Making new 'Friends'

People at a DCSCA Public Meeting established two new 'Friends' groups in Drysdale & Clifton Springs - 'Friends of The Foreshore' and 'Friends of The Basin'.

The DCSCA meeting - on December 1 2010 at SpringDale Neighbourhood Centre - attracted 25 local people, who heard Matt Crowley, from Bellarine Catchment Network and Peter Beresford, from Bellarine Landcare, describe what each organisation does and how it could help a 'Friends of ...' group to become established. In the ensuing discussion, people asked how to set up 'Friends' groups and how they operate elsewhere.

Several people at the meeting were sufficiently keen to conserve and promote The Foreshore and The Basin to establish a 'Friends of The Foreshore' and a 'Friends of The Basin'. Each group is already planning a get together 'on site' to familiarise themselves with it and to discuss what needs to be done to conserve and promote it; and each group has decided that it would like to see its site targeted in Clean Up Australia Day early in 2011.

DCSCA called the Public Meeting to launch its campaign for an Open Spaces Network - a collection of local open spaces connected by walking and/or cycling tracks. Each open space in the Network will be kept as simple and open as possible, highlighting its natural characteristics and views and featuring appropriate local indigenous plants; and each will have its own 'Friends of ...' group to assist in its upkeep.

As development proceeds apace in our towns, land becomes more valuable - especially open space. The Open Spaces Network identifies major open spaces in our towns as a way of preventing them being bought up for 'development'. The first two sites in the Network are The Foreshore (in the general area of the Dell) and The Basin (off Gillies Road). Others include Lake Lorne, Springs Street, Quarry Park, Griggs Creek and Beacon Point.

For more information about 'Friends of The Foreshore' and/or 'Friends of The Basin', contact DCSCA: E-mail dryclift@bigpond.com OR P.O. Box 581, drysdale 3222.

Bellarine Catchment Network: http://corangamite.landcarevic.net.au/bcn
Bellarine Landcare:
http://corangamite.landcarevic.net.au/bellarine/about-the-bellarine-landcare-group

(Photo of The Dell by Linda Gallus)