Tag: croydon library

Tour of Maroondah's Community Facilities – Croydon

Posted on by alex

Maroondah is currently undertaking a series of tours of its community facilities, such as Community Houses, libraries, parks and leisure facilities, to ensure that Councillors are aware of the services available within the municipality.

This evening Councillors viewed facilities within Croydon beginning with EV’s Youth Centre. EV’s provides a range of activites for Maroondah’s youth, including a drop-in centre, a short-film festival and regular musical events organised by young people as part of the FreeZA program.

Afterwards Councillors visited Croydon Library, which is experiencing strong patronage growth particularly during weekends and evenings. This was followed by Croydon Town Park, which includes the newly refurbished athletics track and a range of sporting facilities.

Both the Croydon Leisure and Aquatic Centre and Croydon Memorial Pool were part of the tour and it was encouraging to see these facilities being strongly utilised by the public. Dorset Golf, which reverted back to council ownership a few years ago, was the last stop of the tour.

Wyreena Community Arts Centre, located in Hull Road, is one of two arts facilities within Maroondah and the tour included the studios of Eastern FM, as well as the art gallery and meeting rooms within the Centre.

The tour will continue next week with the facilities based in Ringwood, all of which are now part of the new Mullum Ward.

Writers and Readers Festival – Robin Bowles

Posted on by alex

Saturday included a series of workshops and sessions at Tintern College as part of the Maroondah Writers and Readers Festival. The first session for this morning included writer and investigator Robin Bowles.

Robin is at the forefront of crime writing and has written extensively about the Jaidyn Leskie case and the disappearance of Peter Falconio. Robin is also heavily involved in Sisters in Crime Australia, a group that promotes women crime writers.

Robin was thoroughly engaging as a speaker and discussed her background in marketing and her decision to begin writing as a professional author. Robin spoke extensively about the challenges she has experienced and provided advice for people considering a writing career.

The Maroondah Writer and Readers Festival continues with events on Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th of October.

Writers and Readers Festival Launch – Dinner with Rod Quantock

Posted on by alex

Tonight marked the launch of the inaugural Maroondah Writers and Readers Festival through a dinner with comedian and author Rod Quantock at Wyreena Community Arts Centre. Rod Quantock discussed his time in comedy and the writing of his book Double Dissolution.
Rod uses comedy to comment on social issues and spoke about the need to retain community parks and for a government focus on public transport. Rod also provided amusing anecdotes about his life growing up in the inner city and the challenges he has faced as a comedian and author.

As part of the steering committee for the Writers Festival it was great to see the event beginning with such a successful launch. The Festival was supported by Maroondah City Council, Eastern Regional Libraries and was overseen by a voluntary community steering committee which included North Ringwood Community House.

It is great to see strong community interest in cultural events and I would like to thank the many people who assisted with the festival.

Meeting for the Maroondah Crime Writers Festival

Posted on by alex

This morning I attended the steering group meeting for the Maroondah Crime Writers Festival. The festival is a partnership between Eastern Regional Libraries and Maroondah City Council and was a successful recipient of Council’s Arts and Cultural Grants.

The Maroondah Crime Writers Festival will be held between the 3rd and 5th of October and will include workshops, discussion forums and a chance to meet a number of prominent authors. The steering group is currently seeking business sponsors to assist in the funding and preparation of the event.

A program of events and finalisation of details will be unveiled in coming months…

For further details please visit www.erl.vic.gov.au/crimewriters/festival.htm

Maroondah Writers and Readers Festival Steering Group

Posted on by alex

The Maroondah Writers and Readers Festival will be held between the 3rd and 5th of October and will include workshops, discussion forums and a chance to meet a number of prominent authors.

A steering group involving Maroondah City Council, Eastern Regional Libraries and community members are organising the festival. Given my interest in the arts I have been attending the steering group meetings to provide assistance and liaison between the group and council.

For further details please visit www.erl.vic.gov.au/crimewriters/festival.htm

Maroondah Journal: New look for the council?

Posted on by alex

The Victorian Electoral Commission is required to undertake a review of council ward structures and composition to coincide with every second council election. While some councils undertook this review prior to the 2005 council elections, the formal process for Maroondah will begin in January to coincide with the 2008 council elections.

Maroondah Council currently has seven single member wards:

Current composition of Council wards in Maroondah

The review has the potential to increase the number of councillors to nine but to reduce the number of wards to three. This would mean there could potentially be three wards comprising of three councillors each.

The Maroondah Journal has reported on the review process, including a series of workshops that will be organised by council:

Loughnan’s Hill Councillor Alex Makin said the council wards were “largely arbitrary” and it was time to look at change. It is timely that we look at a new model that suits our community to become more involved and active within our broader community”.

The current ward compositions are largely arbitrary potentially leading to confusion as to the location of ward boundaries and the division of suburbs. A simpler ward structure, whereby Maroondah would be divided into three, would make it easier for residents to identify which ward they live in and who their respective councillors are.

While the formal review process is yet to begin, Maroondah Council is organising a series of workshops to gather community input into the review process:

  • Wednesday 14 November 2007 commencing at 5pm at the Council Offices, Braeside Avenue, Ringwood.
  • Saturday 17 November 2007 commencing at 2pm at the Council Offices, Braeside Avenue, Ringwood.
  • Wednesday 21 November 2007 commencing at 7pm at the Glenn Frost Room, Croydon Library, Civic Square Croydon.

An Issues Paper is available for participants and bookings are essential. Bookings may be made by contacting either Janice or Eliza on 9298 4264.

It is critical that Maroondah uses the opportunity of this review to examine how we can strengthen the engagement and empowerment of our community.