50 years ago
November 1974
An ‘’at home’’ morning held in the Baby Health Centre gardens to honor the retirement of Sister Joyce Berryman proved a nostalgic outing for many mothers who had not visited the centre for many years.
Throughout the morning more than 120 women called in to farewell Sister Berryman at the function arranged by the centre’s committee.
In many cases, four generations of one family attended.
A scroll signed by all present was presented to Sister Berryman by Mrs Ian Stewart who also presented Sister Berryman with a transistor radio.
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It was all fun and games at the Echuca Senior Citizens’ Club when about 20 members of the Y’s Men’s Club of Echuca were entertained as guests by the Senior Citizens, although the main purpose of their visit was to present a new television.
The younger club visit the Senior Citizens following their weekly dinner meeting and continued their evening by playing bowls, cards, singing and watching amateur films on the Senior Citizens.
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As a result of a number of donations, including $3000 from the William Buckland Foundation recently, extensions estimated to cost about $60,000 are expected to be started on Englebert Lodge shortly after Christmas.
Chairman of the Appeals and Planning Committee of Englebert Lodge, Mr Max Schoeffel, said the extensions would add six more units to the present number of 25 and that they would be added to the southern end of the present building.
He said work on the extension would begin as soon as approval from the Department of Social Services and the Hospitals and Charities Commission was received and that any delay would mean increased costs because of inflationary trends.
25 years ago
November 1999
Trucks weighing more than five tonnes have been banned from Moama’s residential streets.
Signs were erected by council on the town’s residential streets making them ‘no go’ zones for the trucks.
Service vehicles such as street sweepers and garbage trucks, as well as trucks dropping off loads to houses in the streets, will be exempt.
Murray Shire director of engineering services Ian Fisher said council didn’t see the need for trucks bigger than five tonnes to be using the residential streets.
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Time is running out for small business to ensure that their profits next year will not be adversely affected by the millennium bug.
The millennium bug of Year 2000 (Y2K) problem has the potential to affect equipment that small business operators take for granted on a daily basis in carrying out their business.
Goods and services, such as computers, printers, modems, software programs and chip-based electronic products that use a date function, all have the potential to malfunction or to fail completely on January 1, 2000.
Businesses that buy goods or services which may be affected by Y2K, or purchase Y2K remediation services, are protected from misleading and deceptive conduct by sellers under the Trade Practices Act.
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‘’One door closes and another one opens.’’
That philosophy has seen Echuca Football Club score the coup of signing former St Kilda coach Ken Sheldon to their senior coaching position for the next three years.
With the announcement coming just 10 days after the shock resignation of Rod O’Riley due to family reasons, club president Bob Martin said fate had played a part in securing Sheldon.
‘’The club was looking for a high profile coach and fortunately, we discovered Ken had plans to move over this way,’’ he said.
Martin said once they found out that Sheldon was available, they weren’t considering any other option.
10 years ago
November 2014
Stage two Moama-Echuca Garden is open.
An 80-strong crowd, some equipped with umbrellas to combat the heat and bright sunshine, gathered at the gardens on Tuesday for the formalities.
Federal Member for Farrer Sussan Ley made a flying visit — literally — after she flew herself to Echuca to attend the event.
And despite an inward breath from the audience when Murray Shire mayor Tom Weyrich described the gardens as a ‘‘pain in the backside’’, he swiftly put it into context.
‘‘This particular project has consumed a lot of time, a lot of discussion and a lot of debate,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s been controversial at times, it’s been argumentative, it’s been a pain in the backside some days, I can tell you.
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Some of the region’s most prominent men will speak at an official White Ribbon Day event which is expected to attract more than 100 people later this month.
Hosted by Campaspe Shire chief executive Keith Baillie, who earlier this year became a White Ribbon ambassador, the free ‘Shine a Light’ event at Moama Bowling Club will feature Campaspe Police Inspector Paul Margetts, Echuca Regional Health’s Craig Frew and John McPherson, a partner in Bendigo law firm Arnold Dallas McPherson, also a White Ribbon ambassador.
The event will include a screening of local documentary-maker Shaun Burke’s moving short film Weathered, a panel discussion and a ‘group swearing’ of the White Ribbon oath.
Mr Baillie said the event, the first of its kind in the region, was designed to raise awareness about men’s violence against women and children and the profile of the White Ribbon campaign.
**
Reece Tehan is the good samaritan of books.
For the past 30-odd years, he has helped people half a world away turn the page to boost their reading abilities.
The Echuca-Moama Rotary Group international director was often found sorting through books at a nondescript storage shed before they were shipped off for a good cause.
In previous years, books have gone to New Guinea and Mr Tehan said it depended where demand was.
About 500 boxes of books fit in each shipping container, with the group donating about 250 boxes at a time.