Flowerdale Community Recovery Update 11th May

FLOWERDALE COMMUNITY RECOVERY UPDATE
MONDAY 11TH MAY 2009


Community Meetings
Community meetings will be held at the Rec Reserve, Spring Valley Road on Friday evenings commencing 8pm

Updates from Community Meeting 8th May
- The bridge at Hazeldene Store has now been put on hold by the Shire until further consultation with Community.

- Grocon are over half way finished clearing of houses/blocks.

- Fencing
- Shire has advised steel & wire fencing can be disposed of at the tips for free. Treated Pine posts still being discussed as to how property owners can dispose of with Grocon and VBRRA
- If you require help with replacing fencing, Blazeaid may be able to offer assistance, please phone Kevin Butler 0418530471 to see if they can assist.

- Surveying of blocks/land is still in discussion with Shire & other Government Departments as how this is going to be done and timelines.

- Salvation Army have now announced second round of grants for people who have lost their homes. See Diane at the Hub for details.

- Pathways can offer assistance in sourcing furniture and other household needs. See Pathways or Diane at the Hub for further information.

- Lindsay Fox Warehouse, Shed 48, 1508 Centre Road, Clayton is open again, Mondays & Fridays where you can access furniture, household goods, clothing and other general items, they will also deliver items. You must ring first to make an appointment, Phone: Samantha Barring 040209707 or Mick Best 0408381133. Don’t forget to take your Blue DHS form with you on the day.

- Luna Park Day, 24th May All entry & rides are for free. See Diane at the Hub to book tickets and further details.

Weekly Tennis Coaching at Flowerdale
o Sundays at Spring Valley Recreation Reserve from 10am-12noon
o Mondays at the Flowerdale Primary School. First for children followed by adults from 1 to 2pm.

Lessons are ½ hour per group. All who have enrolled have been allocated a timeslot. The roster is displayed in the bar at Flowerdale Hotel. The coaching is conducted by professional tennis coaches who have volunteered. Please come on time and contact Jeannette (57 801 520) if you are unable to attend as there are some players on the reserve list who would like to have a go in the event of vacancy.

Flowerdale Community House Activities
Bushfire Support Group for bushfire affected people in Flowerdale/Strath Creek areas. Time sharing, practical support, information on trauma management with facilitators Kate Lewer and Zoe Edmonds. Mondays at CFA shed from 1.30pm. Afternoon tea provided. For more information call Odette on 57 801 372.

Patchwork Group The patchwork group is now meeting at the Strath Creek hall on Tuesdays from 7-9pm. Anyone with an interest in patchwork or any other craft is most welcome to join the group.
Yoga Tuesdays in the old library at Kinglake West next to the Hall commencing 7.30pm. Tutor Wayne McGivney. Cost $5.

Massage Massages will now be held at the Flowerdale Hall, Tuesdays 10-4pm. Free of charge.

Announcements

UPCOMING EVENTS (so please mark in your diaries)

15th May
Telstra Information Caravan will be at the Bus Stop near the Hazeldene Store, 9- 12 noon to discuss any communication needs or problems

15th May
Community Meeting, 8pm Recreation Reserve, Spring Valley Road

17th May
Service & Celebration 1pm, Moores Road, Recreation Reserve (behind the pub)

18th May
Heavenly Cuppa, Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea, 10am Kinglake West Uniting Church, 1050 Main Road, Kinglake West. Cost $5.00 cuppa and cake, proceeds in aid of Cancer Council of Victoria and Bushfire Relief. All Welcome.

22nd May
Special Community Meeting, 8pm Recreation Reserve, Spring Valley Road to discuss with the community the structure of committees and nominations

24th May
Luna Park Day (See Diane at the hub for details & to book)

29th May
Community Meeting, 8pm Recreation Reserve, Spring Valley Road

2nd June
Steve Poltz and Greggory Page will be performing at the Flowerdale Hall, 7pm. Entry is gold coin donation. BYO drinks.

21st June
Flowerdale Market will be held again at the Flowerdale Hall. Arts, Crafts, Fresh Fruit & Vegies, Plants & lots more. If you would like to be a stall holder the cost is $10, please call Alsion on 57801223.

16,17&18 Oct
Hoof Over Hills (more details as it gets closer)

Information for Building in Bushfire Prone Areas

Our friends in the CSIRO have provided us with a guide to building in a Bushfire prone area.

As many blocks are now being cleared residents are starting to look to get moving with rebuilding.

We are also talking to VBRRA about putting people on the ground to help Flowerdale residents with planning, permits and advice.

Bushfire Information CSIRO (2)

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Service and Celebration

On 17th May, 2009 there will be a Community Service and Celebration held at the Moores Rd Reserve. We invite all those from the Community or with an interest in Flowerdale to attend

Service & Celebration Flyer

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Working with VBRRA on the Recovery

We have had discussions with VBRRA on the Recovery planning process.

- VBRRA have asked all the relevant authorities to revert to them with their plans by 15th May, this will cover many areas from roads, education, telecommunications, community services etc
- VBRRA has provided representatives to work with us on developing the Community Input into the plan. This will incorporate the outcomes of the Community Workshop and we intend to have a further Forum the week after the Service and Celebration, to flesh out the key projects required to meet the community aspirations (eg another tanker for CFA, Community House)
- We will need to identify where there are projects/aspirations required by the Community that aren't covered in the plans of the relevant authorities and seek to fund these projects. These funds could come from bushhfire grant programs, existing grant programs, philanthropy, our Flowerdale Relief fundraising and Corporate or Community support

There is a meeting on 12th May which will be attended by John Burgess and Peter Williams (me) to work through the next stages of the planning. Fortunately both the representatives from VBRRA attended the Community Workshop and have a good understanding of both the overall recovery operation and the issues and aspirations of Flowerdale.

We look forward to moving ahead with the plan and will ensure that there is maximum community input. If there are things you think we need to be focused on that haven't been mentioned please let us know. Check the post of the community aspirations and ideas contributed by residents.

Service & Celebration Day 17th May 1pm

The Flowerdale Community is holding a Service & Celebration day inconjunction with Chaplaincy Australia on the 17th May from 1pm onwards at the Moores Road Reserve, (left into Kenny's Rd past the hotel, left hand side over the bridge).

After the service there will be music & entertainment.

There will be a courtesy bus operating:
Depart CFA Shed 12.15 & via Forest Road, Hazeldene Store to Moores Road.
Depart Forest Rd 12.45 & via Moores Road, Recreation Reserve (Spring Valley Road) to Moores Road.

If you have more than 5 people for bus before these times & after event please phone
Henry 0427 808 435 to arrange pickups & returns.

Everyone welcome to attend so hoping to see you all there.

Flowerdale Relief Fund

We had the first meeting of the Flowerdale Relief fund last night. To date $47,000 has been raised.

The signatories on the account are John Burgess, Steve Phelan and Darren Heveren from Deloitte. Pete Williams, (that is me), and Peter Auty were in attendance in our role in terms of assisting in the fundraising activities.

The following key points were raised:

- There is a Community Plan being developed in conjunction with VBRRA which will include the key community aspirations and projects that came from the Community Workshop and will continue to be developed via further Community Forums. We understand the plans will be finalised by 15th June incorporating rounds of Community Consultation
- Many of the projects that are included in the plan will be funded by Government agencies at either the Federal, State or Local Government level
- If projects that the Community sees as high priority are not funded, we will be able to fund these projects either with the Flowerdale Relief fund or in conjunction with philanthropists or government grant programs
- There is also the opportunity to access grant programs that provide either $ for $ matching which could help get leverage from the funds we have raised
- We will continue to raise funds to ensure we can meet the aspirations of the community

Basically the view is to not spend money on things now that may be funded by other sources, and have a buffer to be able to ensure we can get the things done that are important to the community.

New Communications for Flowerdale Community

We now have new way of communicating with residents of the Flowerdale Community.
I am Julie Bateman, I am now the point of contact for anyone who is interested in knowing what events, activities and meetings are happening in the valley.
I also have now been given the rights to update blog on regular basis to inform people of what has been happening in the area or new events etc that will be happening in the future.
If you would like to be added to database with contact details please advise me asap by the following:
Via Email: send an email to jbateman@y7mail.com
Via Post: send your details to: Flowerdale Community Recovery, PO Box 2060, Hazeldene 3658
Via Mobile: send your details to email address above or by post to our PO Box.
Please tell everyone you know that would be interested in keeping up to date with information.
If you have any queries please ring me on 0418589072.

New TShirt Entry

We have had a new entry into the T Shirt competition, from a local Flowerdallian. We will be putting th designs to the Community when we next have a major get together.




Good article in the Herald Sun today about the difficulties of living in a caravan with the cold weather coming in.

Michael Somare visits the Flowerdale CFA

Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea visited Flowerdale CFA last week as part of his state visit to Australia. Sir Michael had asked if he could visit disaster areas both in Victoria rleating to the bushfires and North Queensland relating to the floods.



Sir Michael Somare meets Captain Glen Woods from Flowerdale CFA

Flowerdale CFA members put on a lunch and Sir Michael mixed with members of the CFA and community. These visits are important to the Community to reinforce the support that is out there not only in Australia but also from our friends around the world

Community Meeting Update - 1st May 2009

A community meeting was held on Friday night at the Rec Reserve, the key topics covered were:

Communications - Julie Bateman has taken on the role of Community Communications. This will include building the database of addresses, send out regular information either by post or email on any topics that are of importance to the residents. This will cover events, meetings, information provided by VBRRA, services that are made available by organisations such as massage, photo recovery etc. If you know of people who aren't getting information let us know.

Service and Celebration - There is a community service and celebration to be held on 17th May at 1.00pm at the Moores Rd Reserve, which is behind the Flowerdale Hotel across the bridge to the left. This will include a service which will be led by Chaplaincy Australia, dedication to the lives lost, and then a celebration of the Flowerdale Community including music and food. The Service is open to all the Community and also those who have provided support to the Community since Black Saturday and we welcome anyone who has an interest in Flowerdale and would like to attend.

Firewood - There is split dry firewood coming to town, estimated time of arrival is Monday afternoon, it will be at the entrance to the Moores Rd Reserve.

Vicroads - Ian Barry provided a detailed overview of the issues related to the issues around roads since day 1 and are appointing a contractor via a tender process to work in Flowerdale to fix guard rails, trees, roadside stops, lines etc. Ian can be contacted 0357611861

Standpipe - The standpipe across the road from the Hotel will be operational from next week and be available for CFA or Farmers with affected dams or waterways.

Essendon parties for Flowerdale

Moonee Valley residents together with Victorian Police made a significant contribution to the “Flowerdale Tennis Court Fundraiser” with over $10,000 being raised in a one night gala event held at Conlan Tennis, Essendon, on Saturday evening the 18th of April, 2009. It saw over 100 guests enjoy a fast paced evening of live bands, food and entertainment, culminating in an enjoyable and amusing charity auction. The money raised, in partnership with Tennis Victoria, will contribute towards the rebuilding and expansion of the current tennis court complex at Flowerdale.

The event, arranged by tennis coach Phil Conlan from Conlan Tennis and Michael Prowse from Moonee Valley CIU, saw police and local tennis enthusiasts earlier in March make a show-of-support visit to Flowerdale in a mini-bus provided by Victoria Police. Conlan said he was moved by the extent of both the destruction and the tragic accounts of community members. “I wanted to provide practical assistance that would help lift the community’s spirit” said Conlan who also committed to providing ongoing technical advice and support for the Flowerdale Tennis Club. With the Flowerdale cricket field currently out of action, occupied by temporary accommodation, the tennis courts were permanently opened to the general community with the court surface now dealing with rollerblading and other non-traditional tennis activities.



Phil Conlan the organiser of the event

At the fundraising party in Essendon, Jeannette Kamar from the Flowerdale Tennis Club gave a harrowing account of the devastation when an unexpected wind change during February’s “Black Saturday” saw their idyllic community explode into a fireball of unimaginable horror as the raging inferno indiscriminately took life and property. Revelers remained uncharacteristically silent throughout, captivated by the enthusiasm and passion as she outlined advanced plans for the immediate rebuilding phase, commencing with construction of a temporary township and proudly related how in addition to the current 45 active players, 45 new players have registered to start playing since the fires.

Well known Essendon real estate identity, Milo Rasinac of Nelson Alexander, auctioned prizes including a sought after Serena Williams’s tennis racquet and a trip to the Gold Coast, knocked down quickly after spirited bidding.

Paul Gardiner of Gardiner Architects, providing pro bono architectural services to the Flowerdale Spring Valley Recreation Reserve via the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction & Recovery Authority, gave a well presented outline on his work to date.

Jeannette was joined by Flowerdale Tennis Club Assistant Treasurer, Vivian Phelan, publican of the Flowerdale hotel, which in the fire aftermath provided meals to local residents free of charge. She was accompanied by Karen Walker, the tennis clubs Treasurer who lost her lodgings and possessions.

Jeannette, Vivian and Karen thoroughly enjoyed the party and where amazed by the support of their new friends who raised $10.000 towards the 4 new tennis courts that will be built at the Spring Valley Recreation Reserve in Flowerdale. The new infrastructure is being established to support the influx of new tennis players since the bush fire disaster. Tennis Victoria is assisting the new players by providing free tennis coaching during term 2 for all the children at the Flowerdale Primary school on Mondays and the wider Community on Sundays. If you want to join in and have a go, please contact Jeannette on 57801 520.