With the departure of "Mr D" (Darryl Diment) at the end of 2009, Winchelsea Primary School has welcomed Acting Principal Karen Turner along with a few other new staff.

See Issue 2 (January 2010) of the Winch House newsletter (PDF). In this edition ;

·  Introduction to Health Promotion - new FREE 4 hour workshop see pg 3
·  Free TAX advice for small business - you can arrange an appointment for the ATO tax advisor to visit Winchelsea for free and confidential tax advice.
·  Coordinated Playgroup - every Friday 10.00—12.00
·  Expressions of Interest for an extra day at Occasional Childcare - see pg 4
·  Jump into a Story - last Friday of every month 10.00 to 11.30, see pg 3
·  New courses - see the course guide pg 6—8

New to the Historic Winchelsea website - a guest book has now been added. Website visitors can leave comments about the website itself, the town of Winchelsea, or any other related subject. Note that all comments need to be approved by the websitse administrator, and require the submitter's email address plus entering a "Captcha" verification. Captcha is a method that aims to defeat automated spammers that would otherwise submit entries for no productive purpose.

Visitor comments (ie. the guest book) offer a means of feedback which could be useful for ongoing development of the site or even to improve the town and its amenities. Any suggestions or ideas received will be passed on to the Winchelsea Business & Tourism Association for consideration.

Barwon Park Mansion will be open an extra day each week over the summer period - now opening Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. A fabulous historic homestead renovated with great attention to detail, Barwon Park is a great day out to go back to the early days of Australian colonisation.

For the brave (very brave!), Ghost Tours are now available too. Long felt to be haunted, Barwon Park is not a place for the faint of heart after dark falls. Bookings can be made online via Australian Ghost Adventures.

The evening of Saturday 12th December was fine, warm, sunny if occasionally a bit breezy - a great evening for Winchelsea's annual Carols by Candlelight event. With a raft of entertainment by the the banks of the river, hundreds of people gathered to enjoy singing along to the carol favourites brought by the Colac City Band, Geelong RSL Pipes & Drums, and Tiffany Eckhardt & Dave Steel.

The beautiful night was cool enough for everyone to really get into the spirit of this Christmas celebration. Santa came along early and spoke to every child brave enough to see him on the stage, with a chocolate gift for each one too.

Organised by the Winchelsea Girl Guides, the much appreciated major sponsors for the night were Winchelsea & District Bendigo Bank, Winchelsea Business & Tourism Association, RAK Davis & Sons, the Lions Club of Winchelsea, B&D Excavations, and Surf Coast Shire.

The program included ;

• Winchelsea Playgroup
• Saxaphone duo Lachlan Brown and Jonnie Evans.
• Helen Mary Kininmonth Kindergarten
• Colac Rock and Roll Dancers
• Geelong RSL Pipes & Drums with Maureen King
• Madison Smith, Adam Stocks, and Lachlan Baulch
• Colac City Band with Maureen King
• Jayne Johns
• Sara Dixon
• Veronica McDonald
• Bec Campbell
• Tiffany Eckhardt and Dave Steel

The Princes Highway between Waurn Ponds (Geelong) and Winchelsea is scheduled for a major upgrade, to convert the highway to "M" Road status (two lanes in each direction). Funding has been set aside, and construction is due to start in late 2010 if planning approvals go to schedule. The project is expected to take three years to complete.

Official information is available from the VicRoads 'Roads and Projects' section - see the "Princes Highway Duplication - Waurn Ponds to Winchelsea" article. Note also the Update Bulletin which indicates the status of the project, with surveys and air-quality impact assessment completed and environmental assessments now underway.

There does seem to be confusion regarding the next stage of the overall highway improvement project ie. through or round Winchelsea town itself. No official position has been declared.

Residents of Winchelsea and properties between Winchelsea & Geelong, and also regular travellers of the section of highway affected, are urged to stay up-to-date with the project and VicRoads activities, and in particular to take advantage of any opportunities to provide feedback as part of VicRoads community consultations. To date, the consultation processes have been decidedly one way.

The Lions Club of Winchelsea is again holding a competition with prizes for the best Christmas lights and decorations in the Winchelsea township. Lions judges will tour the town close to Christmas, at dusk or after, to pick out the top three efforts according to the impressiveness of the display - not necessarily the most lights!

Winners will be contacted and awarded their gift certificates at a ceremony in January. A total of $300 is being donated by the Winchelsea Lions for the best decorated houses or business premises.

The competition aims to encourage the festive season and community spirit in Winchelsea, and bring the crowds back to Winchelsea to see the displays as has happened in the past.

Over 100 years old and situated on the edge of the Barwon River, Kilwarrie Cottage is a locally-quarried bluestone home surrounded by River Red Gums. There are more than 450 varieties of roses in the rose garden, with many potted roses available for sale including new-release varieties as well as the favourites. Home-baked morning and afteroon Devonshire Teas are available in relaxing surroundings.

Winchelsea Primary School has launched a newly revamped website - http://www.winchps.vic.edu.au/. The website makes use of a "content management system" which allows easier updating, similar to this Winchelsea.vic.au website, however as a part of the "sponsor-ed" program the School can generate funds according to the number of clicks (visitor activity) on the website.

The website is provided free to Winchelsea Primary School, and displays limited advertising down the side. Local businesses are able to advertise on the website with carefully targetted campaigns managed by the operators of the website infrastructed. Find out more about the sponsor-ed program at their website.

Winchelsea Primary School is aiming to keep the website regularly updated, and to turn into a central reference point for information about the school and its activities.

The annual Neighbourhood Watch "Schools Day" will be held at Winchelsea's Leisure Time Centre (LTC) on Monday 16th November. The Good Neighbour Award will be presented during the morning, recognising those who help members of the community. Entry on the day is free, and everyone is encouraged to pop along and support the event - the Police band "Code One" will be providing musical entertainment.

The function runs from 10am to 12:30pm, and will be attended by Winchelsea, Birregurra, Moriac, Deans Marsh, Anglesea and Forrest Primary Schools. A cuppa and snack will be available for a gold coin donation.

Nominations for the Good Neighbour Award are welcome, and can include anyone who lives or works in Winchelsea and district. It may be someone who has helped you, helped someone you know of, or performed community work. Nominations must be received by the Secretary, Beryl Read, at 40 Main Street, Winchelsea, VIC 3241 by 9th November 2009. Contact the Neighbourhood Watch Group for a form and further details.

Wurdale CFA Brigade has been officially handed the keys to a new "light tanker" - a 4WD with a small 500l tank of water for getting to bushfires where a normal fire-fighting tanker would struggle. Premier John Brumby was at Anglesea CFA for the formalities, with Anglesea also adding to their capabilities in time for the upcoming bushfire season.

Captain Don Smith accepted the keys to what will be known as "Wurdale Tanker 2". Members of the brigade need to be certified to ride in and/or drive the vehicle, which entails familiarisation with the equipment on board. The light tanker is fitted with foam capabilities as well as plain water (foam is a stronger fire suppressant, useful for example on logs or stumps). Wurdale will continue to dispatch the large fire tanker as first priority, with the light tanker following up if crews are available.

The bushfire season will start at the end of October - all residents in and around Winchelsea are urged to "Prepare.Act.Survive" and to do so now before the weather turns hot. Comprehensive tools and information are available online at the CFA website, cfa.vic.gov.au.

150 years after the rabbits were introduced to Australia at Barwon Park just outside Winchelsea town centre, Barwon Park held a Family Day to commemorate the event. On a beautiful warm, sunny day, Barwon Park and its grounds were open to visitors enjoying ferret races, a ball-throwing challenge by Winchelsea CFA, ice-creams, pies, coffees, Devonshire Teas on the Mansion's verandah, face-painting (rabbit-faces only of course) and a wander around the magnificent Barwon Park Mansion itself.

The Riverlee Art Gallery in Winchelsea opened Saturday 10th October, on a beautiful sunny spring day. Situated right on the Princes Highway on the way into Winchelsea, the gallery's walls are filled with artwork by local artists - a superb range of collections in differing media and very different subjects.