Another hot season is upon us, earlier and hotter, and a time for us to be on our toes. Fires rage in Western Australia and Victoria, and we are up for a few hot days at the beginning of next week.

Meanwhile, there are lots to look forward to, despite the dreadful news items coming from overseas. Some things that we are sad about last year, have continued, and despite best efforts, don’t seem to have an end.

The Red Cross Garden Party takes place in a couple of weeks, and it is already booked out. Sophie Thomson will again be our guest speaker, and she is always great fun.

The MP Community Association will again be holding a ‘Meet Your Neighbours’ event in the CWA Garden on the 23rd February. Last year was the first time we had held such an event, and we were so pleased with the outcome and reaction from many members of our community, that we resolved to hold more of the same style of event. We would like to encourage anyone who is new (or newish) to our community to pop along and have a lovely morning tea, and chat with members of the Community Association - but more importantly - meet your neighbours! The event is free, but any donation is welcomed. Also - if the weather is not kind to us, we’ll be in the Hall - with the airconditioning going! (Unless of course, it is a designated Catastrophic Day, and it will be postponed.) Even if you came last year, please feel free to come again.

A couple of us attended the Tilt Renewables workshop at Tungkillo last night, where we discussed the contribution the project would be making to the community in the form of grants. There were many ideas discussed - and a few categories that would best help the local communities, and there will be more information about this released further down the track. This won’t be an overnight process, but the good thing is that we will have the time to consult with our communities and possibly put some strategies and plans in place to get the most out of this that will benefit our communities for a long time to come.

Anyhow - one of my New Year’s resolutions was to make more time to write blogs and give out news to the community its in as many ways as I could this year. Let’s hope it lasts!