Mayoral Column 17 December 2018
Published on 17 December 2018
Local tourism businesses benefit from digital mentoring program
Five Loddon Shire tourism businesses have recently completed a new digital mentoring program.
Offered by the City of Greater Bendigo in partnership with Bendigo Regional Tourism, 43 tourism businesses from across the Bendigo region took part in the program, including the businesses from the Loddon area.
The program saw 18 mentors employed to individually mentor business operators in a range of topics such as social media, email marketing and search engine optimisation.
The training will help businesses to not only work better online, but ensure their digital marketing and business initiatives align with the broader Bendigo Regional Tourism brand and direction.
The program was funded by the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions fund, the City of Greater Bendigo and Bendigo Regional Tourism.
Walk to School Photo Competition winners
Congratulations to our Walk to School Photo Competition winning entries!
Elsie and Laura Poole from Pyramid Hill College were awarded first prize for their photo, while the second prize was won by Elyshia and Ryan Isaac from St Mary’s Inglewood.
Third prize was awarded to Ellie Bellenger from Tarnagulla Primary School and Wedderburn College’s Tyson Blair received the Highly Commended award.
Well done to all those who took part in the competition.
Cool off at a local pool
We’ve certainly had a taste of the summer weather during the past fortnight or so, with the weather set to get hotter as we continue into summer.
With that in mind, and with school holidays rapidly approaching, our local pools are a great spot to cool off and enjoy the outdoors during the warmer months.
There are five outdoor pools in the Shire – located at Boort, Inglewood, Mitiamo, Pyramid Hill and Wedderburn. Pools in the Loddon Shire cater to all ages, including infant wading pools (located at all five swimming facilities) and pools ranging from 25 to 50 metres (depending upon the individual pool facility).
The Shire’s local outdoor pools are enjoyed by a number of residents, with 22,994 visits to our pools in the 2017/18 financial year
So get along to one of your local pools this summer – and don’t forget to be sun smart!
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year
As this is my last Mayoral Column for 2018, I would just like to take this opportunity to wish our community a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.
I’d also like to remind our community that the Council offices in Wedderburn and Serpentine will close at noon on Friday 21 December and reopen at 8.15am on Wednesday 2 January 2019.
There will also be changes to scheduled kerbside garbage and recycling collections. Collections scheduled for Christmas Day (Tuesday 25 December) will instead take place on Sunday 23 December. Collections for New Year’s Day (Tuesday 1 January 2019) will take place on Sunday 30 December. All waste facilities across the Shire will be closed on public holidays.
For a full list of Council closures and changes to services, please visit www.loddon.vic.gov.au or call Council on 5494 1200.
Did you know?
A community survey of pool users in Loddon Shire earlier this year found that many residents thought that Council makes a profit from its pools. However, this is not the case. According to figures used for reporting to the State Government on Loddon Shire’s performance, the cost to Council for each person to attend a swimming pool is $22.63.
Having mentioned that, Council recognises the importance of our local pools to the community (the value of pools to our residents was also emphasised through the surveys). This includes the role of local pools in promoting social connectedness among residents and encouraging physical activity.
The Swimming Pools Improvement Plan, which was adopted by Council at the November meeting, is about how we can encourage more people to use our local swimming pools and do so on a more regular basis.