FEBRUARY 15, 2017 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + THE WEST’S BEST PROPERTY GUIDE
World, here I come Nine-year-old Newport girl Isabelle Bitsikas is heading for Barcelona to compete for a world title after being crowned a Dancer of the Year in the Showcase Australian Dance Championships. Lisa Anne Hammer, director of The Dance Company in Altona North, said Isabelle started dancing at the studio about age two. “She competed against 50 other dancers from around Australia and New Zealand to win this prestigious title,” Ms Hammer said. In the same competition, Isabelle was in one of three groups from the school which won the Battle of the Stars grand final. Isabelle will go to Barcelona in June to compete in the World Dance Movement International Competition. She says she’s excited at the prospect of meeting so many new people. The national competition had been “really hard, but I pushed through it”. “I just want to say a big thank you to all my teachers and friends.” (Damjan Janevski)
Goya Dmytryshchak
Cafe plan to replace RSL Shock has been expressed at new plans by RSL Victoria and Grocon to replace the Williamstown RSL sub-branch with a cafe. A community meeting in December heard that an application by Grocon to redevelop the premises into a five-storey building with a smaller sub-branch at ground level had fallen through because a heritage overlay made the project unviable. It heard the land had been gifted to returned Diggers and the community for the RSL sub-branch in 1919. As revealed exclusively by Star Weekly in December, the club was forced
to close on January 3 because of a $3.5 million debt. However, an amended planning application lodged with Hobsons Bay council in January proposes to develop the club site into a five-storey building with 64 apartments and a 325-square-metre cafe on the ground floor. It also proposes 92 car spaces. An adjacent house owned by the RSL is set to be retained. Williamstown MP Wade Noonan expressed shock at the new plans. “It’s disappointing to learn that the site of our local RSL will be replaced with a cafe,” he said. “Surely the decision-makers at RSL Victoria could negotiate with Grocon for the sub-branch to
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Moase said residents were rallying to lodge mass objections against the plans. “This is an injustice,” he said. “Grocon and RSL Victoria head office are taking one of our Williamstown community spaces and wringing the most private gain it can.” Sources close to the RSL understood the deal between RSL Victoria and Grocon to develop the sub-branch site had fallen through by late last year and the property was to be placed on An artist’s image of the proposed development the open market. Grocon has previously said all on the Williamstown site. (Supplied) comment must come from RSL Victoria. maintain an ongoing presence at the site as part RSL Victoria president Robert Webster said of the new development.” he had no comment at this stage. Williamstown Save Williamstown spokesman Godfrey RSL vice-president Rob Rowe did not respond.
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