Hunter-based home lender Companion Credit Union has led the way in passing on the Reserve Bank’s full interest rate cut.

Companion said yesterday it was slashing its home loans by the full reduction. Companion chief Ray O’Brien said the credit union’s interest rates were at a 30-year low.

He said the Hunter lender was one of the few to pass on the full 25 basis points.

“Our home loans now start from 4.97 per cent,” he said.

Source: Maitland City Council

Chug chug chug chug, toot, toot…

When you hear the sound of 150 years of history and feel the vibration of almost 200 tonnes of steel pulling up on the platform, your heart feels heavy with pride.  The skies of Maitland will fill with steam from these magnificent mechanical marvels on the 19^th and 20^th of April to celebrate the 23^rd Hunter Valley Steamfest.

If you have some spare time and want to give something back to the community, if you enjoy helping people or want to experience the thrill of an engine travelling full steam ahead – Hunter Valley Steamfest has openings for you!

With over 75,000 people visiting the event each year it is impossible to run this major event without the help of volunteers offering their time, skills and services. Volunteering roles available for Hunter Valley Steamfest include Train Monitors, Merchandise Sales Assistants, Kids Activities Assistants, Market Stalls Assistant, Information Assistants and more.

Rewards for volunteering at Hunter Valley Steamfest include:

·          Being a part of a productive team and meeting new people

·          Full training for all roles

·          Volunteer T-shirt

·          Return steam train or tin hare diesel excursion over the weekend

·          Thank you function after the event

·          Certificate of appreciation

To become a volunteer visit www.steamfest.com.au and visit the Behind the Scenes section to download a volunteer application form or phone the Maitland Visitor Information Centre on (02) 4931 2877 for a form to be sent to you.

Maitland is at the centre of a bigger-than-expected population explosion with predictions the city’s residents will number 102,597 in 2031.

Updated Hunter Valley Research Foundation projections show Maitland’s population will double based on an average annual growth rate of 2.14 per cent – increasing by about 2000 people each year until eclipsing 100,000 in 2030.

Maitland leads the Lower Hunter in population growth. Port Stephens is next with 1.64 per cent.

The Hunter’s regional population is projected to rise from 589,000 in 2006 to almost 710,000 in 2026.

The revised modelling, issued yesterday, incorporated the latest Census data, fertility rates, death rates and building approvals.

“There isn’t a great change in the average annual growth rate for the Hunter – but in Maitland, it’s very significant because it would mean the population would double in 30 years,” the foundation’s researcher Michael Jonita said.

He said the data could be influenced by other factors.

“The 2.14 per cent figure is a 20-year average annual rate and that could change,” he said.

Maitland City Council is already preparing for such a rate to transpire. The city’s Settlement Strategy works on a 2.5 per cent growth rate to 2020, which will see the population reach 86,000. That will mean a need for between 8500 and 9500 new homes in the next 13 years.

Work is already underway on new land releases to accommodate the growth, including:

• 5000 new lots at Chisholm;

• 1200 lots at Gillieston Heights;

• 1200 to 1500 lots at Aberglasslyn; and

• 5000 lots at Lochinvar (development is expected to begin about 2020).

“With new land releases in Thornton North and the city’s west, we can
more than accommodate that rate of growth,” city strategy manager
Monica Gibson said yesterday.

While the council was prepared for such a growth rate Ms Gibson said
Maitland’s burgeoning growth was surprising when compared to
neighbouring local government areas.

“The Department of Planning has big plans for Lake Macquarie and
Newcastle as well but those areas are already coming from a large
population base,” she said.

Some Morpeth business owners, Christmas shoppers, tourists and residents have been left bitter and twisted after the weekend’s inaugural international boutique beer festival.

Maitland City Council vowed yesterday that the event would go ahead again in 2008 – but not in Morpeth.

Angry shop owners have complained they have been left out of pocket because their businesses were inside the festival’s fenced-off area along Swan Street.

Regular customers wanting to shop along Swan Street needed a special entry wristband or else had to pay the $15 entry fee to the festival.

Prominent business owner Trevor Richards pulled out of the festival only days before the start out of concern for his regular customers and the potential loss of income.

Mr Richards had supported the festival being a ticketed event when it was first announced in July, but dropped out after deciding the $15 entry fee might keep customers away.

"This weekend is an important trading period for us . . . I would not like to jeopardise this trade
of our regular customers who are purchasing gifts for Christmas and
picking up lay-bys.”

However, not all stores were lucky enough to simply drop out of the event.

Tea Lover’s owner Zelna Whelpton said she was disappointed with the event.

In preparation for the large crowds she ordered extra food and put on
extra staff, but ended up having one of the worst weekends since taking
over the business three months ago.

“They should not have had food stalls in the street,” she said.

“The weekend was a disaster, there were a lot of people but not in the cafes.”

“We had drunk people sitting outside on our chairs and they were knocking over things and stealing the menus.”

Businesses also complained about the timing of the event, being held on the same day as the popular Maitland Markets.

One shop owner who wished to remain anonymous said a number of
businesses would not open their stores if there was another beer
festival in Morpeth.

But that is something they will not have to worry about.

The council’s executive manager marketing and business strategy Roger
Stephan said yesterday that the council would seriously re-consider
holding an event in Morpeth ever again.

“Council needs a united business community before considering another festival in Morpeth,” Mr Stephan said.

“In spite of the fact it was a good event and a majority of shopkeepers
said it was a good event I would not be confident running the event in
Morpeth again.”

Mr Stephan said the aim of having a festival in Morpeth was more than generating income, it was about promoting the location.

A post-event review will be done in the coming weeks with council keen
to find a suitable location for the event in the future as part of the
analysis Mr Stephan said.

Maitland’s GP shortage has been dealt another blow, with news a long-term Beresfield-based doctor is retiring.

After 19 years working as a GP in the suburb, Dr Toni Kesby will leave the Beresfield Surgery on Christmas Eve to travel overseas with her husband.

The announcement comes two weeks after Morpeth residents learnt they could become a town without a doctor by the end of the year, with ill health forcing the retirement of Dr David Roberts-Thomson.

Maitland is already one of the worst-affected areas in the State when it comes to GP numbers, with the city’s doctor to patient ratio reaching the unsustainable level of 1:1972 last year.

Dr Kesby admitted it would be almost impossible to find someone to replace her, forcing the three other doctors at her surgery to bear the load.

“You can’t get anyone to come in the area at all,” she said.

“It means in the practice I’m in, the other doctors will have to work harder than they are already.”

Police from Waratah Local Area Command have arrested a man they will allege was driving a car at Maitland even though he is banned from driving until 2036.

Shortly after 8am today (Wednesday, 17 October) police patrolling Maitland Road stopped the two occupants of a white 1990 Ford Laser in Church Street.

Police will allege that the 36-year-old Mayfield man who was driving the car was already disqualified from driving until 2036.

The man was arrested and later charged with drive whilst disqualified.

The man’s front seat passenger a 41-year-old Mayfield woman was the registered owner of the vehicle and has been charged with aid and abet disqualified driver.

The man and woman were both granted bail and will appear at the Newcastle Local Court on 13 November.

A calf muscle strain, a slight bit of misdirection and the death of a friend last week was not enough to keep Boyd Conrick down.

The Redhead athlete overcame adversity and shot to the lead with a strong bike leg to win the middle distance event at the 14th annual Maitland triathlon at Morpeth yesterday.

Conrick, who knocked off work at Cardiff Fire Station an hour before racing, said he thought his shot at winning the race was over about 2km into the 8km run leg when his calf muscle tightened up.

“I thought I was gone,” Conrick said.

But Conrick battled on despite the injury, which he first sustained in San Diego about 15 months ago, and didn’t allow his competitors see his pain.

“About 3km into the run I stopped around the corner so Timmy (second placed Tim Porter) could not see me and I rubbed it out,” Conrick said.

“It (calf muscle) did not tear but I had the feeling it was going.

The prodigal son of the Hunter athletics’ scene, Josh Ross will return to the stable of renowned Gillieston Heights’ trainer Tony Fairweather.

Australia’s fastest man Josh Ross will return to the Hunter Valley after a heart-to-heart with former coach Tony Fairweather this week, has seen the pair reunited 10 months out from the Beijing Olympics.

Ross, 26, has returned to the Gillieston Heights-based coach 12 months after leaving Fairweather "heartbroken" when the sprinter left suddenly last October to join Sydney-based coach Emil Rizk.

There were several things Fairweather needed to hear from Ross when they met on Wednesday, 12 months to the day since they parted ways, to discuss rekindling the partnership that ended so abruptly after five years.

They parted on good terms but it was never going to be a straight-forward decision for Fairweather, who 12 months ago described the Athens Olympian’s decision to leave as "gut wrenching".

The experienced coach had been helping Ross find a permanent home in the Hunter when Ross dropped the bombshell.

"The grass isn’t always greener on the other side and sometimes you
don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone," Fairweather said.

"I said to him ‘you started all of this and now you have to finish it’.

"There were some personal things he (also) said that meant a lot."

Fairweather was given the verbal commitment from Ross that he needed to
hear but did not stop short of drawing up a contract to avoid a repeat
walkout in future.

He was confident Ross had learned from his mistakes and Fairweather
said there were lessons there to be learned by other athletes.

"He broke my heart and for a while I thought about giving it (coaching) away myself," he said.

"I came very close to it but my wife (Alison) said I had other athletes and that I couldn’t leave them.

"I gave Josh a lot and if I had walked away (back then) where would he be now? I wouldn’t be his coach."

Fairweather and his wife Alison had become a second family to Ross over
the years, which made the "pain" of Ross’ departure all the harder to
take.

A year is a long time in any sport and Fairweather knows that better
than anyone, forced to watch Ross struggle at the this year’s world
championships.

Fairweather said while Ross clinched his third national title in March
he felt much of it was done on the five-year training base he had
created.

Thereafter things appeared to go down hill, with Ross joining fellow
Australian sprinter Patrick Johnson in missing the 100m finals at the
world championships in Osaka. Ross also chose to abandon his 200m and
4x100m relay commitments and returned home burnt out.

"The first thing I want him to do is go to a gym, because he didn’t go to one for the past 12 months," he said.

"His old coach didn’t believe in gym work. He has lost a lot of his
size and the power and strength that previously set him apart."

And while time is ticking for both coach and athlete ahead of the 2008
Olympics in Beijing and aside from sending Ross to a gym this week,
Fairweather was upbeat about the job ahead.

Sunday’s Maitland triathlon will now boast added importance to some competitors, with the event to kick off a new ‘Hunter Triathlon Series’ in an attempt to encourage triathletes from around the region to race locally.
H Events’ race director Paul Humphreys was recently given confirmation that the Maitland event would kickstart a new four-race series called the Hunter Triathlon Series.

The four races will be Maitland triathlon, Newcastle Olympic-distance triathlon in November, Newcastle Foreshore sprint event in February and Sparke Helmore/NBN triathlon at Newcastle in March.

Humphreys said the performance of Newcastle-based competitor Nathan Stewart to win three of the Hunter’s main races last season was the “catalyst” for him to introduce the concept, which has been popular in Sydney.

To be eligible for the series, competitors must race in three of the four events and individuals across each age group earn points from each race.

Clubs in the region will also earn points towards an overall club award, with Hunter clubs including Maitland, Tomaree, Singleton, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.

“The point system rewards people on their performance not just their place,” Humphreys said.

He said while most attention in the sport was often on the elite competitors, a series such as this helped cater for the non-elite competitors and encouraged them to race locally.

The Maitland event was given further good news this week with Louth Park’s Brendan Sexton confirmed to race in his hometown event on Sunday.

Sexton has enjoyed a solid international racing season, highlighted by a silver medal at the world triathlon championships in the under-23s at Germany in August.

Source: The Maitland Mercury

Maitland Triathlon Club is poised for another big season, with new members encouraged to turn out of the club’s first race of the season on September 23.

The Maitland Triathlon will be held on October 14.

Now in its 14th year the event will attract more than 350 competitors to Morpeth to complete in a choice of two triathlon race distances.

The event includes a 1km or 1.5km swim in the Hunter River followed by a 30km or 55km cycle ride around Morpeth and Duckenfield and an 8km or 12km run around Morpeth.

Meanwhile, the Maitland Triathlon Club is once again gearing up for another jam packed season of racing and social events.

The first club race will be held on Sunday September 23 at Maitland Pool with registrations from 6am.

Membership registration are now available to be completed via our club website www.mtc.org.au with all of our club members that register before the first race going into the draw to win complimentary club race fees for the season.

At the completion of last season the club had about 300 racing members ranging in ages from five years right up to some of our fitter grandparents.

It is a great atmosphere on race mornings with the juniors racing between 7am and 8am.

Intermediate and Senior racing is from 8am until the last person crosses the line normally by about 10am.

Racing is followed by a re fuelling session with a wholesome breakfast of cereals and plenty of fruit.

So, if you can swim 500m, ride a bike 20km and run 4km get along to Maitland Pool from 6am when the club holds triathlons on four Sundays between September and April.

For any further inquiries please contact the committee via the website www.mtc.org.au