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.
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, Toongabbie Township Group Inc., Traralgon South and District Association, Tyers and District Community Association, Yallourn North Action Group, Yinnar and District Community Association, and Hazelwood/Jeeralang Neighbourhood Group.
"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.
Dana Hughes from Non-Profit Training delivered a presentation about succession planning and renewal, which focused on planning for the future.
Among the achievements of small towns have been:
Traralgon South
- Matching willing volunteers with people in need of their skills
- The 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
- The 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
- Recreational vehicle stopover completed
- Yinnar and District Memorial Hall refurbishment completed
- Larger gatherings than usual at Christmas in Yinnar and Australia Day
- Hosting of the Gippsland Sculpture Exhibition from 21 March to 9 May.
Glengarry
- The 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
- Work to bring the proposed Boolarra-Yinnar bike path to a strategic plan
- A monthly food swap was set up.
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
- Renovation of the kitchen at Toongabbie Cricket Club change-rooms completed
- Newsletter Toongabbie News continued to be published
- Sealing of car park at the oval and shop
- Painting of the timber paling fence surrounding the Toongabbie Mechanics Institute.
