A Word from Watto - May 2012

At 1000 hours Wednesday April 25th 2012, some 56 women, men and children attended our Preston Beach ANZAC Memorial Service held at our community centre’s ANZAC memorial Wall. This service gave our community an important opportunity to pay tribute and respect to those Australians and New Zealanders who fought and died in many fields of action around the world so that others could live in freedom. To me ANZAC Day is a day to join my fellow Aussies, of all race, colour and creed in remembering and giving thanks to the men and women for the sacrifices they made. After the formalities we enjoyed morning tea, biscuits, later a BBQ and a few throffies. I would like to thank all those involved with the formulation of our program, this year’s venue setup, service formalities, morning tea, and sausage sizzle – truly a great community team effort.

Preston Beach Proposed Bench Chair Locations for Public Viewing

The Shire of Waroona has been very supportive to our community and provided an allocation of bench chairs to showcase some of the tranquillity Preston Beach exposes. At this stage during our recent general meeting it was moved to table four (4) suggested preferential sites to the Shire which have no invasion of residential privacy. Suggested sites are as follows:-

• A - End of Panorama Drive approx 20 metres north of last power pole north/east view of old farm and lake area;

• B - The Point or Spit at end of walk trail from Mitchell Road heading north. Good 260 degrees view of bird life during late autumn, winter and spring. Has small sign with arrow pointing east "Observe – Conserve". DEC approval would be needed;

• C - End of Hillview Court, excellent view of north/eastern area, of golf course, lake and hills;

• D - Heading west along Mitchell Road half way between shop and beach just as the road slowly descends on left hand side - good Ocean views.

Click on the image to see full size

It’s Curtains for the Old Curtains at the Hall

New roll-up blinds have now been purchased and fitted to replace our old un-serviceable curtains at our community Hall. This was moved and has now come to fruition with Bob the blind-man doing a great professional job.

The Four Wheel Drive that Had a Dive They say a picture tells a thousand words, well this one does when it depicts just how rough the ocean high tide can be at Preston Beach when it erodes the beach embankment. Over the past several months the Rangers and other local beach goers have witnessed extreme high tides reaching the sand dunes, cutting sections of the beach out leaving large voids between the dunes and beach area. Extreme caution should be taken when driving along the beach when these conditions are encountered. Caution, common sense, slower speed and appropriate selection of beach track is the go. Look to the right of the photograph and you can see the preferential track to take - the unsuspecting driver of this vehicle didn’t. Most importantly no one was injured in this incident. Remember "local solutions for local problems, if you’re not part of the solution then you’re part of the problem"
Angry Anderson.

John Watson
President Preston Beach
Progress Association

Please Don't Rubbish Preston Beach

It's not a full year since we trudged the verges of Preston Beach Road and intersections of the Old Coast Road but we still managed to collect a truck load of rubbish.

The variety of cast away items never ceases to amaze us.  Everything from mattresses, to disposable nappies (Eewwk).  Vast quantities of drink containers in all shapes and forms as you might expect, but surprisingly volunteers picked up a heavy duty, well made wrought iron table frame and two matching chairs!  Who throws this kind of stuff away?

But I get ahead of myself; A cross section of the community gathered at the hall last Sunday, bringing together representatives of all organisations in Preston Beach.  The golf club had put in a several hours on Saturday due to prior golfing commitments on Sunday.

The weather was threatening and didn't disappoint, but our dedicated volunteers shrugged it off, getting on with the job of clearing away the unsightly litter despoiling the entrance to town.  Which beggars the question, what ever happened to respect for your surroundings?  Who are these people who think so little of a national park, the local fauna and our beautiful little town that they happily toss anything and everything out the window of the car?  Are they illiterate, uneducated, despots or merely ignorant and arrogant?  Perhaps a mix of all the above? 

The most disturbing find for me were two containers that had held kiddies drinks.  There they were on the roadside almost side by side, indicating they had been tossed together from a moving vehicle.  I found this particularly disturbing because it was either thrown by an adult in the presence of children or thrown by children with the consent of adults!  I shake my head...

Every year I ask the question, why don't we in WA impose the same deposit impost on all drink manufactures as they do in South Australia?  We know it works.

Let's not put up with it.  You can and you should report a litter bug or persons who dump illegally.  Here's how to go about reporting them; http://www.kabc.wa.gov.au/litter-reporting.html

I'll get off my soapbox now. 

Our band of workers set off in private vehicles, armed with sturdy gloves, fluoro jackets, mechanical grabbers (not sure what they are actually called but they work a treat) and dozens of orange rubbish bags which they dutifully stuffed with rubbish over several hours.

In a well coordinated effort, the Rangers came behind to collect the rubbish from the roadside and deposit it back at the hall for later collection and disposal by the Shire of Waroona.

All of this was rewarded with a sausage sizzle, a few stubbies and a glass or two of wine back at home base.  Well deserved I'm sure you will agree.

A bedraggled, damp and cold group stuck it out in the shelter of the hall to devour the offerings.  A few headed home for a hot shower and a set of dry duds before the footy game started, which was played on the big screen.  Great to see everyone enjoy themselves after their hard work.

Important Notice

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL OWNERS AND RESIDENTS OF PRESTON BEACH  

The Preston Beach (Townsite Strategy) Community Workshop has been set down for Saturday 19th May 2012 from 10.00am until 1.30pm. This is to be held at Lake Clifton Herron Community Centre, 114 Tuart Grove Avenue, Lake Clifton.  

This meeting is dealing with the development of Preston Beach and our future. It is imperative and essential that you register to attend by Friday 11th May 2012 by emailing PrestonBeach@bodhialliance.com.au or calling the project information line on 1800 012 498.  

There will be a car pool at the our Community Centre on Saturday 19th May at 9.00am to commute to the Lake Clifton Community Centre meeting.

Following this meeting the Executive Committee of the Progress Association will meet with representatives of the Steering Committee on Friday 25th May at 3.00pm to report the project developments. The community is more than welcome to attend this meeting and give their thoughts to the Steering Committee.

John Watson

President

Preston Beach Progress Association

You can read more about the Shire of Waroona Townsite Stategy for Preston Beach on their website http://www.waroona.wa.gov.au/prestonbeach