Surf Coast Times
Tuesday 1 February 2011
VOL 9. No 5
www.surfcoasttimes.com.au
FREE WEEKLY
LYONS’ GOT IT
Paparazzo and entrepreneur Darryn Lyons has taken over the reins of Growlers.
BY ELEANOR WOODS GROWLERS will be returned to the people, according to its new owner, entrepreneur Darryn Lyons. The 45-year-old paparazzo, who hails from Geelong but made his fame photographing celebrities abroad, said he was “very excited about returning Growlers to its former glory”. “Growlers is a classic place. From what I hear it lost some of its charm over the years. I want to bring it back up to a fantastic service standard and return it to the locals. It’s not mine, it’s theirs,” Lyons said. “I will keep some of the chocolate brown and add in Tiffany blue to reflect the sea and maximise the beautiful outlook. And new toilets are a must for the ladies.” Lyons has toyed with a raft of ideas for a new-look Growlers, which is under construction and aiming to be open next month. “We want to do a whole lot of great stuff; from rentable iPads for kids, to a Growlers boat, and being more involved with the surf club,” he said. “We want to do local community work too; maybe $1 from each meal to a local charity that changes every month or something like that. “It’s going to be a relaxed, ambient community place with great quality food and excellent service. I haven’t been as excited about something in a long time. “The Surf Coast is very special to me. It’s where I spent my childhood. It is one of the most pristine coasts in the world. “Looking out from Growlers I can recall myself rolling down the grass with a bare bum. I’ve got so many memories here.”
SCHOOL LIMBO Cheeseman raises concerns over delay on new standalone high school in Torquay
BY NATHAN HALE LOCAL secondary students face spending the most important years of their education in limbo if the state government doesn’t move quickly – that’s the view of Federal Member for Corangamite, Darren Cheeseman. According to Cheeseman, the newly elected Liberal-National state government has failed to purchase a suitable location to build its promised $20million standalone high school. One of the key pre-election pledges prior to last November’s state election, the Coalition promised a new standalone high school and said it would make the existing Torquay College a standalone primary school once the high school was built. The Coalition also promised $500,000 to extend
Surf Forecast
Torquay Kindergarten and retain it on the current site in Grossmans Road. Cheeseman said with no land purchased, the chance of the Coalition building a new high school in less than two years is non-existent. “I am getting a wave of phone calls from upset parents who have had to make back-to-school decisions about where they send their children for their secondary schooling with an information vacuum,” Cheeseman said. “Parents can see there’s a problem ahead with the promised secondary school, still without any location, highly unlikely to be ready for 2013, and Torquay College has not planned on putting them on their current school grounds. “Many parents want their children to go to a local high school if possible, but right now if they do
that there’s a very good chance their vital Year 11 and Year 12 VCE years will be spent in transportables located on the footy oval at Torquay College in 2013. “At the moment there is no real information and no proper plan.” Apart from the high school woes, Cheeseman also said a second primary school was needed to cope with the influx of young families to the fastest growing region in Victoria. “A new high school in itself is still not a proper solution. What we need is a new high school and another primary school,” he said. “Even if you take the secondary school students away from Torquay College to another location, those classrooms will immediately be filled by new primary school students coming from the population
growth in Torquay and we will still have the traffic bottlekneck at Grossmans Road. “As a Torquay resident and a father who will soon have to make choices about where my own son goes, I believe a school of nearly 1,000 students is just too big for a primary school and we clearly need another primary school for Torquay. “If this decision is put off for another three or four years we will have a primary school in Torquay of 1,300 – bigger than any of the high schools in Geelong. “We will have traffic banked up back down to the Espalande at school pick up and drop off times, a real traffic hazzard and some extremely angry parents.” Requests were made for comment from the Liberal party but no response was given.
WED 0-1ft flat SW 20° THU 0-1ft building S/SW 24° FRI 1ft building S/SW 20° SAT 1-1ft average E/SE 24°
PAGE
151
Plantation Shutters The very essence of timeless style and sleek function to complement your decor. Champion Plantation Shutters are a stunning blend of functionality and fashion, including the option of our Remote Controlled Motorised tilt system.
Call 5261 9666 for an obligation free quote.