We’ve had some really wild weather lately, and with lots of rain and wind comes flooding and trees down. While many of us were sheltering indoors in front of the heater, our hard working emergency services personnel and SES volunteers were facing the to make our community safe.

Council’s outdoor staff also put in a massive effort: removing fallen trees, closing roads and managing traffic, dealing with floodwaters and land slides. I had no idea until this week that when bad weather is predicted, our crews are busy preparing their equipment well before the weather hits. This may mean sharpening chainsaws, ensuring enough fuel, signs and witches hats are in the trucks so that when the calls come in, and they always do, our on-call staff can get out there quickly to respond.

Crews spent five hours cutting up and clearing just one massive Cypress tree that had fallen on Berrys Beach Road. It’s all time out of their weekend after having already worked a full week. So, I just wanted to say a big thank you to our outdoors crews who do a fantastic job; I appreciate all their efforts and time spent away from their families to keep our community safe.

The Phillip Island Soccer Club celebrated it’s 25th anniversary recently. Congratulations to the Club and everyone involved in getting to this milestone. It’s great to see sporting clubs thrive in Bass Coast and that’s thanks to the countless volunteers! Soccer is hugely popular in our area, we have three clubs in Bass Coast and ten clubs in the Southern League - it’s fantastic to see so many people getting out and participating in winter sport.

Speaking of winter sport, junior footy (AFL that is!) has wrapped up for another year. Congratulations to the Phillip Island U12 Blue team, Phillip Island Youth Girls team and Wonthaggi Power U14s team who all claimed premierships in their respective leagues.