QUIET HOUR AT FREO LIBRARY TO ACCOMMODATE SENSORY CHALLENGES

 

The City of Fremantle Library is introducing a Quiet Hour every Wednesday between 11am and 12 noon, to better accommodate people with sensory challenges.

Great idea!

Roel Loopers

OCEAN RIDE RAISES FUNDS FOR MS

 

More than a hundred cyclists had an early start at 7am this morning at the Fremantle Esplanade for the Multiple Sclerosis WA Ocean Ride.

The fundraiser took the riders along the beaches on a 30km journey to Hillarys.

Roel Loopers

GLYPHOSATE SPRAYING TO CONTINUE IN FREMANTLE

 

It does not look as if the City of Fremantle will abandon spraying parks and reserves with glyphosate, which is reportedly dangerous for the health of humans and animals.

This below from the agenda of the FPLO Committee of Fremantle Council which wel meet this Wednesday:

SUMMARY:

The purpose of this report is for Council to consider the petition on the use of glyphosate and the City’s current integrated weed management program. The City is responsible for managing land inclusive of parks, gardens, foreshore reserves, bushland reserves, road reserves, drainage sumps and City owned or managed land. The majority of City managed land requires vegetation and weed management and glyphosate is currently used in the weed management program.

This report recommends that the Finance, Policy, Operations and Legislation committee acting under delegation 1.1:

1. Note the petition received from Mr De Villiers requesting Council:
   1. Ban the spraying of glyphosate in the City of Fremantle parklands and

      public spaces.

   2. Develop and research less toxic and environmentally friendly

      alternatives to the use of glyphosate in parklands and public spaces in

      the City of Fremantle.

   3. Increase the steam weeding to reduce the City of Fremantle’s chemical

      use.

2. Request officers continue with the City’s current integrated weed management program, noting the management controls to mitigate the risk to staff, contractors and the public for the use of herbicide, including Glyphosate, and within existing operational resources and budgets.
3. Request officers continue with the trials of alternative weed control practices and management and implement the effective trials within existing operational resources and budgets where possible.
4. Request officers submit details of the proposed herbicide reduction program and management practices and/or service level amendments through the annual budget cycle for consideration.

For the entire agenda item and Officer’s Recommendation click on Agendas and Minutes on the City of Fremantle website.

Roel Loopers

WIDE ANGLE FILM FESTIVAL A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON DISABILITY

 

The Wide Angle Film Festival is coming to Fremantle this weekend and will be held at the Maritime Museum on Victoria Quay.

Screening on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 October at the WA Maritime Museum, the WAFF presents a series of award–winning Australian and international short films reflecting the lived experience of people with disability.

The public program features animation, live action, drama, comedy and documentary films, while the children’s program includes productions from preschoolers, primary school students and collaborations between children under 12 and professional filmmakers.

Saturday’s program will be screened with audio description, while Sunday’s program will have open captions. Sensory screening kits or kits for people with anxiety and post–traumatic stress disorder are available on request.

The Wide Angle Film Festival plays an important role in raising awareness about the need for cinema access for people with disability.

All of the films are fully accessible for people who are deaf or hearing impaired, blind or vision impaired and for people with epilepsy, autism and other sensory disabilities. It’s not just the accessible inclusions which make this Festival so special; the stories told in the films reflect the diversity of our community and bring honest perspectives of people with disability to the wider public.

The children’s program is screening at 10–11am, followed by the public program at 11.30am–12.30pm, on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 October in the WA Maritime Museum’s Australia II Gallery. All screenings are free of charge, however bookings are recommended.

Roel Loopers

ARE WE REALLY OK?

 

 

It is R U OK? day today and like every day of the year we need to be asking that question.

There are so very many people in Australia with mental health problems, with depression and anxiety, and suicide far too often seems to be the only solution for those in despair.

As someone who suffered from depression for a very long time, now thankfully years ago, I know the struggle, the feeling of being abandoned by the world and the black hole that seems to be getting deeper and darker as there appears to be no future.

It is so very important to turn to friends of family and tell them how you feel, without being judged or pitied, and it is very important that we all ask ourselves and those around us R U OK?

Life can be an enormous struggle sometimes, and no one should feel ashamed when they are down in the doldrums, not even when it is self-inflicted. There is always hope and there is so much beauty in our world and so many very good people!

Be honest with yourself and don’t pretend to be happy, because acknowledging the problem is the very first important step to recovery and healing.

Roel Loopers

ABORIGINAL GAMES AT FREMANTLE OVAL

 

 

 

 

Two hundred year 5-9 students from ten schools came to Fremantle Oval today for the Culture through Sport event organised by the Stephen Michael Foundation, where they played traditional Aboriginal games most of us Wadjelas have not heard about.

Footy legend Barry Gable and former Dockers player Michael Johnson were in attendance.

The students participated in Meetcha Boma, a hockey game played by Noongar people of the south of WA, where a Meetcha-red gum-was used as a ball and a piece of wood with a crooked root as the hockey stick.

Marn-Grook, or game of ball, was played by Aboriginal groups in Victoria. The ball is kicked high into the air and players try to catch it, similar to a mark in the AFL.

Noongar Wana was played by girls where a small stick was put on the ground and one girl tried to defend the stick while other girls outside a circle around her tried to hit it with a ball.

Edar, a game of chasing and tagging, comes from the Aurukun Aboriginal community.

The kids had a lot of fun.

Roel Loopers

DISCOUNT FOR FREMANTLE LEISURE CENTRE

 

 

The City of Fremantle has a special offer for Fremantle Leisure Centre new members. Purchase a 12-month membership before 8 September and receive a 20% discount, plus they’ll waive the $45 joining fee. Conditions apply. Find out more: call 9432 9999

Roel Loopers

A FACIAL IS VERY PERSONAL IN FREMANTLE ; >)

 

 

It must be such a relief for those who like facials that they don’t get someone else’s facial but a personalised one. ; >)

I noticed this sign in Fremantle’s High Street.

Roel Loopers

MORE SOLAR FOR FREMANTLE

 

Solar panels being installed at sporting facilities around Fremantle are set to save local sporting clubs thousands of dollars on their power bills.

The panels are being installed at Gilbert Fraser Reserve in North Fremantle, Ken Allen Field in Beaconsfield and Stevens Reserve and Frank Gibson Reserve in Fremantle.

The project is being funded through a $20,500 federal government grant from Sport Australia and $12,000 from the City of Fremantle.

The clubhouse at Gilbert Fraser Reserve, which is home to the North Fremantle Amateur Football Club, Fremantle Mosman Park Cricket Club and Fremantle Masters Football Club, has had a 20 kilowatt solar system installed which will provide annual savings of almost $6000.

Ken Allen Field, home to the Fremantle City Football Club and Fremantle Roosters Rugby League Club, will get a 13 kilowatt system with annual savings of $4500.

A new 13 kilowatt system at Frank Gibson Park will deliver $4800 in savings to the Fremantle Netball Association, while the Fremantle District Cricket Club and Fremantle Hockey Club will save $3600 thanks to the 10 kilowatt system installed at Stevens Reserve.

 

This is positive news but in today’s West Australian columnist Paul Murray writes that former Greens member of Fremantle Adele Carles claims that the environmental impact of the proposed South Fremantle solar farm has not been properly investigated.

Fremantle Council and Mayor Brad Pettitt promised the community from the very start that the solar farm would only be approved if all environmental impacts on the community and health had been assessed, so if Adele Carles is correct more tests and checks need to be done before the solar farm can go ahead.

Roel Loopers

DYING WITH DIGNITY IS RESPECT FOR HUMANITY

 

 

The voluntary assisted dying legislation proposed for Western Australia is very important and something I strongly support.

The legislation would allow for people with a terminal illness to be in control and die with dignity and the respect we all deserve.

My oldest sister Marja was euthanised in the Netherlands only a few months ago after an unwinnable battle with cancer of the vagina. It was a very thorough process where she was assessed by different professionals. It took quite some time until her request was approved and she died peacefully at home. I talked to her on Skype till the last moment when the doctor arrived. She felt empowered that she was able to make the decision herself and that the option was available to her.

My father who had suffered from bowel cancer for years was also euthanised some twenty years ago.

Palliative care is important but people need to realise and respect that not everyone wants to prolong their life and the some of us, me included, prefer to leave when we are still in control and not totally dependent on others, who are often strangers.

Doctor assisted dying is so more dignified than having to kill oneself with pills, hanging, jumping in front of a train or truck, slashing one’s wrists, etc. and that regularly happens in our society. Committing suicide is a very stressful, awful and lonely moment where one feels totally abandoned by the world, so assisted dying is a very important choice for us to have

Those who believe in God are not threatened by the new proposed legislation as no one will be forced to euthanise and no medical professional has to assist if they do not wish to do so, but for those of us who have had enough and want the struggle and pain to end doctor assisted dying is a humane option and we should be allowed to have that.

Roel Loopers