Hi I’m Geoff Gledhill.
Welcome to my April video message. We’re in Mentone today, the site of Kingston’s planned Mentone Renaissance project. We’ve been working on this for over 12 months now.
We want to revive the retail area and we’ve also got a growing number of fabulous schools close by and we get thousands of students walking through here in the morning and at night coming up to the trains and the buses and that sort of thing and we’ve got to make it safe for them.
So we’ve decided that we really need to look at the traffic flow around here, provide extra pedestrian access and really get retailers to reinvest in the area.
I’d now like to introduce Chris Scicluna from Scicluna’s Fruit Supply. Chris has been a long time retailer, and Chris’s familyhave been long time retailers, in Mentone.
Chris, thanks for joining us.
Chris Scicluna: Thank-you very much Geoff.
Geoff Gledhill: So what do you think about what we’ve got planned? Just give us an outline from your point of view.
Chris Scicluna: I think it’s just fantastic. I think it will go a long way towards restoring Mentone back to its former glory as a hub that was bustling. I remember as a young kid when I grew up here and my father had the fruit shop down the road it was always busy and it was fantastic, a lot busier than it was now. And I just think it needs to be brought up to the modern-day look. That would be great and I’m looking forward to it.
Geoff Gledhill: Thanks very much Chris, and thanks for taking the time out of your business to join us.
Just last night the planning approval was issued for the triangle development. That’s the first in what’s going to be a series of exciting announcements. The remainder of the plans will be going to Council a little later this year and we’ll keep in touch as we progress and let you know how it’s going.
School holiday activities:
Well school holidays are fast approaching and the end of this month sees a couple of weeks for all of Kingston’s schools combined with Easter. We’ve got a number of activities running during that time at the leisure centres, the libraries and the Arts Centre. There’s competitions. It’s all on the website at so I’d urge parents to check out what we’ve got on, the dates and venue. I’m sure there’s something that’s going to suit everybody. And we can all have a lot of fun.
National Youth Week:
Following that we lead into the Kingston Youth Festival and there are a number of activities on. It runs from the 10th of April to the 19th.
A couple of the main events: As we do every year the election of the Junior Mayor. There are a number of schools that have been busy preparing, getting their candidates. It will be held down at Chelsea as it is each year. It’s a wonderful event. We’ve had a wonderful Junior Mayor for the past 12 months. Naveen has done a fantastic job. We look forward to the next person and working with them for the remainder of my term.
And then we’ve got the opening of the Aspendale Gardens Community Youth Hub and that’s terrific. We haven’t had such a service in that area, which is a growing area of the city. We’ve continued to deliver the services at Cheltenham at Southland but opening the service at Aspendale Gardens is going to be a fantastic asset for that community.
Again, check the details of our Youth Services website for all the details of Youth Week in Kingston.
ANZAC Day
ANZAC Day has always been a special day for Australians and I think over the past 10 years event more so as more and more people attend Dawn Services and services held throughout the day at the various RSLs and points of remembrance.
Kingston has a number of RSLs that are holding very special events. This year as the Centenary of ANZAC is commemorated we also have a number of Rotary clubs involved. Our website at is going to contain the exact times and locations for those events.
One really significant one is at the Cheltenham Moorabbin RSL there will be the launching of a new memorial garden to the rear/just adjacent to the Kingston Heath Reserve. There has been a fabulous amount of work put into this by the RSL of course, by the Federal Government, by local members of parliament and by the Council.
And what we are going to have is a fabulous new memorial to these people who have made the ultimate sacrifice. So I urge you all to get along to a service. Again have a look at our website, find a location and a time – there are services during the day – that suits you and become involved.
Well that’s it for the April message. There’s plenty on in Kingston during April, lots of things for everybody. As I said, please try to get involved in ANZAC Day. In the meantime there are nine Councillors who are happy to hear from you with your concerns, your ideas, your compliments – please don’t hesitate to contact any of us. I look forward to seeing you next month.