Ryan pavilion opening

West Gippsland Orchid Club

There was a good attendance at the September meeting with members bringing in a variety of orchids to display and have judged.

The three judges, Robin, Geoff and John, were the guest speakers, explaining the various aspects they look for when judging plants and displays at the show.

This was a timely reminder of how to do things for the older club members and good information for new members in the club, as the spring show was only two weeks away. The next meeting will be held on Thursday.

The club are hoping that a number of visitors will attend the meeting after “getting the orchid bug” at the spring show in Drouin on the weekend of September 17 and 18.

As well as the annual general meeting being incorporated into the meeting, there will be a presentation yet to be decided. A report will be given from the members who attended the Australian Native Orchid Show on September 24 and 25, showing plants belonging to club members.

The 30th anniversary spring show was a great success with a great display of many different orchids grown by members and nearly 300 people through the door.

Club members were very pleased with the interest shown and comments made by the public and the judges. It was also a great help to have the show costs sponsored by the Warragul Downtowner for the 30th anniversary of West Gippsland Orchid Club.

The next event on the calendar is the Drouin Lions Club Garden and Home Expo, where the club will make a beautiful orchid display and have some orchids for sale.

Members will be there to speak with the public about orchid culture, answer questions and invite interested orchid growers to the club.

An invitation is extended to anyone from the public interested in orchid culture to come along to the October meeting at the Drouin Scout Hall where you will be made most welcome.

The hall will be opened at 7pm and the meeting will begin at 8pm. Meeting attendance is free of charge and there is always a raffle with orchid plants as prizes. For more information phone president Bob Lowrie on 5625 3844.

Warragul Drouin Neighbourhood Watch

Warragul Drouin Neighbourhood Watch: Creating Safer Communities, will host important events this month.

A public meeting will be held at Masonic Hall, Korumburra Rd Warragul on Monday, beginning at 7.30pm and concluding at 9pm. The meeting is a free event with tea and coffee provided.

Warragul Drouin Neighbourhood Watch will have their usual information on what is happening in the local community.

David Eldelman from Acereole Systems will be guest speaker, talking about the topic information technology and security.

Neighbourhood Watch will hold an Operation Safe Plate day on Saturday, October 15.

Operation Safe Plate day will be held in the car park off Mason St from 9.30 am until 12.30pm.

A donation of minimum $5 will be required to have special screws fitted to your car number plates to prevent number plate theft.

For more information phone Steve on 0409 256 090.

Baw Baw Region Arthritis Support Group

Baw Baw Region Arthritis Support Group members have a spring in their steps after a cold winter.

Great winter attendances have kept good joint movement and well being hand in hand and enjoyment of the exercise and social activities have benefited all.

The group recently heard from guest speaker Lauren from Australian Hearing, and learnt of a range of new products available to benefit their lives.

The group followed this with afternoon tea and much laughter at the Warragul Country Club. They also discussed their big fundraising street stall to be held in Warragul to be held on Saturday.

The fundraiser enables the group to pay for professional leader training and updates. The group are thrilled to have four more chair-base leaders trained under Move, along with two leaders trained in Aqua therapy.

If you would like to improve your flexibility, movement, balance and memory, come along to the friendly group.

They meet at Warragul Uniting Church, 210 Sutton St Warragul on Mondays and Fridays at 12.45pm for exercise and finish by 2.30pm after a friendly cuppa.

For more details, phone leaders Bev on 0435 554 747 or Madeleine on 0410 353 339.

Bunyip-Garfield Probus Club

The club went to the West Gippsland Arts Centre to see Johnny Bowles in a tribute show, which showcased a century of music legends.

He and his friend Michelle Fitzmaurice sang a great selection of songs such as Rhinestone Cowboy, Thank God I’m A Country Boy and Islands in The Stream and many more.

A Probus friendship day was held at the new Pakenham race course on September 1. More than 300 members joined together to enjoy a day at the races and were very impressed with the facilities. They had a two-course meal in the large dinning room that over looks the track so they could watch the races.

There is a turf and also a synthetic track so they can run races year round. Members were surprised to learn that they have more than 40 races a year.

Some members had a bet, no one came away rich on the day.

Rob Robson from the West Gippsland Art Centre was guest speaker this month.

He told members about the plans to extend and update the Art Centre.

He told members they want to increase the seating to be able to attract bigger shows to Warragul for all to enjoy.

Warragul BeefCheque

Twenty-four members attended the September meeting at Carolyn Ferguson and Clancy Batty’s picturesque property in Buln Buln East.

The topic for the day was weed management and the specialist presenter on this topic was Carolyn Ferguson.

In her professional life Carolyn is the expert on weed control for the Baw Baw Shire.

All members clearly benefitted from the information and knowledge Carolyn imparted on how to identify weed, and equally important how to eradicate or control them. Carolyn placed a great deal of emphasis on the eradication of noxious weeds.

The October meeting will be held on Saturday, starting at the Warragul Regional College’s livestock farm, and after that at Brian and Dianne Davey’s property in Nilma North.

The topic for the day is ‘A Cattle Focus Structure, Breeding and Fertility’.

The guest presenter for this topic will be Richard Sullivan, who is an advisor to the cattle industry on this very important aspect of beef production.

Anyone interested in the group is most welcome to attend as visitors to any meeting.

For more information contact Dianne Davey (president) 0423 425 742, email ddavey@dcsi.net.au or Jean Irvine (secretary) 0429 488 156, email: jaghaven@bigpond. com.

WIGS Cancer Support Group

The next meeting will be on October 13 at the Railway Hotel Warragul, at noon.

Phone Bev on 5625 3986 or 0413 670 050 to book. Everyone welcome.

The Trafalgar Tennis Club will officially open the Molly Ryan Pavilion on Sunday, October 23 at 2pm.

In 2015 the club and Baw Baw Shire Council had the clubhouse officially named after a long term member, player and volunteer coach of the club, Molly Ryan.

The naming of the clubhouse is a fitting memorial to Molly’s long time commitment to the Trafalgar Tennis Club over 50 years. Molly spent infinite hours, and had infinite patience, coaching junior players over more than one generation.

The club invite all from around the town and district who know Molly to the official opening. Afternoon tea will be provided by the tennis club.