50 years ago August 1974
A final decision on a proposal to transfer the activities of the Echuca Golf Club to a new area near Moama is to be made at a special meeting of the club’s members on Wednesday night.
The two previous meetings have been held to consider the proposed re-location of the club’s course, and one in February agreed that a feasibility study should be prepared for submission to members before a final decision was made.
The study has now been completed by a Melbourne firm, Austcon Pty Ltd, and its findings have been examined by the club’s committee and discussed with officials of other Murray River border golf clubs.
President of the club, Mr Brian Bush, said that financial aspects of the study will no longer be completely accurate because of the rise in interest rates and costs of the past six months, but all other considerations are still relevant.
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Forty-two students from Form 5 at the Echuca Technical School boosted the workforce of Echuca and district centres this week when they were employed at a variety of occupations under the work experience program first introduced by the school last year.
The purpose of the work experience programs, which have been described by the Assistant Minister for Education, Mr Brian Dixon, as an essential part of modern school curriculum, is to enable students to experience outside working conditions and assist them in deciding their future vocations.
Echuca Technical School staff were pleased with the response from local and district employers to the scheme and hope to even further widen the range of occupations available to the students next year.
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Echuca’s Welfare Officer, Mrs J. Currell, reported this week that three persons had contacted her over urgent housing needs.
She said that no help could be given and that there were 17 children in the three families concerned.
All are living in caravans at the moment.
During July, Mrs Currell dealt with 18 cases, which received assistance. Fourteen were elderly persons; the other four were families.
The average daily number of meals being served by Meals on Wheels at present is 32.
25 years ago August 1999
Excitement was high in Echuca and Nathalia yesterday as news of grand final contenders for the 1999 Rock Eisteddfod Challenge spread like wildfire.
It was high fives all round at Echuca Secondary College, Echuca High School and St Mary of the Angels Secondary College Nathalia with the announcement they had made it through to the state titles.
Months of hard work preparing for that moment had paid off, and the chance to compete in the grand final was reward enough for the elated students.
Cohuna Secondary College and its production based on the media, ‘’The Daily Dragon’’, missed out on making this year’s final.
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Young people living in Campaspe Shire now have their own website.
Youth Link was devised by the Drug and Alcohol Harm Minimisation Action Group.
Its launch involves functions around the shire, including lunchtime barbecues at Echuca High School, Echuca Secondary College and Rochester Secondary College.
The website includes information about health and health services available in the shire, information about drugs and alcohol issues and about coming drug and alcohol-free events in the shire.
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Pressure is being placed on Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE to relinquish its Hare St site for other positions in Echuca.
BRIT received $3.2 million in funding this year’s Victorian Government budget to replace its temporary portable arrangement with permanent buildings.
However, concerned by a lack of retail space in central Echuca, the Campaspe Shire Council, with the help of the Campaspe Economic Development Board, has unsuccessfully attempted to convince BRIT to move by presenting them with a number of alternative sites around town.
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Lockington-Bamawm United Football Club may not play in the Bendigo Football League next year.
The club is currently reviewing its future and is looking at the possibility of leaving the Bendigo league for a minor league.
The Heathcote league and the Loddon Valley league are options for the club, and apparently both are willing to add LBU to their ranks.
Club president Bernie McManus said at this stage all the club was doing was looking at its options for the future and said no decisions had been made.
10 years ago August 2014
Thirty-eight people will lose their job at the Echuca Fonterra site in the next month.
The redundancies will be offered to employees in the production, maintenance, logistics and quality areas at the site.
In total, 44 roles will go, with six of the positions currently vacant.
The company’s ingredients and operations director Bruce Donnison told the Riverine Herald, seven new roles with new responsibilities were being created to ‘‘better service the site for future success’’.
‘‘We do not make these decisions lightly, but we need to right-size the site against our current and projected volumes and keep the site competitive for the long term,’’ he said.
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Moama Anglican Grammar School captain Ashley Sutton will leave a legacy after he has finished Year 12 — a 25-year one to be exact.
Encouraged to leave a mark during their time at the school, Ashley came up with the idea of a 25-year time capsule after one initiated by his grandparents in Finley was opened by his father and uncles last year.
‘‘I thought it would be really cool if we could do that at the school,’’ he said.
‘‘Anything could happen in the next 25 years.
‘‘The whole world will be completely different.
‘‘The technological advances will be just out of this world — they could literally be out of the world, in space.’’
The capsule, which was designed and donated by Echuca’s River Fabrications, is made of stainless steel and will have three layers of protection for the letters.
All students, teachers and parents have been invited to submit a handwritten letter.
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Echuca-Moama’s Biggest Blokes Lunch has a new home.
Dungala Centre at Moama on Murray Resort will host up to 400 blokes for an afternoon of beers, bites and banter to raise money and awareness of the Prostate Cancer Foundation Australia.
After two packed years at Echuca Harness Racing Club’s pavilion, organiser Garet Stobaus said the time was right to make the move.
‘‘Owner Anthony Stevens has done us a great deal and it is a great setting to host the event,’’ he said.
Last year more than 300 attended the event, raising $50,000 for PCFA, with the inaugural event in 2012 raising $40,000.