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proudly serving Sunbury and Macedon Ranges
25 FEBRUARY, 2025
Toy library volunteer call
Sunbury Toy Library president and social media manager Julie Smart and treasurer and grants officer Georgie Prewer with Theodora, two months old, and Jeremiah,3), at the toy library. (Ljubica Vrankovic) 459162_01
The Sunbury Toy Library is calling for more volunteers across a range of roles, offering a chance for community connection in a role that supports local children. Founded in 1990 and open on Thursdays and Sunday mornings, the library aims to provide low-cost toys, games, and puzzles for children up to seven years old. Library president Julie Smart said volunteering with the organisation has connected her with “lots of like-minded local families” and given her the opportunity to make new friends. “It’s helped me learn new skills, and that’s through our other volunteers as well. We’ve had a few volunteers who have used their volunteer experience at Sunbury Toy Library to step into new roles working with children,” Ms Smart said. “It’s a really nice sort of social gathering, coming in and having a sense of purpose … [it’s] rewarding work.“ Ms Smart said there are volunteering roles to suit a range of skillsets and availability, including assisting with one of the hour-long borrowing sessions on Thursday or Sunday mornings, cataloguing or performing behind the scenes administration duties, or roles within the committee.
Budget cash wish lists By Oscar Parry An electric car charger at Riddells Creek, tennis court upgrades and increased security for the storage of sporting equipment were among the budget wishes put to Macedon Ranges councillors last week. Sports club and community group venue upgrades were just some of the requests made at a Macedon Ranges draft budget committee meeting held on February 19. The meeting gave representatives from local organisations the opportunity to verbally present their budget wish lists. Lancefield Park Football Netball Club vice president Chris Dynon requested funding for upgrades to the club’s football oval, fences, and
coach’s box – with a recent ground hardness test to the oval revealing that it is excessively hard, posing a safety risk to players. “A reading between 80 and 120 is considered within the acceptable range for competition, although a reading of 120 is approaching the threshold for safe play. The reading for Lancefield Park was 152 indicating the surface is excessively hard and poses a significant risk of injury,” he said. “If a council-managed oval returned a similar reading, structured sporting fixtures would not be permitted to proceed on the surface until appropriate remediation had taken place.” Lancefield Park Recreation Reserve committee of management member Judy Stammers requested funding for a storage
extension at the facility – pointing out that storage containers at the reserve that had been the target of thefts in the past six months. Gisborne Tennis Club secretary Shaun Rafferty asked councillors for funds to resurface tennis courts, with four determined by Tennis Victoria to be in poor condition. It was the second year in a row that the club had asked for money to resurface courts. In this year’s submission, Mr Rafferty asked for support for resurfacing two of the courts instead of four as requested last year. “Particularly in inclement weather, we have difficulty or we cannot use the courts,” Mr Rafferty said. “The main impact … being felt with these courts is mostly for junior players, girls and
boys … we’re having to book courts at other venues in order to play their competitions,” he said. Other budget submissions included a request that the council prioritises upgrades to a pedestrian, cycling and horse bridge north of the Carre-Riddell Road bridge, shared paths and an electric car charging station in Riddells Creek, and a request to exempt non-profit and voluntary community projects, such as the annual Darraweit Guim town Christmas tree decorations, from local laws permit costs. The council received 58 submissions to its draft budget. The submissions will be considered as part of the council’s 2025–26 budget at a council meeting in the next few months.
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