Regional Extra 190723

Weaving for 50 years

By CHLOE JAENICKE

THE Wangaratta Handweavers & Spinners are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

From humble beginnings in Wangaratta, the group has since recruited members from Bright, Eurora, Benalla, Kyabram, Corowa, Beechworth and beyond, causing them to move to a more central and spacious hall in Milawa.

Marion Stewart has been a member for around 40 years and said she has enjoyed learning new skills and watching the group grow over the years.

“There’s a culture of respecting everyone’s achievements and promoting their skills by entering in shows, such as local agricultural shows or Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show Craft Show,” she said.

“That pushes people too...whilst there’s not always competition within the group, people have a way to test their skills against other people.”

One of the main ways Ms Stewart has seen the group change is its growth.

It currently has 66 members from across the North East of Victoria and Ms Stewart said it’s one of the biggest groups of its kind in Victoria.

■ Continued page 6

CARE with PASTEL

◆ EXPERT WEAVERS: Vice president Dianne Adams and long time member Marion Stewart celebrated the Wangaratta Handweavers & Spinners 50th anniversary.

with DIANA

VET CORNER with With Dr Meagan Lee

Bunny business

RABBITS have become a more popular pet in recent years.

They are cute, low maintenance, clean, have great personalities and can become a much loved member of the family.

In the vet clinic we see rabbits for a variety of reasons, some of the more serious conditions involve dental disease and gut stasis.

These conditions can be due to a number of causes, but the most common is a poor diet.

Rabbits need roughly 70 to 80 per cent hay and 20 to 30 per cent fresh green veges.

Greens are often a personal choice so find what your pet likes.

Always remember to try new foods a little at a time.

It is best to keep a consistent diet once you work out what your pet prefers.

Some fresh green veges that you should be feeding your rabbit a lot of include; grass (make sure it is not sprayed, and no wild rabbits have been grazing on it), celery, carrot tops (the green bit), kale (great vitamin C), watercress (great vitamin C), Asian

PET CORNER

greens (bok choy, bhoy sum), parsley (great vitamin C), coriander, dandelion and chicory leaves, milk thistle, mint and other herbs.

You can feed a small amount of broccoli (great Vitamin C), cabbage leaves and cauliflower leaves, but too much can cause your rabbit to feel a bit gassy.

Fruits and sweet vegetables such as apples, pears, carrots, and strawberries should be considered ‘sweets’ and only fed a small amount each day.

A limit of one to two tablespoons of a good quality pellet like Supreme Science and Oxbow is enough to supplement a balanced diet.

Diets high in pellets and mixes cause a high risk of urinary problems, gastrointestinal problems and dental disease.

Your local vet is a great source of information about your rabbit’s health, including diet, vaccinations and desexing.

WANGARATTA RSPCA has many lovable creatures waiting for the perfect family to take them home.

If you want to add a furry friend to your home, call (03) 5722 2874 or visit the shelter at 1 Connell Street Wangaratta.

Wangaratta RSPCA’s animal adoption source code is BR100934.

PRETTY PASTEL: While Pastel may be an independent cat who is comfortable being on her own, she would always love to snuggle at the end of the day. She would be best suited to a home with adults only as she gets stressed in a new environment. Pastel would also like to be the only cat in her home. Her microchip number is 956000014961745.

◆ SNOW FALLING: All the ski lifts are open at Mt Hotham and Falls Creek.

Plenty of snow at our alpine resorts across the North East

MORE snow and some clear weather is expected this week, making it the perfect time to hit the slopes.

Falls Creek has an average snow depth of 85cm with the snow still falling steadily every day.

Ten out of the 15 lifts are open and all the snow activities from the Alpine helicopter tours to snow sports are open and plenty of snow can be expected on Thursday and Saturday.

From Wednesday, July 19 to Friday, July 21 the Snow Aus Interschools event is on for school aged children and the MIM’s Women’s Program starts on Friday, July 21.

Snow chains must be carried.

Mt Hotham is reporting an average of 73cm across the mountain with steady snow showers to be expected.

All of the cross country trails are currently open, with good coverage and for the first time since

2019, all of the ski lifts are open.

The fireworks show will also be on once again tonight for all to enjoy.

Night skiing and snowboarding will also be taking place every Wednesday and Saturday.

Please note that guests are not allowed in the ski field after 5pm under any circumstances.

At Dinner Plain, the average natural snow depth is 13cm and none of the ski lifts are open.

The Peashooter Toboggan slope is also now open as well as the Cobungra Platter ski slope.

Mostly cloudy conditions, with some snow showers can be expected throughout the week.

Mt Buffalo is reporting fair snow coverage.

Both Cresta Valley and Dingo Dell are closed for tobogganing due to a lack of snow fall.

Dingo Dell Café is open for food

and beverage everyday on the school holidays from 10am to 4pm.

There will be no toboggan rental at Mt Hotham this year with rental instead available in Porepunkah, Myrtleford and Ovens.

Mt Buller has an average natural snow depth of 45cm with snow showers expected this week.

Both of the Snowplay parks are currently closed.

There are currently 15 snow lifts open.

Chains are required to be carried for all resorts and fitted where instructed.

For the latest information on the mountains visit:

Dinner Plain: visitdinnerplain. com.au

Falls Creek: fallscreek.com.au

Mt Hotham: hotham.com.au

Mt Buffalo: visitmountbuffalo. com.au

Mt Buller: mtbuller.com.au.

This Day in History, 1893

WITH the opening of the European market by the introduction of refrigerated ships on the overseas run, many centres were establishing meat processing works, and it was on this day in 1893 that Corowa’s businessmen and interested district property owners who has been elected to the board of the Chilled Meat and Boiling Down Company, met for the first time. The following year, a factory was opened at Cropper’s Lagoon.

PHOTO: RSPCA

Creamy broccoli, chicken and wild rice soup

AS the weather cools down, so too does our exercise regime and suddenly, all willpower is lost.

In winter, our metabolism revs up to warm our body, making us hungrier, leading us to crave heavy foods like creamy pastas and pies, but comfort eating doesn’t need to weigh you down.

According to Nuts For Life dietitian Belinda Neville, tree nuts are a rich source of healthy unsaturated fats that helps to switch on satiety hormones in your gut, helping to reduce hunger pangs.

“As well as helping to manage your weight, a handful of nuts a day provides important nutrients for immunity, heart health and can even lower the GI of carb rich meals,” said Ms Neville.

Try this warming recipe which serves six, created by Melanie Lionello for Nuts for Life, to keep nourished as the cold nights close in.

Ingredients

• 2 heads of broccoli, cut into florets and stalks diced

• 1 red onion, peeled and sliced

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed

• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2L salt-reduced chicken stock

• 1 cup wild rice

• 3 chicken thighs, sliced

• 1 cup almonds

• ¼ cup cashews

• 2 sprigs of thyme

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Juice of one lemon

Method

1. In a large heavy based saucepan, saute onion in three tablespoons of oil until translucent on medium heat.

2. Add garlic and saute for a minute until fragrant.

3. Add broccoli, thyme, cashews and stock and replace lid on saucepan.

4. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes until broccoli is tender.

5. Turn off heat.

6. Remove thyme sprigs.

7. Using a stick blender, blend the soup until smooth.

8. You can also use a normal blender, using a ladle to transfer from the soup pot to the jug to blend.

9. Once the soup is smooth, add wild rice and chicken.

10. Simmer for 45 minutes until rice is tender.

11. While the soup is simmering, preheat oven to 180 degrees.

12. Add almonds, 1 tablespoon of oil, lemon juice and paprika to a baking tray and combine.

13. The easiest way to do this is to ‘shuffle’ the almonds by quickly moving the tray side to side to coat them.

14. Roast almonds for 10 minutes.

15. Set aside to cool.

16. Season soup with salt and pepper to your taste then serve soup with a handful of roasted almonds on top and some additional thyme if you like.

17.You can also add a squeeze of grilled lemon over the soup for a citrus twist.

ON the surface, bookselling doesn’t seem an occupation which would come with a whole lot of danger and life-threatening situations, but judging by some of the titles which have arrived on shelves in recent times, maybe that’s a hasty assumption.

Just a few months ago, London-based Alice Slater released her novel ‘Death of a Bookseller’, about a disaffected, true crime-obsessed bookseller who develops a dangerous obsession with a colleague.

Meanwhile, Australian author Garth Nix unveiled fantasy novel ‘The Left-Handed Booksellers of London’ in 2020, and has followed it this year with ‘The Sinister Booksellers of Bath’.

In ‘The Left-Handed Booksellers of London’, a girl’s quest to find her father leads her to an extended family of magical, fighting booksellers who police the mythical Old World of England when it intrudes on the modern world - while also running several bookshops.

Left-handed booksellers are the fighters, while right-handed booksellers are the intellectual type.

In his new book, also set in an alternate 1980s London, Nix returns to this enchanting world, where a team of booksellers must fight to keep dangerous magic under cover before

Hidden dangers of bookselling

◆ BOOKSELLING A DEADLY

BUSINESS: Garth Nix has followed his popular ‘The Left-Handed Booksellers of London’ with ‘The Sinister Booksellers of Bath’.

the stuff of legends destroys everything.

The trouble discovered in Bath comes not from the usual source - the entity who inhabits the ancient hot spring - but from the discovery of a sorcerous map which leads left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger.

A desperate rescue is attempted by his sister, right-handed bookseller Vivien, and their friend, art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling with her own recently discovered magical heritage.

The map takes the trio to a place separated from their world and maintained by deadly sorcery performed by an Ancient Sovereign and guarded by monstrous living statues of Purbeck marble.

But this is only the beginning; the booksellers investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths, and try to unravel the secrets of the murderous Lady of Stone, a serial killer with awesome powers.

If they do not stop her, she will soon kill again - and this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.

* We have a copy of Garth Nix’s ‘The Sinister Booksellers of Bath’ (Allen & Unwin, RRP $24.99) to give away to one lucky reader.

If you would like to be in the running to win, simply email skerwin@nemedia.com.au and tell us why you would like to read the book.

Weaving for 50 years

■ From page 1

“We used to meet at the CWA Hall in Wangaratta and it was small and restrictive for what you could achieve,” she said.

“We came out here to Milawa because it’s more central to our members than Wangaratta.

“There also used to be smaller groups and as members aged, they didn’t want to be handling money and taking minutes and doing computer work so this group is the one that has filled in all the gaps and the people come here as the central group.”

Ms Stewart said she joined the group 40 years ago to improve her skills in weaving alongside studying a diploma in woven Textiles at Charles Sturt University in Albury.

“I came in from a weaving angle but knowing all along that I didn’t want things to look very commercial,” she said.

“I really wanted to weave with hand spun yarn, but my hand spun yarn wasn’t necessarily good enough, so I often put hand spun yarn in the warp and also commercial yarn to use a variety of yarn.”

Vice president of the group, Dianne Adams, joined the group after moving to the area from Melbourne in 2013.

Ms Adams said she had always been interested in wool and after moving onto a 10 acre lot with plenty of fleece (wool) from her alpaca, she decided to learn how to spin.

“To assist in keeping the grass short we ended up with (an) alpaca, and if you’ve got (an) alpaca you’ve got to do something with the (wool) fleece,” she said.

Ms Adams said not only does she enjoy the weaving aspect of the group, but also the social aspect.

“I enjoy the friendship and learning new skills, and you learn so many different skills,” she said.

Similarly, Ms Stewart said she enjoys the creativity of the group and it is an activity that keeps both her mind and body sharp.

“My hands are very arthritic, but weaving is a full body activity as you have to set up your warp and you weave,” she said.

“There seems to always be something to challenge you, you’ve never learnt everything.”

FEATURE STORY

There are many options for what people can do in the group, as Ms Adams said has recently seen many people come in and express an interest in pin looms and basketry.

“You have a choice and there’s a lot of people that have come recently who started off weaving with pin looms,” she said.

“One of the ladies bought in wool from the wool show and joined the group the next week and has made so many and it’s just been so wonderful to see.”

Ms Stewart said she thinks the group has stayed together so long because many of them came in looking for more social contact and have stayed in the area.

“It’s all voluntary there’s nothing that holds people here beyond the activities,” she said.

The Wangaratta Handweavers & Spinners meets on the first Tuesday of every month at the Milawa Hall from 9:30am to 3pm and every third Wednesday from 7pm to 9pm at the Wangaratta Library.

All are welcome to join and for more information contact whwspinners@gmail.com.

◆ OLD AND NEW: The Wangaratta Handweavers & Spinners has many members including: Phyllis Thompson, who joined the group when it started in 1973; Lynelle Bourne, who joined the group in 2018; and Jean Walpole who has been a part of the group since 1974.

NorthEast JOBS

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We are looking for an experienced and energetic tradesperson to join our dynamic team. Please contact Kristian on 0417 329 052 to discuss the position or call into our office at 3 Sinclair Drive, Wangaratta to arrange a meeting.

Apprentice Joiner/Glazier

JOBS AT INDIGO

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We are offering a unique opportunity to train the right individual the rare chance to learn the art of glazing and joinery with our dynamic team. YOU could be the next apprentice of the year! If this sounds like you, please send your resume to info@reflexwangaratta.com.au or contact our office on 5721 3533 to arrange an interview.

www.alpineshire.vic.gov.au/ council/careers

GREAT JOBS FOR GREAT PEOPLE

The following opportunities now exist for enthusiastic, safety focused people with suitable experience and qualifications. Please visit our website to find out more about current positions available across Mawsons business divisions.

Shepparton – Concrete Cartage Services – CCSSHEP08

Wangaratta – Concrete Cartage Services – CCSWANG03

Benalla – Concrete Cartage Services – CCSBENA02

Swan Hill – Concrete Truck Driver – SWAN001

Kyneton – Concrete Truck Driver – KYNE006

Cohuna/Kerang – Concrete Cartage Services – CCSCOHU01

Echuca – Concrete Truck Driver – ECHU001

Cohuna – Payroll & Administration Assistant – ADMN001

Cohuna – Accounts Payable/Administration Clerk – ADMN002

Deniliquin – Concrete Cartage Services – CCSDENI01

Mildura – Concrete Truck Driver – MILD004

Castlemaine – Concrete Site Supervisor – CAST005

www.mawsons.com.au/careers/join-us

Circulating in Wangaratta, Myrtleford, Bright, Mt Beauty, Beechworth, Yackandandah, Rutherglen, Chiltern and districts

TALK

Bringing family to your audiology appointments

“WHAT did they say?”

“Did you ask them about that problem?”

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Often our clients will attend hearing appointments by themselves.

That is perfectly fine, but you may wish to consider bringing a family member along.

There are clear benefits for you and your family, as well as your audiologist.

Communication does not just involve one person – it also involves the person you communicate with.

Being able to talk about how communication works for you and your family can provide a more complete picture.

Family members can provide rich information from their perspective about communication and the hearing difficulties that you face.

Appointments often involve a lot of information to take in all at once.

Having another pair of ears handy at the appointment can help you remember what was discussed and the explanations.

A loved one at the appointment might prompt you to remember that question you were going to ask.

Audiology appointments are the perfect time for discussing how to maximize

communication strategies.

You would be surprised how much communication can improve by using timeless strategies like grabbing the other’s attention, facing the person you are speaking to, moving away from the noisy kettle in the kitchen to have that important conversation the list goes on.

If one communication partner has hearing loss, the use of hearing aids is very likely to help both parties communicate.

At hearing aid fitting appointments, there are many things to learn about your new hearing aids – how to put them in your ears, cleaning procedures and the use of the mobile phone app if you wish.

Having another person involved during your appointment will help you to retain that information.

Also, it is great when your hearing aids can be adjusted to ensure you are hearing your partner’s voice well.

Everyone deserves to communicate and bringing your family member along may add great value to your appointment.

If you would like to make an appointment at Wangaratta Audiology, PLEASE CALL (03) 5722 4433

◆ ENHANCING COMMUNICATION: Bringing a family member to your audiology appointment can help you retain all the information you need to improve your hearing.

◆ POWERFUL TOOLS: M18 FUEL™ ONE-KEY™ 13mm Hammer Drill/Driver is the perfect tool for all your drilling needs.

With David James, North East Fasteners

with Diana Bienvenu WANGARATTA AUDIOLOGY