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John’s ‘crazy caravan’ John Warren is a character like no other. He spends all his time on his passion projects and his latest obsession has certainly caught the eyes of those passing by. Parked in the driveway of his Craigieburn home, is a funky caravan that John has devoted six months of his life to building. But prior to this, getting out of bed was a struggle for John. He was out of work for 15 years after damaging three discs in his back, but it was the mental struggle that he found hardest. “What threw me out of whack was the depression, that was just two years in bed. I just didn’t know which way to go, what to actually do. It just pulled me down so bad,” John said. “I try to keep a positive outlook by doing these sorts of things and keeping busy.” John is now selling the caravan and hopes it continues to spread joy wherever it goes next. “If anyone ever gets it I just hope they enjoy it as much as what I do because it creates so much versatility where people come up to you and you have so much fun and laughter together,” he said. “I think that’s what it does, these projects that I do, it creates so much joy for people.” John Warren has built a ‘crazy caravan’ which is one of his many passion projects.
(Damjan Janevski) 276198_01
Swim wait lists sinking By Helena Abdou Hume residents say they’re waiting years for spots in learn to swim classes to open up at the municipality’s limited swimming pools. Data revealed at a council meeting on Monday, April 11 left some councillors surprised by the backlog of children aged between zero and 18 awaiting lessons. Sunbury resident Mel O’Neill asked how many places are available per centre and how many children are currently on a waiting list for swimming lessons. Almost 8000 children are on a waiting
list at Splash Aqua Park and Leisure Centre in Craigieburn and just over 1000 at Broadmeadows Aquatic and Leisure Centre, council revealed. Dozens of other mothers in the municipality say they’ve given up and moved on to other aquatic centres to access lessons. Hume resident, Kaitlyn Schiavello is one. “I enquired when my son was two months old, and was told the waitlist would be about six months long. He is now four-years-old! I’m glad I went elsewhere and didn’t wait,” she said. Councillor Joseph Haweil said he knew of the backlog in enrolments but was flawed
by the numbers. “I was aware that there is a waitlist for our aquatic and leisure centres but I certainly didn’t know the numbers were this significant, particularly there in the northern growth corridor…that’s of great concern to me,” Cr Haweil said. Hume council corporate services director Daryl Whitfort said there were a number of factors that contributed to the figures. “The programs within each council facility vary with pool space availability and swim teacher availability – which is experiencing an industry-wide shortage since the beginning of
the pandemic,” Mr Whitfort said. Councillor Trevor Dance urged councillors to see what can be done to reduce waitlist numbers. “To see some children not getting swimming lessons is a real concern after the work that’s been going on in Australia for many many years to make sure our children can swim,” Cr Dance said. Councillors offered a range of solutions to the issue including building smaller but more accessible pools, an outdoor pool and running more lessons and hiring more swimming instructors.
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