Autumn Wedding
Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Brenttin Davidson from Galston. On Saturday 14 th April in front of family and friends at an idyllic location at The Retreat, Wisemans Ferry; Brenttin Davidson from Queensland married local girl and real estate identity Carolyn Wheatley. A spectacular day set the scene for the Wheatley family from Glenorie welcoming the Davidson family for festivities which started on Friday night. On Saturday, the waterfront gazebo made the perfect setting for a very heartfelt 2pm ceremony and the day was made extra magical by their children Amelia (3) and Aiden (2) making the cutest attendees and bridal party. As always, weddings do not run completely to plan, with the wind picking up and sweeping Carolyn’s floor length sparkling veil into the water to be fished out shortly after! The reception went well into the night which much celebration, dinner and dancing being shared by two families coming together as one to celebrate this event which has been 7 years in the making as Carolyn in known not to take Saturdays off from work all too often! The couple would like to thank all the staff at The Retreat Wisemans Ferry for their attention to detail, scrumptious food and seamless organisation.
Gunnamatta Stud Alpacas, a small alpaca breeding business in Galston have been showing our gorgeous alpacas at agricultural shows for over 20 years now. One of the highlights of the alpaca showing season has always been the most popular show in NSW – the Sydney Royal Easter Show. It's one of the most well known shows in the country and attracts participants from all over this wide brown land. As an exhibitor at this prestigious show, we expect the standard of alpacas to be very high and this year was no exception. We took 5 of our show team and were awarded a “first in class” with 3 of our exhibits and a "Highly Commended" with another. We expected the competition to be fierce and it was – so we were really thrilled with our results.
Alpaca judging is based on an assessment of both the conformation of the animal and the quality of the fleece. Being a fleece producing animal, the quality of the fleece is just as important as the conformation. The quality of the fleece is based on an assessment of the fineness, uniformity, density, handle, crimp and brightness of the fleece. You can visit our show winning alpacas and handle some luxurious alpaca fleece at Gunnamatta Stud Open Days – May 5 and 6.
Contributed by Sue Maynard
Raining rabbits
Christine’s story reminds me of a novel experience I had a few years ago. My son and I were standing in the front yard discussing a joint project which was failing to flourish. To our flabbergasted surprise a rabbit fell from the sky and landed at our feet (luckily not on our heads). Not meaning to confuse a rabbit with a duck but I did take it as a clear sign that our project was a a dead duck and to let go…….just as a hawk must have let go of the rabbit. Well, I guess this is what happened and the only explanation we had apart from a more ‘other worldly’ one.
Ian and Adair’s Wedding
In March Heartbeats I shared the engagement of Adair Moar and Ian Garemyn, no messing around for this couple who married on the April 7th, only a few of months after their engagement announcement. The ceremony was held on a picture perfect day at St Mary’s Church in the NSW town of Corowa, with festivities and celebrations following at ‘The Chocolate and Whiskey Factory’. As promised they are sharing a gorgeous image with us.
Engagement of Sophie
Family and friends gathered together on Saturday 14 th April to celebrate the engagement of Sophie Williams to Steve Johnson.
Sophie lived for many years in Galston and attended Galston Public School as well as Northholm Grammar. Steve also attended Northholm Grammar.
Sophie currently works at Hills Accounting Solutions in Glenorie. We wish them both every happiness.
Motherland
Over Easter my son Christiaan and I were travelling in Zimbabwe (where I was born and grew up) on an international youth tour made possible by Ruth Pasi Foundation and World Remit. While in Ruwa, east of Harare, I conducted and sponsored a very successful mosaic workshop.
200 women registered for this event but Ruth and I could only accommodate 20. These women from Dotito- who reside in huts without running, potable water, no electricity and mostly live off food that they grow themselves- literally sang us into the workshop when we spoke about it under the community meeting tree on the side of the road to Dotito. I understood their words of Shona: “Tatenda mawuya” (thank you for coming) in the welcome song perfectly, recalling them from my childhood in Kwe Kwe… so at the end of our workshop on Easter Sunday I sang the song back to them and everyone laughed.. and then joined in !
We all sang and danced and clapped around the Easter Mosaic Cross we had made together in an explosion of joy, recognition and friendship. This is the most unique mosaic workshop I have experienced to date! I went back home for the first time in 25 years to show my son where I grew up- to contribute something positive to Zimbabwe by sharing my creativity- but in the end it was me who was truly blessed by the people I met there.
Everybody loved the mosaic process; were excited, inspired by and proud of the artworks they made. Leaders of the area have invited Susie’s Studio back to create more mosaics with rural communities in Mashonaland next year- including a new Dotito Welcome sign and planning a future mosaic garden for Dotito.
Contributed by Susanna Mills
Cool Kids Continue
Thanks to Bendigo Bank for their contribution of an air conditioner to the Galston playgroup room, helping make happy faces and ‘cool kids’.
Zumba Street Party
On April the 13th the Galston Zumba Gold group had an exhilarating outing into the city to perform on stage at Martin Place for the ‘Zumba Gold Street Party’. Zumba Gold is designed for the more mature fitness minded and this street party was part of the celebrations for Seniors. Groups from all over Sydney gathered to show that having fun while keeping fit is possible at any age. The Galston Gals did our community proud with their impressive moves and joyful smiles…well done team. Thanks to our beautiful and buoyant instructor Nina who always shines brightly. Classes are held in the Galston Community Hall, Wednesday and Friday at 10am.
Hawk in our Chook Yard in Galston.
My husband, who was working in the back garden, heard a commotion in our chickens' pen and saw a hawk in there. I was amazed to see the size of it! Our chickens' yard is wire covered so it must have squeezed in via a very small space near the fence of the outer yard . Our 4 chickens were noisy – yes – but when I saw the hawk, all it was doing was trying to get out, not hurt our birds.
We had to remove it so we found some corrugated iron, opened the door and put the iron in the lower half of the doorway so that our chickens couldn’t walk out and hopefully wouldn’t fly out. Next, how to get the hawk to that doorway? My husband turned the hose on and tried to move the hawk the right way but that only upset it more and drenched the poor bird. The hawk was now frantic. A new tactic needed to be found.
We found an old bread crate and my hubby went in to push it through and towards the doorway. This worked. It flew out and up into the Jacaranda next door. The funny thing then was that it hung upside down for what seemed an age. I even wondered if it had caught it's claw and needed rescuing again. Suddenly though, it upturned and sat there on the branch (maybe it had needed the drip- drying time ) before flying off a few minutes later. We have been told it is most likely a juvenile Brown Goshawk .
From Christine Stockman.
