50 years ago November 1975
Rochester businessman Mr Bob Batty has reached a milestone that few businessmen ever dream of reaching.
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Bob is celebrating his 50th year in his own business in Rochester.
Bob commenced his apprenticeship in menswear with Mr Claude O'Brien in the old Victoria Hotel buildings in Rochester 54 years ago as a 13-year-old lad. Mr O'Brien is still alive and lives now in St Kilda.
On completing his apprenticeship, Bob took over the business from Claude, and the business has now been in Bob's hands for 50 years.
There have been many changes over those 50 years, according to Bob.
When he started, Pelaco shirts sold at 3/11d and buyers had a choice of white and a couple of other colours in shirts.
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Sixteen-year-old Kathy Igoe is the next student to be sponsored by the Rochester Rotary Club for 12 months’ study overseas.
Kathy is going to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, and leaves Australia on January 24.
Kathy, who is a student in form four at the Rochester High School, will be hosted during her 12-month stay in Canada by the Oak Bay Rotary Club.
Oak Bay is a municipality of Victoria, which is the capital of British Columbia.
The Oak Bay Rotary Club is of a similar size to the Rochester club, having 35 members.
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Barley growers in the Corop district are faced with an additional problem this season.
In transporting their barley to the nearest bulk storage at Colbinabbin, they will have to travel many extra miles.
According to Corop barley grower Mr Bill Tavlor, the reason for the extra travel is because the normal access road to Colbinabbin is flooded by the still rising Green's Lake at Corop, and there are no Water Commission structures strong enough to carry a truckload of barley in the flooded areas.
25 years ago November 2000
The pedestrian railing on the Campaspe River bridge in Rochester is to be replaced with the infills from the former sides of the bridge.
Lloyd Davies from VicRoads said on Friday that a number of options had been considered following repeated vandalising of the present mesh railing.
Replacing the damaged panels with a similar material was rejected by Rochester Citizens Advisory Group members, as was the total removal of a pedestrian railing from the bridge.
Mr Davies said the heavy-duty mesh infills from the original bridge had been stored since the bridge was upgraded last year, however several panels had ‘’disappeared’’, requiring VicRoads to have replacement panels built before work could be carried out.
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When Donald Hughan was critically ill in the Monash Medical Centre almost two years ago, staff contacted the Starlight Foundation to see if they could make a wish come true for the 11-year-old spina bifida patient who had been in and out of the hospital since birth.
This month, Donald met his idol Michael Jordan after flying to Chicago with his mother Jo and 16-year-old sister Jessie, courtesy of the Starlight Foundation and its generous supporters.
Donald was told about his wish being granted 10 months ago, so passports were organised and arrangements made in the interim.
“When Donald got the phone call to say he was going, I thought he was going to jump out of his chair,’’ Jo said.
‘’It was hard to believe it was going to happen.’’
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Rochester coach David Williams recently announced his resignation as the interleague coach for the Goulburn Valley League.
Williams informed the GVFL of his decision around a month ago, citing family and work commitments for his decision.
‘’Coaching the interleague side was a great experience and something I really enjoyed, but the real issue was a lack of time,’’ Williams said.
In his first year of interleague coaching, Williams coached the GVFL to its first victory since 1994, defeating the well respected Ovens and Murray league.
10 years ago November 2015
Another break-in last week in Rochester’s business district has added momentum to calls for more CCTV cameras.
New Image Hair and Beauty salon on Gillies St became the fourth Rochester business to be burgled in three weeks when it was broken into about 2.30am on Thursday.
Owner Sharnee Sinclair said thieves ‘‘trashed everything’’ and took off with scissors and an eyelash kit with a combined value of more than $1800.
The recent spate of burglaries has reignited calls for businesses to install or upgrade CCTV cameras on their premises.
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Ernie Chiswell is 100 years not out.
The Elmore resident clocked up a century on earth with an eventful celebration on Saturday.
Ernie arrived to his 100th birthday party at Elmore Citizens Club in a Hummer, with daughter Beth saying a round of applause greeted her father’s arrival.
‘‘It was a really big day for Dad,’’ she said.
‘‘He was pretty happy with it all and it was great to be able to celebrate it together. Everyone had a wonderful time.’’
Beth said more than 100 people turned out for the occasion, with relatives flying in from various corners of Australia including Townsville, Kalgoorlie, Bunbury and Sydney.