Easter, Elections and Anzacs

Lots happened over April - including a fantastic Easter Twilight Market - and of course the Anzac Day Dawn Service.

The Market joined in the fun of the gather Round, with members of the Torrens Valley Lions FC encouraging youngsters to come and have a go with Auskick. There were some great stalls and of course, a busker (Gordon Wehr with his smooth jazz vibes - one of my favourites).

The Easter Twilight Market was huge - perfect weather and a fantastic atmosphere. We are really lucky that this has become such a feature. The Caravan Park has been full, and we’ve had major horse events, all of which benefits our community. It must be said that some of the aftermath has been less than we would have wanted, with some manure being left (cleaned up later) and the oval bearing the brunt of horses hooves on a soft surface. The council have been notified, and we hope that a solution is found so that the oval fares better for ALL of the users.

The Anzac Dawn Service was again well attended, with the crowd spilling over into the CWA garden, and along the road. There were also over 200 Gunfire Breakfasts served (thank you Men’s Shed and Progress), the SACWA also supplied hundreds of Anzac biscuits. Thank you to all who came along to mark this important commemoration, and than you to all who assisted. President of the Mt Pleasant Gus Van Lakerveld and crew should be proud of the effort they made, and how it was received. More info and photos on the RSL Facebook page.

Voting has been going on for some time, with pre-polling open a while back. It is said that over 6 million people have already voted. We should know by late on the 3rd, which party will govern us for the next 4 years. The Polling Place is again at the school, which I think is a silly place for so many reasons - not the least being that people with mobility issues are not looked after properly, as the parking area is on a slope. Also, most people break the law by parking where they shouldn’t, as there is a single unbroken line along the road outside the school. Not a very safe situation at all. If you have any issues or want to air your opinion on the site of the Polling Place, please contact The Australian Electoral Commission and have your say. You can do it online.

The nights are cooler, but we still have the most glorious weather during the day, which would normally be a good thing - but - until we get decent rains, it’s hard to celebrate. Fingers crossed we get some decent rain in May! Stay warm.

Navigating the news

It’s a difficult time for many of us - and not just in Australia. Best of times - worst of times stuff. Some of us are torn between wanting to keep up with news that affects us - even if it’s the chaos in another country - and needing to look after our mental health. Our federal elections are looming and for me the choice is clear, but for some the waters are so muddy, they are not sure what is right and what is wrong. Our options for trusted news sources seem to be more limited than ever, but there are still a few journalists of integrity who understand the difference between reporting the news, giving solid opinion pieces based on facts, and checking sources.

I read an interesting piece on how to define a cult recently, and the cult of the Orange Baby currently cutting a swathe through independent oversight in the US seems to behave true to form. When I was younger, we read about some of these things in history lessons, and now we are living through them. We never thought the horrible atrocities that occurred during the World Wars could happen again, but here we are, and now the stakes are higher and the weapons bigger. Edmund Burke’s quote “all that is needed for evil to flourish, is that good meant do nothing” doesn’t seem to be making much headway when there are so many speaking out about the wrongs being done, but those with power are ignoring them and ramping up the rhetoric. The latest debacle from the Oval Office is almost too appalling to comprehend. Even thought the US seems determined to wreck long held allegiances, most of the leaders of European countries have leaped to the defence of Vlodymyr Zlenskyy and Ukraine. So there is still hope.

Meanwhile, in sleepy little Mount Pleasant, the weather has been pretty good, except for the lack of rain. The Red Cross Garden party has come and gone, with Sophie entertaining us again with personal insights and practical gardening advice. Sophie will be moving soon, and has bought a ‘fixer upper’ near Sedan, so her segments on Gardening Australia will certainly be different from those at Mt Barker! Sophie’s talks are always entertaining and educational, and this year she touched on re-wilding, and her visit to Cadell Training Centre, which she found eye opening. She also spoke about the benefits of green spaces near large blocks of flats and the resulting reduction in crime statistics. Kangaroo Island and their experiences with with increased self-sufficiency also rated a mention. We are hoping to have Sophie as our Guest Speaker again next February - so please look out for the event booking (around December) as tickets are limited and sell out fast.

The Community Association held a morning tea to welcome new residents to our town, and although we didn’t present Community Awards this year, we met some really nice and enthusiastic newcomers. We had some great conversations, and I hope they left feeling that the town had a lot to offer, and that they wanted to contribute. Last year when we held our first ‘Meet Your Neighbours’ event, we made up some goody bags, which included leaflets from various groups around the town, information about upcoming events, brochures from the Market, a Mt Pleasant History Walk brochure, Lavender Trail brochure and a re-usable grocery bag gifted from Recreate, amongst them. We gave them to our new friends and we will keep them at the History Room so that any newcomers can be given up to date information about what they can expect to find in the district.

The annual Mt Pleasant Show will be on again next month. Our biggest event, the Show is a must-see, and attracts stallholders and exhibitors from all over Australia, so in the immortal words of Molly Meldrum - “Do yourselves a favour” and pop along to the show on the 15th March.

The effervescent Sophie Thomson.

2024

I have not felt up to writing a blog for some time. After the Referendum, I didn’t feel like doing much at all. And now, we have Australia Day to contend with.

The Mt Pleasant Community Association Inc, which runs the Australia Day Community Awards ceremony decided that this year we would hold it on the 28th. This year the holiday makes it a long weekend, and we had an issue a few years back when many people stayed away. As the event is funded by the MPCAI, sustaining a loss is a big hit for us. Some people have complained to us in the past that we shouldn’t charge for the Breakfast, but as the main event funded by council is held at Tanunda, we have only approached council once for funding, where we received a small amount. A lot of effort for a small return.

We have always enjoyed the community awards event. Taking submissions from members of the community regarding who they think is worthy of an award is always rewarding for us, and we have often found out things about community members that we never knew. There are some great people in this district. Many of whom get no recognition, and that’s the way some of them like it. We are proud of all our past recipients, and are looking forward to this year’s event.

As previously mentioned, we are a small community organisation and would rather spend the money on community projects than sustain a loss, and many of the people who bring this event to our town have been doing so for decades. It’s no small feat to get up early and set everything up to serve a hot breakfast - not knowing how many people will attend.

In the last few years, a few community members have attended a couple of workshops with Chris Sands, who started the Totally Locally movement. Chris is all about passing on free information and advice that encourages communities to be proud of what they have achieved. To support each other and small businesses so their towns don’t die. One of the initiatives was a ‘Meet Your Neighbour’ event, which Eden Valley has used to its advantage over the last year, and Cath Davies from Robbers Dog also used to encourage people to assist with the re-vamp of the CWA garden.

One of the perks of COVID has been an increase in the populations of many small towns, with families choosing to move from the cities where the likelihood of the transmission of virus’ like COVID is more likely, to an area where the population is more likely to not travel to risky places at those times.

A ‘Meet Your Neighbour’ event seems like another good reason to get together at a time when we are more likely to have people willing to take a couple of hours mid-morning to come along and have a cuppa and a chat. We welcome those who are new to our town, and look forward to meeting them and letting them know what the district has to offer.

We hope you’ve had a restful and enjoyable Christmas and new Year, and that we see you at the Community Awards event on January 28th at the CWA Garden.

End of an Era

Yesterday we farewelled Dr Ken Sieben, who has been a huge part of our community since coming here in 1989. It was clear from the feelings expressed at the event, that he was a much loved doctor and member of our community, and his calming presence will be sorely missed. Naturally because of COVID restrictions, the event was a lot more low key than we might have liked, but somehow I think Ken preferred this. Many thanks to Aylene Mueller who was the organiser - it can’t have been easy - and to all those who came, what amazing memories (none of which can really be shared because off the unique place that health professionals hold in our community). Good luck to Ken and Julie on the next part of their journey - and hopefully we’ll still see them around a lot. Thank you.