Junior Brigade is on the move

Well we have got past most of the hurdles to commence our Junior Brigade. We will be holding an information session at the Goornong Rec Reserve on Tuesday 27th July at 7.00pm. Anyone aged 11 to 15 years old and interested should talk to their parents and come along to the meeting on the 27th (with parent/guardian). At this point if we get enough interested the Juniors will meet once a month and will have a number of activities planned including game nights, excursions, first aid, plus much much more.
Any one interested please email us for more details.

Chrysler Car Club Motorkana

Saturday 12th June Goornong and Raywood CFA head off bright and early on a crisp morning (bloody cold actually) at the invitation of the Chrysler Car Club to help them with their Motorkana. We were asked to do the parking duties, be on hand in case someone got over enthusiastic and set fire to their prize possessions etc. All the proceeds from the parking were donated to the brigades and we raised a total of $680 for the day. Not a bad effort and our thanks go to the car club for considering us and the generosity of the patrons. Also our thanks to Raywood for their help. Here are a couple of photos from the day.

Our Newest Recruit has arrived

Our latest recruit has just arrived, although it may be sometime before Mum and Dad let her loose on a hose. Congratulations to Donna and Ken on the birth of Kate Maree born Wednesday evening. Mum and Bub are doing well - we haven't heard about Dad. Congratulations guys from all the brigade members.
Captn Dave

65 Roses Day - Cystic Fibrosis

As members of our brigade would know we try to support Cystic Fibrosis, Australia in any small way we can. Next week there is an awareness day, to be precise it will be Friday 28th May. Called 65 Roses Day it is designed to raise awareness of and raise funds for research into Cystic Fibrosis. I would urge any volunteers or follows of our blog out there who have a couple dollars to spare to buy a wrist band, pen or badge to assist this great cause. The merchandise is on sale at most larger stores that I know of and probably lots of other places. More information about 65 Roses day is available at the Cystic Fibrosis web site http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.au/65rosesday/
More information about Cystic Fibrosis can be found at the Cystic Fibrosis - Australia web site http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.au

Interesting Links

The brigade has had a mention in a couple of stories and I also came across an article I thought may interest a few people.
The first link is to the story on our training day at the NDTG.
http://www.cfaconnect.net.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1966&I
The second link is to a story on the Murtoa Brigade who are doing some great things and seem to have a philosophy similar to ours.
http://www.cfaconnect.net.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1615&Itemid=42

Patto

Group Training Day NDTG

Sunday 1st May and its off to the NDTG for the Elmore Group training day. We have invited Raywood to join us for the day given in the new group structure we may be in the same Group. Elmore, Kamarooka, Raywood and Goornong made up the contingent of 5 trucks and about 25 personal plus the 6 volunteer instructors for a pretty full day. There was also a group from Murrabit doing off road training on the new course. Nice new truck guys. The activities for the day were Gas fire (domestic) a pole fire and remote structure fire. Most of the crews were a mix of new members or crew leaders and some more experienced volunteers. CFA media also came a long and I believe a story and photos of the day will be on CFA connect pretty soon. (Thanks Leith)

It was great to see many of the volunteers step up and take on roles and mentored in areas outside their comfort zones. Many had a dip at IC and Crew leader roles. The way they absorbed the information, listened and reacted to the mentors and instructors can only be a plus for brigades as fossils like my self hand over the reigns.

The day culminated in an exercise which the crews had not been told about and was presented as a "Gas bullet" fire. In fact when the crews responded they had a gas bullet fire with casualties.As the crews bought the gas fire under control another fire erupted in the adjacent service station, also with casualties.

The responsee by crew, crew leaders and IC was excellent under pressure. The comments after the exercise indicated the worth of providing this type of training. Thanks to all who participated and making the day worth while. Thanks to Jason (Elmore Group) for his organisation of the day and also to the Pad Instructors.

Bendigo Torchlight and other stuff

Well another Bendigo Easter Fair has come and gone and a small contingent of us from the Elmore Group walk, shuffled, dawdled and/or tried to march.  Unfortunately we have no photos as the photographer and his camera were not getting along on the night which is unfortunate because it will probably be the last time the Elmore Group in its current form will be together. With the impending changes next year will look a little different I guess.
Another milestone we reach was the of the 72nd skills maintenance drill - all achieved in 6 months. Credit must go to Tim and Donna who have driven the exercise and thanks to all the members who have taken up the challenge. We are now getting lots of useful information about our assignment area and the troops are gaining valuable knowledge. All useful stuff when it all goes pear shaped.
I would like welcome aboard all the new firefiighters from the class of 2010. well that's it for this post a bit boring but we will keep trying.