Volunteers farewell ‘a top bloke’

THE SERVICE of former Country Fire Authority assistant chief officer Peter Taylor was celebrated at Kingower cricket ground on Sunday.

Members of brigades from across the Loddon gathered with Peter’s widow Cath for the memorial service that was also attended by former CFA chief officer Euan Ferguson.

Peter died earlier this year after retiring to the Sunshine Coast.

Friend and former colleague Mark Gilmore said it had been Peter’s wish to have a memorial service in a bushland setting.

“Kingower cricket ground was a perfect backdrop for family, friends and colleagues to farewell him,” Mark said before the ser- vice. Peter had transferred from forest fire management to the CFA and held appointments in District 2 and District 20 where he became assistant chief officer. Mark, who worked with Peter in their professional careers, said Peter was well-respected and a top bloke. “We worked together with training courses and in operations.

“One operation for Peter was the Linton bushfire in 1998 that saw five firefighters lose their lives.

“That changed a lot of things about firefighting and it was Peter who introduced the Every 1 Comes Home push to highlight safety of volunteers,” he said.

“To this day, stickers with this message are still on CFA equipment.”

Mr Ferguson spoke of Peter’s service and commitment during Sunday’s service.

Peter’s daughter Kaitlyn thanked volunteers for their tributes.

Community Achievement Awards started in 2002 to encourage, acknowledge and reward the valuable contributions that individuals, communities and businesses make throughout Victoria.

Bridgewater’s award nomination says the group is a “friendly bunch who welcome everybody to join in their weekly fitness sessions”.

Frogs are Rosie

ROSIE Isaac’s love of frogs was the inspiration behind her successful work entered in the CWA state exhibition. Rosie’s first place art was featured in last week’s Loddon Herald but we unfortunately had Rosie’s name wrong. Our apologies to Rosie and well done on your prize.

Popular little trains run out of puff

MINIATURE steam trains that have run at Eddington for more than 60 years have come to the end of their line.

A meeting of Loddon Miniature Stream Locomotive Society on Sunday decided to end public events.

While the society did not respond to inquiries from the Loddon Herald, a statement on its online page said: “We have made the difficult decision that we will no longer be running to public, due to circumstances that are beyond our control. Please know this decision has not been made lightly. We appreciate everyone who has been to our club over the years.”

The miniature railway was established from the early 1960s and trains ran monthly between April and October until COVID lockdowns three years ago.

The club cancelled its public running days in 2020 and again in 2021 and 2022.

Members had reported completion of track improvements earlier this year.

Inglewood’s miniature railway track at the Eucalyptus Museum was established in 2017 but has not run in recent years. A small group of volunteers had done some preparation work this year to bring life back to the track.