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Small town communities make a big impact 

Achievements of small communities across Latrobe City are being celebrated

By news@gippsland - 17th March 2021 - Back to News

The achievements of small towns were celebrated at the Latrobe City Seven Small Townships Annual Forum in Traralgon recently. The forum brought together representatives from the small township associations or neighbourhood groups in Latrobe City.

From left, Dean Sutton of Glengarry, John Harris of Yinnar and Liam Bantock of Latrobe City Council at the Latrobe City Seven Small Townships Annual Forum in Traralgon recently

Small communities across Latrobe have had many reasons to celebrate in the past year, from offering cheap meals to people in need, through to holding community gatherings and cleaning up a flora reserve. The groups represented at the forum were:

• Boolarra Community Development Group
• Glengarry Community Association
• Hazelwood/Jeeralang Neighbourhood Group
• Toongabbie Township Group Inc.
• Traralgon South and District Association
• Tyers and District Community Association
• Yallourn North Action Group
• Yinnar and District Community Association and

Help from volunteers in the improvements are appreciated

"The tireless work that volunteers undertake in their communities to deliver activities, events and infrastructure improvements to improve the wellbeing of all is very much appreciated," Latrobe City Council Mayor, Cr Sharon Gibson said. People at the forum discussed key topics such as succession planning, networking and how Council can work with township associations to continue the valuable work they do.

Small towns and their achievements

Traralgon South

• Matching willing volunteers with people in need of their skills
• Traralgon South and District Association joined with the Traralgon South General Store to provide cheap meals to the community and fund masks for distribution through the shop
• Association used a Community Friendly COVID account to fund works for people with higher support needs
• Set up a book swap at the store to connect the community
• School students wrote letters to people and these were delivered with biscuits

Yinnar

• Hosting of the Gippsland Sculpture Exhibition from 21 March to 9 May
• Larger gatherings than usual at Christmas in Yinnar and Australia Day
• Recreational vehicle stopover completed
• Yinnar and District Memorial Hall refurbishment completed

Glengarry

• Creation of Fields of Poppies for ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day 2020
• Social activities: Tea at 3, Teddy Bear Hunt and Music in the Court

Boolarra

• Monthly food swap was set up
• Work to bring the proposed Boolarra-Yinnar bike path to a strategic plan

Tyers

• Largest Christmas celebration in a long time
• Path upgrades, new plantings and a clean-up at the Jean Galbraith Flora Reserve

Toongabbie

• Dust extraction ducting installed at the Toongabbie Men’s Shed
• Newsletter Toongabbie News continued to be published
• Painting of the timber paling fence surrounding the Toongabbie Mechanics Institute
• Renovation of the kitchen at Toongabbie Cricket Club change-rooms completed
• Sealing of car park at the oval and shop

The small town achievement presentation about succession, planning and renewal, which focused on planning for the future was delivered by Dana Hughes from Non-Profit Training.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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