Fete is the answer to fake or fortune FLINDERS Fake or Fortune fete will be held at St Johns Church hall, 10am2.30pm, Saturday 6 March. The 82nd fete, which provides much-needed funds for community work and peninsula charities, has been online but now it is going live for a special event in a slightly different format. The online fete had support from donated paintings plus Christmas specials, cakes, biscuits, jams, pickles and locally-made craft. A new feature will be a Flinders Fake or Fortune Fete event based on the popular BBC Antiques Roadshow plus some interesting stalls. Organisers Mary Iles and Patricia Macdonald said experts Warren Joel and Paul Sumner would be on hand to value items for those wanting to know more about them. Trash or Treasure tickets are available online at trybooking.com/BOIJT to book. A $25 per ticket allows two items to be valued plus a lunch box with a biscuit stall and coffee cart on site. Ms Iles said the church, like all notfor-profit organisations, was only now beginning to earn income from its two op-shops at Balnarring and Flinders. “The profits from the fete are crucial to the church to enable continued support for community and local charities,” she said. “Please support us and learn about your treasures while purchasing something irresistible you do not even know you need!” Details: stjohnsfete21@gmail.com
Online success ST JOHNS Flinders online fete event
Dive tragedy over shipwreck Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au
Open invitation: Mary Iles and Patricia Macdonald prepare for the St Johns Church fete. Picture: Supplied
was a success thanks to the many volunteers, bakers, jam and pickle makers, art donors, needlewomen, floral arrangers, online pet wranglers and competition judges. Last week a whisker over $12,300 had been raised to support St Johns and the charities benefitting from the fete’s proceeds, such as Anglicare Rosebud, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Asylum Seekers Resource Centre Dandenong, and Western Port Community Support. Back-office teams which put up and managed the website, designed the logo and packed the sales in calico
bags donated by the Flinders General Store were also in line for praise. Fete sponsors included Balnarring and District Community Bank Branch – Bendigo Bank, Flinders Community Association, Flinders District Lions Club, Southern Buoy Framers as well as raffle donors Montalto, Merricks General Wine store, Flinders General Store, Vescape, Flinders Hotel, Zeega and contributors who gave items for the community raffles. Pet show supporter Pier Providor and Western Port Vets, We Love Dogs Kennel Resort, PawDinkum donated prizes to pet show winners.
POLICE will prepare a report for the coroner following the death of a scuba diver who got into trouble after exploring the wreck of the SS Alert which sank off Cape Schanck in 1893. The 55-year-old Seaford man was airlifted to The Alfred hospital on Saturday 23 January but could not be revived and died in the presence of family members last week. His death is not being treated as suspicious. Scubabo Dive shop proprietor Josh Howell, of Queenscliff, whose boat had taken the diver and others out to the wreck, was shocked by the news. “It is a tragedy,” he said, adding that he was preparing to attend the man’s funeral. “I was extremely impressed by the professionalism of the crew and the other passengers and in the efforts they made,” he said. “We are not exactly sure how [the death] even occurred. He was a hugely experienced diver. Something caused it but we are not sure what.” Other peninsula dive shops contacted by The News said “rumours” of the incident had been circulating in their close-knit dive community but had not been confirmed until last week. One said a helicopter had collected the distressed diver “from the boat”
which could not leave the immediate area because other divers were slowly ascending from depths of 75 metres during their required decompression. The remoteness of their position meant no other boats were nearby. Another said the deceased diver would have “had to come up through all the diving ranks as well as specialised courses to be qualified for a dive of that depth”. The 247 tonne, 51 metre SS Alert was built in 1877 for the gentle waters of Scottish lochs – not the wild waters of Bass Strait. After a few years on the Melbourne-Geelong run the sail/steamer temporarily replaced the SS Despatch on the Gippsland-Melbourne run in 1893 while the Despatch was being refitted. Setting out from Lakes Entrance bound for Melbourne via Port Albert she was struck by hurricane-force southerlies and mountainous seas and sank about 10 kilometres off Cape Schanck. Of the 16 people on board, the only survivor was the ship’s cook who was washed ashore at Sorrento back beach clinging to a cabin door. He was revived by residents with brandy and the body heat of a Saint Bernard dog. Two bodies were also washed ashore. The hull of the SS Alert lay undisturbed for 113 years until discovered in 2007 by a team from Southern Ocean Exploration.
2021 JUDGING PANEL
2021
MICHALA BANAS
LACHY HULME
SHANE JACOBSON
TICKETS
ON SALE NOW
SATURDAY 6 MARCH 2021
$40 PER CAR PENINSULAFILMFESTIVAL.COM.AU THE FESTIVAL WILL COMPLY WITH THE RELEVANT VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS REGARDING COVID19 AT THE TIME OF THE EVENT.
THE RYE, ROSEBUD AND DROMANA COMMUNITY BANK BRANCHES OF BENDIGO BANK | PENINSULA CINEMAS | WOODLEIGH SCHOOL BLACKMAGIC DESIGN | FILMINK | OZFLIX | ZERO 95 PIZZA BAR | HOCKINGSTUART BELLE PROPERTY DROMANA | THE EAGLE
Southern Peninsula News 10 February 2021
PAGE 11