2014
Festive cheer in Ky
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Kyabram’s Christmas Festival went off with a bang on Monday night as carols and fireworks blended together for an enjoyable family evening.
With crowds gathering as early as 6pm to grab the best seats, restless children were guaranteed a good time with fairy floss, slushies and other treats on offer, as well as a jumping castle, puppet show and a special visit from Santa.
In the Kyabram Charity Raffle, first prize went to Irene Hearn from Echuca, second prize to Shirley Wilson from Berrigan and third prize to Indy Gill from Kyabram.
With hundreds in attendance across the evening, Kyabram Community Church’s John Hosking said it was the best carols he had ever been involved in.
“I think having the fireworks at the end of the evening meant the people had a real incentive to stay, and I thought there was a really lovely spirit,” he said.
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Riders toying around
Children of Kyabram and district have 1000 reasons to celebrate this Christmas.
Kyabram St Vincent de Paul has distributed almost 1000 donated toys to less fortunate children after the Echuca Ulysses Club collected them.
Each year the club has its annual toy run, asking residents to dig deep and donate toys for children at Christmas.
The club collected more than 2000 toys from Echuca, Lockington, Rochester, Elmore, Corop, Tongala, Stanhope and Kyabram.
More than 80 motorbikes hit the road in festive gear to collect the toys that were distributed to local St Vincent de Paul organisations.
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Calling for support
Management of three local preschools could go out of town without more local support.
Kyabram Preschool management committee oversees Unwin St, Fenaughty St and Girgarre kindergartens, collectively catering for more than 120 children.
Treasurer Cara Behncke said the immediate future of the committee was sound, with six committee members ready to for next year.
But beyond that, it was anyone’s guess.
She said handing over control to out-of-towners could impact the community because most of the things the committee achieved were done locally.
“If it goes into being managed by some other organisation, all those things could go away from local, which would be a great shame.”
1994
Nothing like a Saturday swim
If you live in Kyabram and were wondering why your Saturday Age wasn’t delivered last weekend, here’s the answer.
They ended up in the Allan St fountain, naturally a lot cooler (and wetter) than some of their heated readers, who waited in vain for their arrival from the paperboys.
The culprits must have acted immediately after the papers were deposited at nearby Kynvetts Newsagency in the wee hours of Friday morning.
All 280 copies — the entire Kvynetts supply — got the dunking.
Kyabram police are investigating and admit they haven’t any leads as yet and would appreciate any help that could lead to the culprits being apprehended.
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Top marks achieved
Rushworth Secondary College again achieved a 100 per cent pass rate for Year 12 students at the school in 1994, principal Glenn Sutherland announced at the college’s awards night on Tuesday.
Dux of the class was Daniel Findley, who earned a tertiary entrance rank of 96.30.
Daniel hopes to study computer science and software engineering at Swinburne University.
In presenting Daniel with the dux award, Mr Sutherland congratulated him on his exceptional results and noted that he and his fellow classmates had carried on the tradition of aspiring to and achieving excellence that had distinguished Rushworth Secondary College in recent years.
Some 22 per cent of the class were assessed at A or A plus levels for their CAT assessments, compared to five per cent for the state.
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Outstanding service
There was a surprise in store for Ted and Carmel McKenzie at the St Patrick’s School end-of-year concert in Tongala on Tuesday night.
Ted and Carmel were presented with an award for outstanding service to the school from the Sandhurst Dioceses.
School board chairperson Peter Hornsby made the presentation to the pleasantly surprised couple, who have had children enrolled continuously at the school for the past 15 years.
Their dedication to the school has been constant, and staff at St Patrick’s will tell you of the generous support the McKenzies have given to countless working bees, the parents and friends group, sports programs, the school board and more.
1974
A plea from Jane to save a tree…
Ten-year-old Jane Bossence has asked Kyabram Town Council not to remove a large pine tree in Unwin St.
Council decided at the previous meeting, after a lengthy debate, that the tree would be removed to enable the construction of kerb and channel to be carried out on the eastern side of Unwin St.
Jane’s letter received a sympathetic hearing, but she will be advised that council’s decision will stand.
Here is Jane’s letter.
“To the council, I wish you would not chop down the trees in Unwin St what shade all kinds of things. I think it is very silly to put in clumps of prickly bushes, which don’t give shade to anyone.
“Those trees that are already there give lots and lots of shade on hot days. If you go for a walk, you would only see prickly horrid bushes with a hardly a leaf on them.
“… my family all agrees with me too. So please try and save those trees.
From Jane Bossence.”
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$17,000 Crosley in New Year Carnival
A 1930 model Crosley car, made for the Prince of Wales when he visited Australia, and valued at $17,000, will be one of the highlights of the New Year Carnival in Kyabram.
It will be one of the 15 to 20 cars expected to be in the Vintage Rally during the carnival, which is to be held on Saturday night, December 28.
The Crosley, which has been beautifully maintained, is owned by Mr Norm Simmons of Echuca.
The rally will be a real treat for vintage car lovers.
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Gala night ‘tremendous’
An estimated 3000 people thronged into Allan St for the gala night, which wound up a most successful Christmas bonus promotion for the Kyabram Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber president Mr David Gorr described the gala night as “tremendous”.
He said it had achieved the chamber’s aim of getting the people into the street.
“Everything was going for us, including the weather, and there was a lot of atmosphere,” Mr Gorr said.
He said he felt that the Christmas Bonus had proved the most successful for a long time.
Allan St was packed with people that did their last-minute Christmas shopping, listened to music provided by the Shepparton Brass Band and watched the drawing of the Bonus prizes.
Cadet Journalist