NEWS DESK
Showcase for singing talent Dashboard cash
stash fails to pay
Stephen Taylor steve@baysidenews.com.au A SEAFORD music school keen to give local singers a venue in which to demonstrate their talents started The Voice of Frankston in 2013 and its success has snowballed. “I’m a singer and I wanted to give other singers a go, too,” Fun-key Music director Jenny Wilkinson said. “I wanted to showcase their talent.” The Voice attracted 110 entrants in first year and 125 last year and organisers are hoping for even more this year. Aiming to “give Frankston a boost” and rescue it from its “bad rap”, Ms Wilkinson said: “When we were starting we had singers coming through [the school] and we thought there must be lots of others out there just wanting the opportunity to perform. “We had the idea of hosting a talent quest with judges and support from local businesses.” In the lead-up to the annual contest at the Heversham Drive headquarters, entrants send in CDs of their performances to give the judges a heads up on their singing skills – a kind of blind audition. “Easy year the standard is amazing,” Ms Wilkinson said. “At one stage the judges were giving 9, 9, 9 early on until I said ‘Give yourselves some room’,” she said, knowing the standard was likely to get even better. Past winner Cail Baroni has written songs for Sony Music Australia’s Jai Waitford and Hit Makers Australia and is planning to release his album at the grand final of this year’s event. He is
He’s The Voice: Former winner of The Voice of Frankston Cail Baroni will release his debut album at this year’s grand final event.
also singer-songwriter with up-andcoming band The Knowing. “Whether you are a budding young singer, an aspiring adult performer or a senior with a passion for entertaining, join in and celebrate your talent in our solo artist singing competition,” Ms Wilkinson said. The competition is open to everyone who lives, works or studies within the City of Frankston and Mornington Peninsula. It’s so family friendly that entrants are offered mentoring sessions between performances to provide feedback and constructive advice to help get through the process. Applicants must register on the Funkey music website. Video auditions will be accepted until 25 August. Twenty-five acts will be chosen to perform in the semi-final concert on 6 September at the Frankston Arts Centre. Ten or 12 of these performers will then progress to the grand final
on 13 September at the same venue. Finalists will receive a $100 fun-key music voucher plus special offers from Frankston and Peninsula businesses. All semi-finalists will receive vouchers from local businesses and a combined prize pool of more than $10,000 will be shared by grand final winners – as well as a professional recording, film clip, photo shoot and performance opportunities. The event will be filmed for Frankston TV and the grand final will be broadcast live by RPPFM. Fun-key music is a private music studio, established in 1997 to teach singing and performance skills to students in Seaford. It conducts private singing, piano, guitar and group singing classes Monday to Thursday and some school-based sessions in Seaford and across the peninsula. Call 9786 3104 for details.
AN audacious attempt to avoid a parking fine looks set to fail. A photograph of coins left on the dashboard of a car at Young St East car park has been widely circulated on social media sites such as Facebook this month amid calls for Frankston Council to drop a parking fine. A note next to the coins stated: ‘MACHINE DIDN’T TAKE MY COINS’. The cash and message about the malfunctioning parking meter failed to deter a council parking officer from slapping an infringement notice on the car’s windscreen. Social media users urged council to drop the $74 fine but there seems little chance that this will happen. Council CEO Dennis Hovenden said every parking machine in the municipality clearly displays a telephone
number to call to report faults. “There were no reports of the machine in question being faulty on that day,” he said. “When a fault is reported the driver’s details are recorded in case an infringement is later issues so it can be reviewed.” Mr Hovenden said infringements can be contested by lodging an appeal with council. “Even in the instance of a faulty machine, coins on the dashboard are not considered a valid attempt to purchase a ticket, the fault must be reported.” A Facebook reader commented: “These are the cases you hope will end up in court and hopefully the newspaper. Surely the council don’t want to be made to look foolish in public.” Neil Walker
Fine time: This note and coins look unlikely to convince council to overturn a parking fine, also pictured, at a Young St car park.
Conference calls on Canberra trip Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au THREE Frankston Council representatives headed to Canberra this month for the National General Assembly hosted by the Australian Local Government Association. Mayor Cr Sandra Mayer, Cr Darrel Taylor and Cr James Dooley attended the three-day annual conference for council delegates from across the nation on 14-17 June. Cr Mayer described the yearly meeting as “a fantastic opportunity” for council to meet federal government ministers and their staff to highlight challenges faced by the Frankston community. “The councillors participated in a very
hectic schedule over the course of the conference ,” Cr Mayer said. “The event was a fantastic opportunity to both network and to advocate for key priorities relevant to both Frankston City and the entire South East Melbourne region, to support jobs creation opportunities, regional recreational and health needs and major infrastructure projects.” Councillors met with federal ministers and their representatives to discuss the Frankston Transit Interchange project, the need to establish a Health and Human Services hub in Frankston and funding for the Frankston Basketball Stadium. Council also lobbied for the National Broadband Network to be rolled out across the municipality to support busi-
nesses and jobs creation. Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Warren Truss addressed the assembly delegates and federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt was also among the speakers. Australian of the Year Rosie Batty addressed the delegates about The Luke Batty Foundation’s Never Alone campaign to help women and children affected by family violence. The cost to have the three Frankston representatives attend the assembly was $7617, in the same financial ballpark as neighbouring southeast councils Mornington Peninsula Shire and Kingston who spent $7028 and $7682 respectively on travel and accommodation to send three representatives each to Canberra.
Councillors assemble: Frankston mayor Sandra Mayer was one of three council representatives to attend the National General Assembly in Canberra.
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Level crossing works will continue on the Stony Point line until the end of June. The works include engineering, installation, testing and commissioning of new track infrastructure at level crossings between Frankston and Stony Point stations. During this time buses will continue to replace all trains, running as close as possible to the regular timetable.
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Stony Point line travel update
Expected completion: June 2015
For more info call 1800 800 007 or visit ptv.vic.gov.au Frankston Times 29 June 2015
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