It was discreet high-fives all round yesterday, when City of Greater Bendigo council delivered the results of its biennial property revaluations. Council Valuations manager Wayne Forbes and his team had their moment in the sun, delivering figures which showed healthy increases in both the size of ..

“UnanticIpated transport issues” have caused a delay in the completion of Marong’s new preschool building. “We had high aspirations we could be in there earlier,” City of Greater Bendigo council Community Wellbeing director Pauline Gordon said. “There was a b..

LOCAL support group Loddon Mallee Kids has made a generous donation to women’s and children’s services at Bendigo Health. LMK offers help and support to parents who are caring for premature babies and children, as well as babies who have been admitted to Bendigo Health’s special ..

The community grocer at The Hub in Eaglehawk has been open a month, and already it’s made a difference. “We’ve had a 40 per cent increase in turnover,” Bendigo Access Employment chief executive Michael Langdon said at the official launch. “With the closest supermark..

A BENDIGO woman has called for greater understanding after suffering abuse at the hands of a fellow motorist. Ashley Ruffell, 21, was shocked when she returned to her car after watching a movie recently to see an abusive letter pinned to her car. Ms Ruffell, daughter of City of Greater Bendigo c..

THEY say you should never work with children or animals in the world of television. But it sounds like Sarah Lawrence has never heard that advice because she now presents Best Furry Friends on Bendigo IPTv. The journalist, originally from Essendon, works for Prime TV writing the local news bu..

Jock Granter has died following a lifetime of dedication to the community A STATE funeral will be held for former Central Victorian politician and Minister Frederick James ‘Jock’ Granter at heathcote on Monday. Mr Granter was the Upper House Member for Bendigo and Central Hi..

A unique program aimed at helping teenagers explore the complex issues behind the portrayal of beauty and the „perfect body‟ is now available to Victorian schools. Education Minister Martin Dixon today called on students and teachers who want to be trained in the SeeMe online program to regi..

CFA sirens, previously used to summon volunteers, will now become part of the community alert siren system. Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley and Deputy Premier Peter Ryan launched the new Community Sirens policy at Maiden Gully CFA this morning. In tandem with alerts to phones, C..

BENDIGO Art Gallery’s Grace Kelly Style Icon exhibition has now reached over 85,000 tickets sold, breaking all previous records for exhibition attendance. The previous exhibition record at Bendigo Art gallery was 75,000 for the Golden Age of Couture in 2010. Extraordinarily, the exhibiti..

A multi-disciplinary centre in Bendigo will "improve responses to sexual assualt". One of four centres announced in the Victorian Coalition Government's 2012-13 budget today, the Bendigo centre will include Victoria Police, child protection authorities, and specialised counselling services...

UP to two million Melburnians would consider a move to regional or rural Victoria in pursuit of a better quality of life for themselves and their families, according to research released by the State Government. Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional and Rural Development Peter Ryan said ..

4km results 2012 No Name indicates a blank wrist tag Sophie Hawken 15.12 Kim Stevens 15.14 Leigh Browell 15.18 Matthew Heislers 15.21 Chris Horsfall 16.05 Teleah Hayes 16.06 No Name 16.06 Phillip Brown 16.16 Jack Baker 16.38 Jordan Boal 16.42 Lachl..

Bendigo Mother's Day Classic 2012 8km run results No name indicates un-named wrist tag Michael Bieleny 28.34 Adam Parker 29.25 Rhys Lias 29.58 C Feuerherdt 30.26 JohnWatson 30.46 Leigh Browell 31.09 Tim Laude..

THE Reserve Bank of Australia has slashed official interest rates by .5 of a per cent. Below is the statement released by RBA Governor Glenn Stevens: At its meeting today, the Board decided to lower the cash rate by 50 basis points to 3.75 per cent, effective 2 May 2012. This decis..

A Melbourne teacher who grew up barracking for Collingwood but wrote a novel where the protagonist adores Hawthorn has won the Vogel's Literary Award. Paul D Carter's novel Eleven Seasons is published today by Allen & Unwin. Set in the 1980s and 90s, it is about a teenage..

Another ANZAC Day gone, but don’t just file the thoughts away. For so many, it’s a lifetime of horror and sorrow. The focus has shifted a bit from ANZAC Cove into other areas where Australians fought and died, and finally last week the wrong encouraged by Peter Weir’s film Gall..

A SURGE in low socioeconomic students attending university shows reforms are developing the talent that will help drive a high skilled and productive economy, according to Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans. Senator Chris Evans said for the first time, the number of university offers ma..

Hardship has given Troy Cassar-Daley a better perspective on life, and new album Home is not only the proof, but just the tonic after the Queensland floods wrecked his farm a year or so back. “I appreciate home ten times more, this record has made me wake up to that,” Cassar-Dale..

Friday, May 18 Newmarket Hotel – Dirtbusters. From 9pm. $5 The Palais Hepburn Springs – Woohoo Review from 8:30pm. $20 Golden Vine Hotel – MBT from 9pm. $5 Basement Bar – McAlpines Fusiliers from 9pm. Free Maurocco Bar – Leah Bell from 6pm. Free ..

Most singers want to be cool, but Bellusira’s Crystal Ignite just wants to be nice. It might be hard to find at first listen, but these rockers maintain a positive message amongst all the aggression and chuggy guitars. “We’re writing the music I’ve always wanted t..

Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival favourites Lloyd Spiegel and Geoff Achison have been named in the Top 50 of Australia's best guitarists of all time. According to Australian Guitar Magazine, Achison came in at number 50 for his work with Geoff Achison and the Souldiggers, while Spieg..

Keith Urban has been a mate of Troy Cassar-Daley’s for two decades; a friendship which came in handy when the latter flew to Nashville to record his latest album, Home. Hitting the studio in the fast paced Nashville, Cassar-Daley felt like he’d bitten off more than he could chew...

Sydney based extreme metal machine Resist The Thought haven’t quite given up their day jobs yet, but they’re getting close. With debut album Sovereignty coming out on May 18, and a Bendigo gig coming up later this month, BEN CAMERON spoke to RTT guitarist Tim Aaron about his day job,..

The Bendigo Spirit have stabilised their roster with the recruitment of Duke University graduate Kathleen Scheer. In a positive week for the club after losing two of their best players, Scheer’s signing came days after key centre Gabe Richards re-committed to the Spirit. A question mark h..

Bendigo’s sporting prowess now extends beyond football, netball and cricket, to the emerging sport of Kettlebell lifting (Giveroy Sport) with the Rockhard club in East Bendigo cleaning up at the Australian Kettlebell Club championships in Melbourne last month. On April 21 the club sent 15 l..

Tyler Romeril makes the grade as he plays for Braves at 15 The next generation is starting to break through down at Bendigo Stadium. Fifteen-year-old guard Tyler Romeril followed in the footsteps of some esteemed company on Saturday night, as the Bendigo Braves smashed Mt Gambier by 20 po..

The City of Greater Bendigo council will roll out a municipality-wide census next year to better understand the community’s wants in terms of sport and recreation. While details of the planned census are understandably sketchy, council Community Well Being director Pauline Gordon said the ce..

Golden Square and Bendigo Gold football clubs are leading the way in providing coaching just as important as kicking straight. And the man central to it all is chaplain at both clubs, Bruce Claridge, who echoes the sentiments of Melbourne Football Club’s chaplain Cameron Butler, who wants to..

The Bendigo Spirit have announced their second major signing ahead of the 2012/13 season with the recruitment of Duke University graduate Kathleen Scheer. The 22-year-old, 188cm versatile forward was a standout high school player and prolific scorer which led to her recruitme..

Two exquisite paintings of wrens sold immediately on the opening night of St John of God's Art Show fundraiser. The water-colours, sold as a pair, are by Bendigo artist Gail Taverner, who has worked tirelessly for three decades. Also quick to go was a magnificent big tree by Col Brown, w..

There are dozens of questions you can ask Andie West about “equine assisted learning and growth”. Why don’t clients learn to ride? What happens in a counselling session? Does it work if you are afraid of being bitten or kicked? But, once you see Andie leaning on the fence of he..

By VICKI HARRINGTON The Pearce family’s lives have been on a rollercoaster the past few months. Eight weeks ago Eliza Pearce had never heard of the Mother’s Day Classic and her mum, Lucy, was fit and healthy enjoying a new gym membership and her work at BUPA. Then just at the time ..

SLEEP is a fascinating thing. It refreshes you, rests you and prepares you for the day ahead. But if all is not well, things go haywire. If you are only getting 10 or so of your 40 winks, you suffer from more than tiredness. Diabetes, heart attack and stroke may have poor sleep as a contribu..

Localities overlooked in play space game I was speechless when I learned that the City of Greater Bendigo proposes a further play space for Strathfieldsaye and it raises the question as to why localities such as Junortoun, Maiden Gully and Huntly continue to be overlooked. Additional playgrounds..

Mother’s Day will have extra significance for Bendigo couple Charmaine and Anthony Collins after they attained two major milestones in 2012. Charmaine has reached the much anticipated five-year post breast cancer diagnosis and they recently welcomed their first child, a beautiful, he..

The community grocer at the Hub in Eaglehawk has been open a month, and already it's made a difference. "We've had a 40 per cent increase in turnover," Bendigo Access Employment chief executive Michael Langdon said today at the official launch. "With the closest supermarket more than 2km..

St John of God Finance manager Peter Trendos. In essence, the roll out of NBN in Greater Bendigo will provide improved bandwidth to St John of God Bendigo Hospital at what we expect will be more competitive pricing. This improved bandwidth will enable to the hospital to provide better acce..

BENDIGO'S Sleep City and Everyday Living store at the Rocklea Homemaker Centre at Kangaroo Flat has closed its doors and six staff have been made redundant. Administrators of the store's parent company Furniture and Bedding Concepts, PwC announced the closure as p[art pf the ongoing wind-do..

THE announcement of the National Broadband Network was greeted almost universally with relief and optimism around the city. Over the next few weeks, the Bendigo Weekly will look at the reactions across the city’s big and small business, education and health sectors to find out what it means ..

FIVE Information Technology enthusiasts have embarked on the first day of a five-year cadetship, which will see them study at La Trobe University while working at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. The cadets are part of a wider program which has offered a further four cadets places at Bendigo IT, Integr..

The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has announced a six-montlhy result that "should provide comfort" to customers, despite a 66 per cent downturn in net profit. The Half Year Report for the six months ending December 31, 2011, shows an after tax statutory profit of $57.9 million, down from $..

Architect William Vahland left many leagacies around Bendigo but he probably can’t take the credit for this little-known eatery bearing his name. Located on the BRIT campus, Vahlands Cafe at 171 Hargreaves Street, Bendigo is open to the public for private, business, an..

Would you want your child’s face painted like this? If you think this portrait painted by Trentham artist Rose Wilson looks a little like Mr Potatohead, you might be on the right track. Ms Wilson, whose painting Brother of John was shortlisted for this year’s Archibald Prize, will be..

Are you looking for something a little different for mum for Mother’s Day? This year Bendigo has the perfect way to treat her and the family to a full day of feel-good fun, food and fashion. Start with a bit of fitness and fundraising by joining the thousands walking or running in the Moth..

An online link gave Nicole a hot tip for one of her favourite foods By Nicole Murphy People have some negative things to say about facebook, but at the moment, I have nothing but praise for it. Late one night last week, I received the shocking, yet exciting news that a friend had be..

The giant pumpkin cultivating process is a fickle one. We’ve received a few success stories and many failures from our giant pumpkin seed giveaway last year. Our seed donor, Peter Tharle, was one of the not-so-lucky growers this year. “I had two plants emerge and they shot off across..

Five years ago the idea of a Bendigo community farmer’s market was just that, an idea. Thanks to market founder Michelle Martin and her enthusiastic and hard-working team the idea grew legs. After three years of fundraising, building awareness, developing the model and securing accredit..

Now is the time to get involved with our own Writers Festival (for readers). Later this month, partners City of Greater Bendigo and La Trobe University Bendigo campus will fire the starting pistol, officially launching the inaugural Bendigo Writers Festival. They will also put out the call for ..

This week, Maurice Sendak died. Has any other writer-illustrator had as much impact on children’s publishing? The magic brilliance of Where the Wild Things Are made it possible to embed danger and fear within picture books while at the same time putting hope, courage and faith in humanity..

The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides HarperCollins, $29.99 When Jeffrey Eugenides wrote The Virgin Suicides in 1993, it shocked many people. It wasn’t just that the topic was so out-there (about the death of five sisters). It was also the way he chose to write it, using the f..

Long-time Bendigonians will know what a near thing it was. The now much-used and admired Kennington Reservoir was almost lost forever when, in the summer of 1977-78, it was so dry, plans were put forward to fill it in. “With my encouragement, some local citizens put together a committee to..

Loong: Bendigo’s Golden Dragon Leigh McKinnon Published by The Golden Dragon Museum, $25 In 1904, a visitor to Bendigo’s Easter Procession wrote a letter in praise of Loong, the Imperial Dragon which is the pride of the Golden Dragon Museum. “What a marvel of..

Ken proves he’s top of his game The way to tell a story, says Ken Jones, is to embellish it. “People like to hear about their local place, so you put in a little bit extra, and keep expanding the bits that people respond to,” he says. Ken is now officially not just ..