Free Press flashbacks

A special barbecue and cake cutting for staff was held last week as Jayell Ford on Bradley St celebrated 30 years of trading in Kyabram.

Jayell Ford, which was originally owned and operated by Peter Lyon, was taken over by John McIlroy in 1985.

“I was working here at the time with Laurie McCarthy when Peter told us he wanted to sell the business,” Mr McIlroy said.

Since that time, the business has flourished amid Kyabram’s ups and downs.

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Prepare now for fire season

The CFA is fire ready, are you?

While the grass by the roadside may still be green, as the weather heats up across the district Kyabram CFA captain Mick Crompton says it still poses a fire risk and wants to remind residents to start preparing their homes and properties for the coming fire season.

“Obviously, this year is going to be a hot, dry and long fire season,” Mr Crompton said.

“We need people to be ready for it. There are a range of things people can do around their home and property to make sure they are fire safe, and we recommend doing them now before the risk becomes greater.”

Mr Crompton said he particularly wanted to remind property owners to be extra cautious when they were conducting burn-offs, including not burning off in hot weather or windy conditions and having plenty of water handy to manage the size of the fire.

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Bombers fail

The sad sight of Sam Sheldon being loaded into an ambulance just after the final siren sounded at Deakin Reserve, Shepparton, on Sunday pretty much summed up Kyabram’s Goulburn Valley Football League’s 2015 grand final day.

With so many expectations after beating Benalla two weeks ago to win a grand final spot, a let-down of monumental proportions unfolded in the season decider as Kyabram surrendered with hardly a whimper.

There are plenty of words that could accurately describe Kyabram’s meek performance, but the 59-point demolition inflicted by Benalla really boiled down to just – TOO GOOD.

Benalla beat the Bombers at the game Kyabram used to beat them two weeks earlier – pressure and a superior skill level.

2005

Managing director of King’s Foodworks helps Warramunda project

King’s Foodworks Supermarket is making a substantial contribution to the Warramunda Building Appeal.

Every Black and Gold brand product sold at the supermarket sees the supermarket contributing 2c to the appeal.

“Over the next 12 months we hope to reach the grant total of between $35,000 and $40,000, of which amounts of $4000 and $10,000 have already been given,” managing director of King’s Foodworks Supermarket Campbell King said.

Mr King said the King family had personal ties to Warramunda.

“My parents were involved in its foundation and even our dog was called Warramunda in the 1960s,” he said.

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Tonny’s walking track opened

Tongala’s Urban Renewal walking track was tried out by the 70 people who attended the official opening at lunchtime Wednesday. Children from Tongala’s two primary schools were among those who attended the opening.

The Nestlé Tongala factory manager David Flanagan said the Nestlé Community Environment Program was an opportunity to make a real difference in the town.

Mr Flanagan said more than 1500 native trees had been planted along the track.

He said it was one of the projects running at towns where there were Nestlé factories and distribution points throughout Australia.

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Australian title at Rushworth Speedway

The spotlight will be on Rushworth when the speedway track hosts the Beaurepaires Australian Title this Saturday.

Seen as the biggest event on the club’s calendar, drivers will battle it out in five different classes for the titles.

“It will be an action-packed card,” treasurer Col Reed said.

“This is the major event for the year, and we are expecting a big crowd on hand to watch the racing.”

Drivers competing in the Australian Title are coming from Sydney, NSW, and all over Victoria.

1985

Strike hits high school: 200 students have day off

More than 200 students stayed home from Kyabram High School on Wednesday because of strike action by nearly half the teachers.

Twenty-two of the high school’s teachers responded to the Victorian Secondary Teachers’ Association call to take the day off to attend a stopwork meeting in Melbourne.

A total of 250 students from Years 9 and 10 were asked to stay at home, while years seven, eight, 11 and 12 had classes.

The school has 700 students.

Wednesday’s strike was called because the VSTA and Education Department had made no progress on the association’s 1986 log of claims.

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$20,000 Town Plan scheme overhaul

Kyabram Town Council has engaged a consulting firm to revise the town’s planning scheme over an 18-month period at an estimated cost of $20,000.

It has decided on this move because it believes Kyabram could be losing potential new businesses because of delays in issuing planning permits, due to the present outdated town plan.

Town Clerk Mr Don McKenzie said the present town plan was over 20 years old and totally unsuitable for today’s needs.

The plan already has about 36 amendments and if a proposed project doesn’t fit in with the existing plan, another amendment has to be tabled, and this could take six months, he said.

It is expected that the survey will be carried out over an 18-month period.

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Big honour for Ky basketball coach

Kyabram basketball magnet Russell Parker has been named coach of the Goulburn Valley basketball team, GV Giants, which has just been accepted into the South Eastern Basketball League.

The South Eastern Basketball League is a major national competition.

The league is made up of teams from NSW country regions, the Australian Institute of Sport, Sydney teams and teams from Tasmania, Melbourne and Victorian country centres such as Bendigo and Albury.

Speaking on his selection as coach of the Giants, Parker said he was honoured to have been chosen for the post.

“There is obviously a fair bit of pressure involved to be coaching against some of Australia’s leading coaches and players, but it’s a great opportunity to improve my own standard as well,” he said.