School Canteens

While we support walking to school as a means of improving fitness, Council also works with our local schools to ensure the canteens meet the best possible standards. Not that we’ve ever had to take any drastic steps due to the commitment to health and cleanliness of the schools and the parents and carers who help in the canteens.

 

However, Council undertakes inspections of the school canteens in the same way as we inspect every food handling operation in the City. But given the age of the school canteen customers we take special care. We’ve inspected all schools in the City and all nine passed with flying colours. That’s a great tick for the schools and those who operate the canteens.

Active Kids and Walk to School Friday

Friday is Walk Safely to School Day and I’m sure our local schools are taking part. The idea is to walk the children to school as part of an active and healthy life. Weather permitting, we want to see as many students as possible walking along the City’s footpaths on their way to school. The exercise is not just for the children – parents and carers can also benefit from the walk.

Mascot Playground Unveiled

At the end of last week signs depicting the upgrade of the playground and parkland surrounding Mascot Oval were put up as part of our community consultation. The parkland and playground will stretch between Coward Street and Forster Street to the east of Mascot Oval. 

A circle on the Coward Street side is proposed to become the village green (with a bus shelter entrance way to Coward Street) bounded by a walkway with special lounge-type seating. The pathway leads to the playground with a split between equipment for younger and older children. 

It’s proposed to have timber boardwalks, mulched play areas, sand and water areas and BBQ and picnic facilities. 

What we’re looking for now are reactions and comments from local residents to see if what we’re proposing can be refined by local views. 

This will be an exciting open space in our City and will provide both recreation and quiet places for the growing number of Mascot residents. The sign is located on the construction fence inside the park, which can be accessed from both Coward Street and Forster Street and there’s also a copy of the masterplan in the foyer of our Administration Centre in Coward Street. 

We’d like comments and reactions to my office at Eastgardens or via email mayor@botanybay.nsw.gov.au by the middle of June. After that we get started on this new community asset.

Senior's Garden Party

Just about everyone already knows (but I thought a reminder would be fine) that our annual Garden Party for local seniors will be held at Sir Joseph Banks Park on Sunday May 27 starting at 11.00am. This is a great day and all local seniors are invited. You’ll need to register (as usual), which you can do by contacting my office at Eastgardens on 9366 3600.

Mother’s Day & Trees for Mum

Sunday is Mother’s Day and, I’d like to wish all the mothers of Our City all the happiness for a great day.

If it’s Mother’s Day then it’s also Trees for Mum day – and it’s on the same day, May 13. Trees for Mum encourages sons and daughters of all ages to give a special remembrance for their mums by planting a tree on Mother’s Day. This year we’re doing it at Sir Joseph Banks Pleasure Gardens at the children’s playground off Fremlin Street between 10:00am and 12noon. Council staff will be on hand to help and we’ll supply all the trees and whatever else you might need. Trees for Mum is really a great thing as it gives an opportunity for families to have a growing tree as a statement for the life mothers give to their children. If you’d like to take part, come along down to Sir Joseph Banks Park on Mother’s Day to plant a tree for your mum – and why not stay longer and enjoy a family BBQ or a picnic lunch in a great family location.

Extending the kitchen garden

I had a great email recently from a resident down in Botany who wanted to extend her own kitchen garden of herbs to the street. She’d seen the idea on the ABC’s Gardening Australia (a program I must confess I watch with great admiration of the participants) where the kitchen garden was on the nature strip. The woman who emailed me wanted to know if she could do the same thing with a three or four square metre nature strip in Botany. I’ve asked Council’s landscape architect to work with her on bringing this idea to fruition. We’ve got lawn nature strips and native plant nature strips so herb nature strips is a nice addition.

Garden Competition

Although it’s more than a month before we circulate the brochures for this year’s Garden Competition, I thought I’d remind all our keen local gardeners to begin planning how they will present their gardens to our judges. This year will be the 25th Garden Competition and although we won’t have a silver theme the trophies that we’ll present in October or November will definitely be silver. All good gardeners (and this is one area where I can’t claim any particular expertise) will have planned how their gardens will look in Spring and through Summer. There will be the ten categories covering everything from edible to native and through to commercial and residential complex gardens. All the details will be in the Garden Competition brochure that we’ll circulate to everyone in June for the closing of entries on August 31st. So it’s time now for the planning, getting rid of the weeds (which have grown all too much with the rain and humidity), fertilising and getting the planting ready. I will give a few more reminders of the Garden Competition in the week’s ahead so we get as many entries as possible – and there are some great prizes.