The Christmas Spirit

If you were in town on Christmas Eve you couldn't have missed the Santa convoy.  It was a big red and white, noisy procession with the Preston Beach Volunteer Fire Brigade Oka in the middle; lights flashing, siren blasting, music blaring and Santa and his volunteer elves on the back distributing lollies and Santa greetings.  What a blast!

Santa and his sack

The Oka was decked out in the appropriate tinsel.  The elves wore santa hats and Santa was resplendant in a red velvet suit and flowing silver curls.  It was a sight to behold as the procession wended its way from the fire shed on Panorama, north to the units taking in all the streets to the west as they went, down Lakeside Terrace taking care not to miss any of the side streets, then around to the old part of town, in and out of every street and finishing off with a trip down to Fairway Terrace where the Christmas lights twinkled and flashed as night approached.

With a ghetto blaster firmly planted on the roof of the little lead Suzuki, carols rang out across the town.  I was told that the music and the siren could be heard from every part of town.  People ran out to greet Santa and the adults were as enthusiastic as the kids. Others had waited patiently on their front lawns to wave as the procession passed by.  One lady ran out and gave Santa a well deserved beer - I'm sure he appreciated that little guesture!

By the time they returned to the fire shed, Santa has given out 150 chocolates and lolly pops, the sun had gone down and the children were tip toeing off to bed.  Calm settled over the little town of Preston Beach and Santa jumped on his sleigh and disappeared over the national park calling "Ho, Ho, Ho, and a Merrrrry Christmas"

I can't wait till next year...

Volunteer Day Breakfast

Volunteering is a selfless act and deserves recognition and thanks, and that’s why we put on a big thank you breakfast each year in December on Thank a Volunteer Day....to simply say thank you for being generous with your time and efforts and to show our appreciation.

Volunteering has many different faces, from high profile, high risk work such as fighting fires to picking up rubbish.  No matter what role you have played throughout the past year, we are grateful.

Representatives from the Shire of Waroona kindly cooked breakfast which was a welcome break for the members of the Progress Association who usually put on the aprons and gloves.  Thanks to Louis Fouche', Laurie Tilbrook and Noel Dew for a big bang-up breaky, beautifully cooked.  New permanent/part time Ranger Tracey was also there to lend a hand and meet a few locals.

As I said, all levels of contribution in volunteering are appreciated, but we chose to give special recognition to one amongst us who contributed significantly in the past and who continues to do so through his various roles within our community.

In August this year Noel Dew was recognised by WA Local Govt Assn. with a Long and Loyal Service Award for his 12 years of dedicated service to the Shire of Waroona. 

Noel is well known for his active role as Councillor and Shire President. When Mike Walmsley recently stepped down, Noel stepped up for the second time and will serve as Shire President until 2013. He has served on innumerable committees over the past 12 years; he has been a volunteer fire fighter and continues to support the brigade in many ways.   When Ranger numbers dropped dramatically putting this service at risk, Noel put on the uniform and took up patrolling the beach.  He’s been a great recruitment officer for both the fire brigade and ranger service over the years and we owe him a great deal of gratitude for his continued commitment in these valued services.

All this, while fulfilling his commitments to the Shire of Waroona as Councillor and Shire President, but what also stands out to me is his unwavering support of the community here at Preston Beach.  There has never been a time when I have phoned Noel about one or other issue, when he hasn’t willingly and cheerfully taken on a task and followed it through to the end.  Noel delivers every time.

So it’s with great pleasure that I was able to present Noel with a Certificate of Appreciation and a small gift on behalf of the Preston Beach Progress Association and our community. 

Burning Off at the Beach

We took a drive to the beach this morning to find out where the smoke plume was coming from and discovered Brian Beales and the boys from the Preston Beach Volunteer Fire Brigade burning off the brush pile near the beach car park.  This might seem like a waste of good brush material but unfortunately the brush becomes unusable when contaminated with noxious weed, domestic waste and common garden plants.  On the upside it provides the brigade with a good opportunity to hone their skills. 

The Rangers were there to lend a hand with traffic control.

Beef and Bangers

What a great night!  Beef and Bangers was a roaring success and well and truly worth the hard slog that went to organising it.  Thanks to a great bunch of volunteers who helped set up the marquees, lighting, tables and chairs etc.  And then there's the food!  Several ladies put their hand up for salad and dessert making while Fred oversaw the carvery.  More than 50 people enjoyed a fantastic feed, loads of laughs and the chance to catch up with friends and neighbours and meet a few new folk.

We're very grateful to Harvey Beef for their generous donation of 7 kg of prime beef roasts. 

We would also like to acknowledge funding from The Government of Western Australia, The Rural Business Development Commission through the Department of Food and Agriculture, Dry Season Assistance Fund.

It was great to see our good friend Don Randall MP and his lovely wife Julie and we are most grateful for their contribution of Brumby's Bread


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Julie and Don Randall

This was a great way to test drive both the new BBQ's and bring the community together for some pre-Christmas cheer.  It has long been the role of the Progress Association to foster community well being and there is no better way to do that than over a delicious meal.

Without further ado I will post some photo's of the evening as a picture speaks a thousand words - or so the saying goes;-

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Looks like fun!

Yes, a great time was had by all.  Perhaps we'll see you all at the next function.

Busy Bees at Work

The Silly Season is almost upon us which means more frequent events at the Preston Beach Community Hall.  Time to get spruced up!

A dozen or so willing workers turned up on Saturday 12 Nov to get stuck into some serious cleaning, erecting and landscape work.

The girls attacked the cobwebs, weeds and leaf litter around the hall and pavilion area while the boys settled for various jobs including assembling one of the new barbecues purchased with am $800 grant from the Shire of Waroona.  If you've ever tried this you'll know it's no mean feat.  John and Robbie got it sorted while the rest of the men tackled a paving job.

A section of lawn had to be removed at the back of the fire shed to level the ground in preparation for laying the paving bricks left over from the pavilion a few years ago.  The Shire of Waroona delivered a load of yellow sand and Don Bebbington arranged for a free loan of a compactor from Coates Hire in Waroona.

Once the ladies had finished with the cleaning and sweeping they attacked the shed!  The contents were emptied onto the lawn (making certain as they went that there were no surprises hiding in the shed, such as a 'joe blake'!

Read the instructions carefully!

Robbie overseeing the quality of workmanship

Everyone pitched in to shift sand, even the girls....

It's hard work but with plenty of help the sand is moved into place in now time at all and Denis got to work on the compactor.   But somehow I didn't get a photo of that :(

While this is happening, the girls decide to have a go at erecting the shelving for the shed.  It's easy, right?

Watch out Jan, Marion's got the mallet!

The best part about a brick paving job is the actual laying for the bricks.  Once the prep is all done the bricks go down really quickly, and if the photographer isn't snappy she just might miss it.....

Peter getting on with the job

All in all the busy bee took around three hours and achieved some great results.  The workers were rewarded with a few bevies and sausage sizzle on the newly constructed BBQ, which passed quality control with flying colours.

The shelves were moved into the shed and loaded up with the newly sorted storage boxes and equipment. What a difference.  There was plenty of room to accommodate both BBQ's.  The old BBQ found a welcome home along side it's twin at the Golf Club.

A few of the workers - a rightly proud of a good days' work

Everything is ready for the big Beef and Bangers on the Barbi next weekend.

Patrolling the Beach

I love this 'blogging' business.  It's so easy and instant.  I type my little stories and as soon as I publish them they are instantly available for you to read.  Thanks for the positive feedback too, it's very encouraging.

Noel emailed me with some great pictures taken at the beach in the last week.  He has also given me a report on the Preston Beach Beach Volunteer Rangers, so seeing that he has done all the hard work, I will just copy and paste his report and upload the pictures for you to enjoy.

Washed ashore

PRESTON BEACH VOLUNTEER RANGERS REPORT

There was a time when winter ensured our beach had a bit of a rest, an occasional vehicle and sometimes maybe just the odd hardy soul braving the elements. Sadly those days seem to be but a distant memory. The new highway combined with a change in our weather pattern has resulted in the beach still being busy on many weekends and for the Volunteer Beach Rangers this has meant we have also had to change the way we operate. Putting the vehicle away in a shed for winter is hardly an option these days. The sand is soft, many drivers are not experienced and as a result we are getting more needing assistance. Whilst it is not the role of the Volunteers to act as tow truck operators the fact is that on many occasions we are the only option to get people out of bother.

In addition, we are getting an increasing number of calls to check on injured roos and to pick up dead ones and dispose of them. Again this is not one of our designated duties however we will assist whenever we are able.
Picking up litter off the beach is ongoing and whilst this summer we noticed a marked improvement with less litter this year compared to other years it is interesting to see what the ocean is throwing back at us following some of our winter storms. In the back of the Ranger vehicle we have 2 crowd control barriers, a tyre, various floats, an assortment of rope, timber, stubbies, cans and bits of plastic etc.

However the prize for the most unusual find so far this year goes to Volunteer Ranger Barry Pittman who came across a barnacle encrusted aluminium dinghy that had obviously been on the bottom of the ocean for a long time
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Live Barnacles attached to the dinghy

Anyone who has been to the beach this week will have noticed the new signs at the beach access tracks. No excuses for not knowing the rules pertaining to the beach from now on.

Regards, Noel.

I love the pic of the boat and barnacles, and for those who haven't been down the beach for a while, here are preview pics of the new signs.

If you want a close up view of any photo's just click them and they will load as enlargements.