in the region while others have been offered valuable positions elsewhere in their field of expertise.

Participants are required to demonstrate a capacity for leadership, express a broad range of interests and a willingness to hold positions of responsibility in their community.

It is a year of their lives the participants will not forget or regret. As I recall, in the first year of the program a young woman named Wendy Lovell graduated and later entered politics to become a long-standing Liberal Member for Northern Victoria, now in her sixth term. It all began for her after 12 months of growth and learning with the Fairley Leadership Program. Cobram man Dean Pullar graduated from the program in 2003.

Rachel, who generously thinks nothing of the time she offers in assisting others less fortunate, amazed Vicky Scott from the Fairley program when reading through her application, to see that Rachel had been awarded an OAM in 2022 for her contributions to others.

“You are the first participant we have had in the program who has been awarded such an honour!” Vicky had said.

Rachel, married to Colin, works full-time and the couple is in partnership together at their Cobram service station, she is a mother of three and grandmother of one little granddaughter.

International Women’s Day: Let’s celebrate girls!

I don’t know about other women in the town, but I feel proud to be a woman of today and truly believe International Women’s Day is worthy of a celebration.

So too, it appears, do members of Cobram Nocturnals CWA who have planned to host a special luncheon with guest speaker Kylee Donkers of Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter in the beautiful modern clubrooms of Cobram Roar Soccer Club on Saturday, March 18.

Widely lauded for the rescue of the region’s wildlife, Kylee and partner James Leonard spend their lives rescuing and saving the lives of many hundreds of wild animals each year. The couple generally has in their care at any given time in the vicinity of 100 animals in various stages of recuperation before being released back into the wild.

Do come along to hear this inspirational young woman, while also enjoying a two-course meal at a cost of $30 per person, commencing at noon.

Bookings are essential so please contact Carol Cahill on 0429 125 620.

The venue is Cobram Soccer Pavilion, Apex Reserve.

Tourists and business people frustrated

It appears there are mixed messages being received by visitors to towns along the Murray about camping areas being open over the long weekend and the Easter break.

There have been several incidents recently when people have arrived in Tocumwal believing they can camp alongside the river, yet finding there are Parks Victoria signs saying camping areas are closed.

Looking on the website I noticed that it appears most areas are open, yet if you scroll down further there is a note indicating many are closed to the public.

From the words of a frustrated local, “Parks Victoria website is like a knitting pattern in braille!”

A telephone call from the Tocumwal Visitor Information Centre to Parks Victoria last week to clarify this issue did not prove fruitful; nobody was available for the woman to speak to, so she left the information centre’s contact number and was promised somebody would be in touch. To date, no call has been received.

However the major reason for the call was the various signs erected by Parks Victoria, indicating that all camping sites were closed.

One can understand the frustration of everyone, visitors to the area who love the river and spending time with their families in a bush environment and business people who rely heavily on tourism dollars, especially after suffering a devastating financial hit after three years of COVID-19 lockdowns.

One needs to appreciate Parks Victoria and their position of ensuring areas are safe for the public, yet surely there has to be some consistency between information on their website and road signage.

Rosa Luff, the queen of travel

Principal of Helloworld Travel Cobram Rosa Luff last week celebrated a magnificent 50 years in the travel industry and this popular woman should be commended for her years of dedication to always ensure her clients’ needs are met in every way.

Rosa and husband Greg are partners in the business, however Rosa is the travel consultant together with Sue Hoban who between them have a passion for the industry and desire to provide client satisfaction. With any good business, news spreads and today travellers from across the region book their next exciting adventure knowing they will be looked after in every capacity.

Congratulations Rosa, an amazing milestone in the travel industry and a huge asset to the community of Cobram.

Tennis Victoria County Week stats

I thought readers might be interested to learn some statistics from the recent Tennis Victoria Country Week Championships held at Yarrawonga.

There were 1293 players, aged from 15 years to 83 years.

There were 205 teams that entered, 119 female teams and 86 male teams.

There were 26 different grades.

A total 2376 Dunlop Australian Open tennis balls were used.

There were 101 grass tennis courts played on, including 23 permanent courts and 78 temporary courts prepared on the JC Howe Oval and Victoria Park precinct. What a job for the curator and groundsmen.

And 85 rackets were restrung by the Tennis Lab, using 1032m of string. This is the same team used by Australian tennis ‘bad boy’ Nick Kyrgios.