Army quitter

Natter and nibble run

EAST Gippsland Historical Automobile Club’s December coffee, natter and nibble run was to the Avon Hotel at Stratford. The group (pictured) left their club rooms in Macarthur St, Bairnsdale, and travelled in convoy along the Princes Highway to Stratford. Given the hot conditions, many drivers wished their historic cars were fitted with modern day air conditioning, as the trip was made extra slow by centre road barriers and roadworks. The group was met by its Sale-based members at the hotel, and a total of 38 people attended. The dining room was set up and ready with tea, coffee and cold drinks, and the members enjoyed a spread of savoury finger food, small cakes, scones with jam and cream and fruit platters. Members made short work of most of it, but even the most dedicated eaters were stumped. President Mike Gaffney, on behalf of the group, thanked the staff for providing the venue and the wonderful service and array of food. Loch Sport bush market

LOCH Sport Lions Club will host its annual bush market on Saturday, January 8. It will begin with a barbecue breakfast from 8am, followed by a sausage sizzle and lots of variety stalls. For stallholder enquiries, phone Wendy on 0402 503 190. Garden club’s Christmas

MAFFRA Garden Club will meet for a Christmas luncheon at The Vines on Avon tomorrow from noon. The cost per person is $25. Phone Jeanette on 0438 456 491 for more information or if attending.

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Duke of Ed ‘golden girls’ trio

GIPPSAND Grammar has a trio of ‘golden girls’ , with students Hannah Fairweather, Molly Howard and Hannah Ng achieving their Duke of Edinburgh gold awards. They are the only Duke of Edinburgh gold awardees from Gippsland Grammar in the past 10 years, all beginning their Duke of Ed journeys in 2018 when they were in Year 9. Gippsland Grammar’s head of Duke of Edinburgh, Cass Booth, was brimming with excitement at the news of the triple gold. “Proud, is an understatement on how I feel about these girls achieving what they have in the Duke of Edinburgh award,” she said. “They have had to show self-discipline, selfawareness commitment and determination for over three years to achieve these goals. “And they did not let the challenges of COVID-19 discourage them — they simply made alterations to their activities to ensure they could still continue with their responsibilities. “For example, letters or videos were made to send to nursing homes when they no longer could visit. “And journeys and residential programs needed to be planned and then re-planned when lockdowns clashed.” To achieve her gold award, Hannah Fairweather completed 52 hours each of dance, ballet and leadership during the past year, as well as completing two four-day hikes in local bushland and organising a five-day Scout camp. During the same time period, Molly Howard completed 52 hours each of tae kwon do and rollerblading, French lessons and helping and befriending the elderly. She also completed two four-day bushwalks in south-west Victoria and helped at a local primary school. Hannah undertook bushwalking and enjoyed playing music to residents in local nursing homes. During the times in lockdown she recorded music and send to the residents. Despite the challenges COVID-19 has thrown at these students, they found ways to succeed and encouraged younger students along the way. Gippsland Grammar also has a record number of younger students participating in the challenge. In addition to the three Gold Awards, Bronze awards were awarded to 2021 Year 9 students Sage Waters, Zahra Hanratty, Grace Ng, Georgia Steel, Alanna Magee, Ellen Roberts, Harry Lancaster, Iman Simnett and Andrew Crawford, Year 10 student Emily Thai and Year 11 student Mia Mackintosh.

Gippsland Grammar students Hannah Ng, Hannah Fairweather and Molly Howard have each achieved their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.

Year 9s bushwalking across the Wellington River. Gippsland Grammar has been an active participant in the Duke of Edinburgh Award for many decades.

The ‘Duke of Ed’, as it’s more commonly known, is an international award available to all 14 to 24-year-olds and involves three levels, each progressively more challenging.

The bronze award is for those aged over 14, the silver award for those aged over 15 and the gold is for those aged over 16.

Participants must complete four sections at each level: — voluntary service, skill, physical recreation and adventurous journey.

Gold level participants also complete a gold residential project.

Gippsland Grammar has 65 active participants in the Duke of Ed program in 2021, including a record number of bronze participants. To date, more than 130 countries and more than eight million young people have participated in The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award program. More than 775,000 young people have participated in the award in Australia in the past 58 years, with on average 40,000 diverse participants annually working towards achieving an award.