'Community Involvement Day' a great success!

Lookout at The Dell

On April 26, more than 170 people attended a Community Involvement Day at The Dell, Clifton Springs, where they planted native grasses and learnt about the area's ecology and history.

The event consisted of five ecology and history activities, each lasting about 25 minutes. At the end of the activities, the Clifton Springs Lions served up a BBQ lunch, along with fruit and a cool drink.

The 170 participants comprised about 140 students from the Drysdale Primary School and the Clifton Springs Primary School, about 10 teachers, 20 parents, and volunteers from Bellarine Catchment Management Network, City of Greater Geelong, Bellarine Bayside, Corangamite Catchment Management Authority, Geelong Indigenous Nursery, Bellarine Landcare.

After lunch, Drysdale Primary School principal Phil Dunlop-Moore spoke on behalf of the two schools participating. He emphasised that the area is our home, that we should take care of it and that today's event was a way to take care of it. Phil was followed by Karin Sheppard, president of the Bellarine Catchment Network, who thanked the students for taking part, the volunteers for their help and of course, the Lions for lunch. Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association Treasurer Doug Carson wound up the event by thanking everyone for their hard work, then two school students each said 'Thank you' to the organisers for making the event happen.

Doug Carson said, 'Clearly, the event was a success - I kept getting asked, "When are you having another one?"!'

The Community Involvement Day is part of a programme to revegetate the area, being run by a DCSCA-led consortium of local organisations, including the Dept of Sustainability & Environment, Landcare, Bellarine Catchment Network and the City of Greater Geelong. The consortium received $15,000 from the Commonwealth Government's Caring for our Country Community Action Grants program to undertake the work.

The Community Involvement Day was scheduled originally for June 22 2012, but bad weather forced its postponement to August 24 2012, when land slippage forced a second postponement. (See earlier posts on drycliftdays: 'Dell project survives storms, landslips!' [September 12 2012]; and '"Greening" the Dell' [May 9 2012].)