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Misbehavin’ at The J By Jim Fagan Duelling washboards at ten paces was just one of the fun moments when Noosa Chorale and The Australian Jazz Ensemble launched the Noosa Jazz Festival last Friday and Saturday. It was party time at the packed J (both concerts) as the singers rocked and grooved with the jazzmen who have come to Noosa from different parts of Australia for the 10-day festival. It was also the eighth year the two groups had got together and a pleasing innovation this time was ten soloists from the choir performing songs including “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” “My Funny Valentine” and “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.” While all were exceptional, an unusual act was bass Akira Kada sing Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” in Japanese! The concert was called “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and the line-up of the Jazz Ensemble was Ian Smith (trumpet and washboard), Steven Grant (trumpet), Paul Williams (clarinet), Chris Ludowyk (trombone), Calvert Duffy (drums and washboard), John Conley (double bass), Matt Whitney (guitar,) and Noosa Chorale accompanist Janet Brewer (piano). Continued page 2
Noosa Jazz Festival kicked off with the Ain’t Misbehaven concert at the J and will continue until Sunday 6 September. (Rob Maccoll)
A love of horses By Margie Maccoll Tewantin Noosa Pony Club celebrated a 45 year milestone last Saturday with a parade of club members joined by the 5th Hervey Bay LightHorse Regiment and the sharing of treasured memories created through the love of horses. Club president Yvonne Bowen, a founding member and the club’s first treasurer, who formed the first committee with president Noosa Fire Chief Bob Eldridge and instructor Jean Sterling, recounted the club’s early beginnings. “In mid 1970s Sir Thomas Hiley, previously Deputy Premier and Treasurer of Queensland do-
nated the land, which is now the Noosa Sporting Complex, to be used by the people of Noosa for recreation and open space,” she said. In the late 1970s when council called for expressions of interest from local clubs to occupy the land, the Tewantin Noosa Horse and Pony Riders through members Sue Baulch and CarolAnne Bowden were successful in securing the “lovely area we are standing on today”. Yvonne said the land was cleared by club member Bill Pendlebury and in January 1981 after an inspection of the grounds by Pony Club of Queensland chief instructor Percy Bishop, OAM, Tewantin Noosa Pony Club was officially wel-
comed into the Pony Club Queensland. The club’s arena carries the name of Jean Sterling who, in addition to being one of the club’s first instructors, became a very respected and much loved dressage judge. “Her passing devastated not only the pony clubs in the area but many of the wider Sunshine Coast horse riders fraternity,” Yvonne said. “We were honoured that her family accepted our request to put her name on the arena where she spent many happy hours.” The Tewantin Noosa Pony Club threw itself into its operations, choosing uniform colours,
training instructors and organising fortnightly musters, Yvonne said. “Mornings were devoted to riding lessons and horsemanship instruction. Afternoons were filled with stick picking, many, many hours of stick picking and hole filling,” she said. Then is a stroke of good luck Queensland Transport Department decided to build on the Tewantin Police Station property which necessitated the removal of surplus buildings so the pony club gained a garage which became the clubhouse and a small heritage-listed building, which was the original Tewantin Gaol. Continued page 4
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