Lake Tyrrell Star Party

Sea Lake welcomes all visitors here this weekend (1-3 October) for the inaugural Lake Tyrrell Star Party. This is a celebration of the unique environment and beauty of Lake Tyrrell,  the largest salt lake in Victoria notable for its unique geology, flora and fauna. 

Couple this with clear and dark night skies, and a significant site in indigenous history, and the weekend promises to offer a range of memorable experiences!

 A range of speakers will set the scene, updating us on current astronomical events, as well as familiarising us with the world above us, the local environment and the history of the Lake. Learn of indigenous interpretations of the heavenly bodies, particularly the Boorong Clan, who shared both a campfire and their knowledge with early settler, WE Stanbridge. His recording of their interpretations kept alive a tradition which might otherwise have died out.

WE Stanbridge

More information at http://sealake.vic.au/starparty. Late registrations are still being accepted.

Sea Lake Celebrates Saving its Health Service

The threat to Sea Lake and District Health Service, of closure by Christmas, has been averted thanks to the combined efforts of the Board, the staff, the Action Group and the community of Sea Lake and the surrounding towns.

The call came through on Monday night that agreement had been reached with the various governments and departments. Hundreds of people – both residents and friends spread across Victoria – who had prepared themselves to rally on the steps of Parliament in Spring Street yesterday, were quickly notified of the good news.

Last night a sausage sizzle was held in Apex Park to celebrate the fantastic news and to welcome back (from Melbourne) Board chairperson, Laurice McClelland. Tshirts, prepared for the rally, were quickly altered to read We saved Sea Lake Health!

Another Successful School Holiday Program

Sea Lake Neighbourhood House conducted a successful September School Holiday Program.  The activities were well attended and the children well behaved.  The first day involved 26 children watching Ice Age 3 and 17 again in the activities room at Neighbourhood house.  On Tuesday, two representatives from Cricket Victoria conducted a cricket clinic and had the youths participate in a number of games and activities for five hours.  The second week of the school holidays, a bus full of children travelled to Swan Hill to go swimming in the indoor heated pool at the Swan Hill Leisure Centre.  The last day of the program was a jewellery making workshop that not surprisingly had only girls attend.  Cathy Costa from Swan Hill conducted the workshop and had a variety of beads of different shapes, sizes and colors.  The girls went straight to work and were very productive.  Each participant created some beautiful necklaces, bracelets and earrings. 

The cooking equipment wasn’t delivered in time; however it has now arrived and will be utilised next school holidays instead.  The program was well supported within the community and anyone with ideas or suggestions for next school holidays contact Sea Lake Neighbourhood House on 0429781268 or email nhh@sldhs.com.au.   Remember to check the Sea Lake webpage for updates and information on http://www.sealake.vic.au

RACV Community Foundation Funding to increase mobility in Sea Lake

Sea Lake Neighbourhood house has been awarded $7669 from the RACV Community Foundation.  The RACV Community Foundation aims to support three main priorities: mobility and safety, emergency services and environmental sustainability.  Sea Lake Neighbourhood House focused on enhancing the mobility and safety of residents in the community.  It was an extremely competitive grant with 84 applications and only 19 organisations awarded funding. 

The funding from RACV will increase the number of people in town with an endorsed bus licence so that there is a number of trained and qualified bus drivers to transport people to events and activities who would unable to get to them on their own.  The remaining funds will be utilised by Tyrrell College to target targets youths and others who are about to get their licence or who need to build their confidence at driving, increasing their awareness of road safety and learning the road rules.  The students will participate at the Charlton Education Driving School now and again in six months time to learn basic road rules and safety while also gaining some practical experience at driving vehicles through roundabouts, traffic lights and different parking techniques.

Sea Lake Neighbourhood House would like to thank both the Trust Company and RACV Foundation for this funding and enabling these projects to take place.  The Trust Company funding will provide a space for youths to go and socialise with each other in a neutral environment while the RACV Foundation funding will increase youths skills, abilities and knowledge about driving as well as provide the opportunity for people to become mobile and attend events as more people in the community are capable of safely driving a bus full of people.

Sea Lake Neighbourhood House provides Youth Friendly Room

Sea Lake Neighbourhood House is the successful recipient of a $7125 grant from the Trust Company.  The grant is being used to make the activities room located at the back of Neighbourhood House more youth friendly.  The funds have been spent on games, activities and furnishings to encourage youths to access these facilities after school, especially farm children who stay in town after school for an event such as footy training. 

The grant has been used to purchase Wii sports, Wii resort, and Wii fit, MarioKart as well as a Playstation 2 with Singstar and Guitar Hero (drums and guitar).  A surround sound system will complement the 50 inch plasma bought with funding from CWA – this will be great for watching movies.  Curtains, a modular couch and board games will complete the upgrades to the activities room for this grant. 

Youths are welcome to access the room after school on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and ensure that they treat the equipment responsibly. For more information contact Kellie on 0429781268 or email nhh@sldhs.com.au

Holiday Program

Local Kids Enjoy School Holiday Fun

A new school holiday activity program facilitated by Sea Lake Neighbourhood House proved a popular success.  Over thirty 30 children enjoyed the free activities which included a movie marathon, indoor games and horse riding at Beulah. 

Neighbourhood House Coordinator, Kellie Matthews, praised the children for their good behaviour.  “All the children really enjoyed themselves,” she said.   “On the bus ride home from Beulah they were already suggesting some great ideas for the September School holidays.”

Neighbourhood House was able to provide the school holiday program for free thanks to a grant from Central Victoria Area Consultative Committee.  Ms Matthews said the funding was greatly appreciated by the many children who took part over the course of the week. 

“Special thanks to David and Nicky Rose for taking a car load of children to Beulah and staying to help supervise,” she said.  “Thanks also to Jane Williams who assisted with the indoor sports.”

Further activities have been planned for the September holidays.

To keep up to date with what’s on at Neighbourhood House visit www.sealake.vic.au.

GREEN LAKE FAMILY FUN DAY

SATURDAY 23^RD MAY 2009 

11am – 3pm 

• DUCK RACE – Sea Lake & District Hospital are selling ducks at a cost of $5 available from Post Office, Keva Lloyd’s Newsagency, Chemist and Farmyard Flowers.  Great prizes to be won.  All proceeds to your local hospital.  The ducks will be placed in the channel at 2pm & the first to enter the mouth of the lake will win!
• SAND SCULPTURE COMPETITION – bring your own buckets/spades, etc to create your masterpieces!! 11am
• BIKE DECORATION PARADE – decorate your bikes and parade them from 1pm
• SCAVENGER HUNT – get your friends together and receive a list of items to search for around the lake!
• KIDS’ RACES – egg & spoon races / 3-legged races, etc
• IRON MAN / WOMAN – fun family activities!
• BBQ LUNCH – available from Sea Lake Lions Club
• LOCAL BAND – providing entertainment
• BLUE FINCH NATURE WALKS –running throughout the day around the lake
• BEACH VOLLEYBALL / CRICKET
•  $10 ENTRY FEE – proceeds will go to Green Lake Committee of Management for the ongoing up-grade of facilities for your lake!

COME AND ENJOY THE FAMILY ATMOSPHERE OF SEEING WATER RETURNING TO THE LAKE AS WELL AS SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL HOSPITAL & GREEN LAKE COMMITTEE!!

Towards a Town Plan

Last year a workshop was held in the Community Centre to help set the direction for Sea Lake over the next 3-5 years.

In March a follow-up meeting was held to identify any further issues.

In the next few months Advance Sea Lake Inc will be working towards formalising a plan for Sea Lake. Information will be published on the Sea Lake website as it becomes available.

We invite interested members of the community to continue to contribute to this process. Your comments are welcome.

Tell us what you think

The Sea Lake website is relatively new and we plan to keep it constantly changing to reflect what is happening in the community.

Please tell us what you think so that we can improve the quality of the information and make the site more accessible to you.

What does Sea Lake need?

Advance Sea Lake Inc is in the process of preparing a Town Plan to help us identify and plan for improvements in the next 3-5 years.

What do you think this town needs?

What would you like Sea Lake to look like in the next few years?

How can you help achieve this?