NOBODY could accuse Campbelltown Council of being Mr Scrooge when it comes to its staff Christmas parties. At last night’s meeting it signed off on a recommendation that it contribute $2200 for each of its indoor and outdoor staff Christmas parties this year. That’s a lot of Chrissy pudding, but the council contributed the same amounts at last year’s festivities.
When I was greeted at the Autism Advisory & Support Service by another Fairfax escapee from its Liverpool operations, I knew Monday was going to be one of those days. Just a couple of hours later I bumped into my neighbor, a fellow by the name of Chris Hayes, who just happens to be in federal parliament, representing the seat of Fowler. A small world indeed.
Former Liverpool mayor, now a military historian, Gary Lucas, was not a happy chappy after going to the Davey Robinson Boat Ramp to find that there was no van to hand in his five life jackets for new ones. “Needless to say I am a bit peeved off,’’ Mr Lucas told the Voice. The van’s visit had been advertised in the local media, including the South West Voice, after receiving a press release from the state member for Menai, Melanie Gibbons. After the Voice has alerted Ms Gibbons’ office of the failure of the van to turn up, an explanation was offered to those people, like Mr Lucas, who were disappointed by its non arrival at the lovely new pontoon at Davey Robinson Drive: “Transport NSW has apologised for any inconvenience caused by the van not being at Davy Robinson Park on the weekend. There is still an opportunity for people who live in south west Sydney to visit the van at Revesby Beach Reserve (at the end of River Road just off Henry Lawson Drive) on Sunday, November 16 between 2 and 5pm.’’
The Wests Tigers NRL club only played four times in Campbelltown again this year, so some people may think that the Campbelltown Stadium is a giant elephant. Not so according to figures we came across yesterday in a report which show that it has hosted 169 games of rugby league and soccer matches in 2014 on 47 separate event dates. Over the past five years the number of games held at the stadium averages between 130 and 160, according to the report. Of course local Tigers fan s would love to see their team play here all of its home games, as well as their players living and breathing Macarthur seven days a week. Sadly, the reality is that under the current set up at the back office of the Tigers, hell will freeze over first before they would pack their bags and relocate here from Concord. Not even, I think, if Campbelltown won the bid for the third major stadium. South West Sydney’s only hope is the new, independent board, which will eventually have to make a decision on the long term future of the club.
And we will finish with a bit of a history lesson as told to me by autism champion Grace Fava, who will be featured in these spaces in the next few days. Did you know that Elizabeth Drive was called Mulgoa Road until Queen Elizabeth in 1954, a year after her coronation, travelled there and the civic fathers of the time – I dare say they would have been all men in them days, sorry ladies – had the foresight to change it accordingly.
