Gone Fishing ...

Several days ago I mentioned a good friend our ours - Dolly Jerome. Dolly is pretty nifty with her weaving techniques and as promised I thought I would show you her Catfish - it hangs up here in the shop and is a constant source of entertainment for the kids when their mum's are occupied printing their photos.

Variety Concert

Tenterfield had the privilege of enjoying a variety concert last night par excellence!
With locals still picking up the pieces from the January floods it was second nature for Berryl Dean & Chris Markham to put their heads together and put up a plan for an evening of entertainment.
The Rotary Club of Tenterfield, an ever-ready band of troopers, got themselves involved, as did many other unsung heroes behind the scenes. The upshot, a very enjoyable evening of entertainment.

Chris Markham, Barry Patterson, Lorraine Rhodes-Roberts and Jan Ross were accompanied by the very capable Grant Ovenden on Grand Piano, to give us songs like ‘Ordinary Miracles’, ‘Don’t put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington’, ‘Will you still love me tomorrow’ and ‘I dreamed a dream’. Local Acapella group Pitching Tents gave us four traditional songs in the round, while up and coming local, Sara Eriksson complete with her guitar, sang two beautiful songs that she had written.
Local favourite Cameron Bolton complete with trusty guitar (highly decorated with stickers gathered from a recent overseas trip) belted out cover versions of Diesel and Paul Kelly – go Cameron!
If you thought the evening was purely song – you couldn’t have been more mistaken – John McMahon and Erica Cossins put on their dancing shoes and brought us Cha Cha, Rumba and Rock’n’Roll whilst Stacey Hayne offered a beautiful ballet display followed in the second half by a contemporary piece.
Local Bush Poet Tony Kelly brought the house down with his stories especially when most of the audience had a fair idea (or thought they did) on who he was talking about!
Peter & Michael 2/3 of Welders Dog http://www.weldersdog.com/ (David had to work) sang their self penned songs ‘Troubadour’ and ‘Eureka’ accompanied by mandola and lagerphone. Now there’s a group to watch out for. Georgie Chorley drove all the way from Armidale to join her friends on stage singing a haunting ‘I think it’s going to rain today’ and the more up tempo ‘The wind cries Mary’ whilst accompanying herself on the Grand Piano.
Finally, back on old stomping ground (namely the School of Arts stage where he first performed at age 4) …. Gary Shearston! http://www.garyshearston.com/. Along with his son Luke, who plays drums on his fathers latest CD ‘Renegade’ Gary gave us ‘Dingo’ and ‘Tenterfield’.
For those that missed out – don’t worry there are tickets still available for the Matinee performance this Saturday afternoon. But hurry – they won’t last once the word is out!!!
Just for good measure a huge group of business houses have put up a bucket load of goodies all of which will be auctioned off on the Saturday evening at The Tavern.
Money raised from these events will go to Flood Relief in the local Tenterfield Shire district.

TENTERFIELD FLOODS 2011

What do I say?

How to explain?

Should I have taken the photos?

This blog entry is the hardest I have had to do. Even today I don't have the figures to hand ... I am typing this up at the end of January - two weeks after these pictures were taken. Everybody is well aware that Toowoomba, Gatton, Murphys Creek and Brisbane have also been hit. This is what makes it so hard to put pen to paper. At the time these were taken Brisbane hadn't happened ... so we folk here in the township of Tenterfield were shocked at the enormity of what our 'Creek' had just become.

I have many more photos but I have to get my head around what hit Tenterfield - in fact what hit the Shire and how our residents are going to cope. It is only now that the stories are starting to filter through. Tenterfield Shire, like all small shires could barely make ends meet and now ... there are roads, bridges, kerbing, parks, trees, fencing - the list goes on.

If I can gather more stories and sort through the photos I will make another entry very soon.

To all Australians far and wide who have some how been affected by the recent flooding in their area - we are thinking of you.

Check out the Gallery: http://www.tentergrafix.com.au/events.html

Toy Runs

Approx 70 bikes took part in the 2010 Tenterfield Toy Run. Gifts of toys and non-perishable items were donated by the generous residents of Tenterfield, Wallangarra, Jennings, Ballendean, Stanthorpe and all the little communities in between.

A Sausage Sizzle, run by the Tenterfield Lions was enthusiastically devoured on our return to base.

Photos from this event can be seen on http://www.ozalps.com

The weekend before Christmas we got back on the bikes and joined our fellow riders in Toowoomba for their annual Toy Run. From the moment we arrived at the motel it rained! Not hard, not cold - just annoying. As is the norm, groups take off for trips to Crows Nest, Oakey, Gatton and Nobby. This year we decided to go west to Crows Nest. A VERY WET CROWS NEST as it turned out. We usually manager to pick up other riders on the way - not this time ... not a soul.

In previous years Toowoomba can see gatherings of 200 to 300 bikes - we got 32! I can't say I blame them. Very wet and very miserable. I wore bin liners under the riding gear and still came home soggy.

August - October 2010

We fell off the radar a bit - sorry about that!

It seems as though we never stop. Work keeps us very busy - though never busy enough to employ another person - isn't that a common tale for small businesses!

There have been many social activities on the Tenterfield Cal - all sorts of good things to do an see. How I wish we could attend everything.

The Tenterfield Hospital Ball had a good turn out. Entertainment was provided by Ripple FX and an effervescent Elvis!

NSW Rural Fire Service had the State Championships in Dubbo - huge amount of people. Interesting exercises and a LOT of cooking. Catering, as usual ran like clockwork! Took lots of photos ..... do you think I can find them ... Mmmmm!

In September a new Gallery opened in Stanthorpe Qld. NEST GALLERY has many local and Australian artists showcasing their work. Emma has the winning recipe for a wonderful fresh arena. Why not visit http://www.nestgallery.com.au/ and see for yourself.

We had a visit from St Joseph's Primary School - a group of lovely children came to watch how their school project was completed. All artwork and typing had been done by the class and it was up to us to bind it altogether. Which we did with their help. A very well presented 'Thank you' was given and in the following days a school pendant arrived for us to display in the shop. A lovely idea.

Relay For Life came to visit the town again - at least it wasn't as cold as last time. We had a fair amount of work on so was not able to get that involved. However Ruth put her hand up to help the Tenterfield Lions Club cook breakfast - good fun - enjoyed by all.

Still can't get this finished tonight .... stay tuned!

Wintersong 2010

Celebrations are up and running this week for WinterSong 2010. Our celebrated songman PETER ALLEN was born here in 1944. On the 18th of this month it was the 18th Anniversary of his untimely death. To honour his career WinterSong have been putting on a variety of activities & sights from musical street themes, art exhibitions, buskers, The WinterSong Ball, Car & Bike Show, fantastic light & fountain display at the pool and even a lonely piano parked outside Sherelles in case anyone wanted to tinkle the ivory's!

Rotary hosted Performance Workshops in May this year to foster emerging local talent. They were on the lookout for aspiring young entertainers from around the region.

Under the professional guidance of Barry Patterson and ably assisted by Grant Ovenden on piano, 16 performers tuned up their voices, flexed their guitar playing fingers, took deep breathes and were off and running.

What else can you say other than CONGRATULATIONS all round to the graduates of the performance workshop - a full house at the Tenterfield School of Arts last night and plenty of audience participation. You should all be very proud of yourselves.

Operation Saddler

For anyone interested

Operation Saddler

held here in Tenterfield

can be seen at

6.30pm

Ch.9

Monday

14.6.2010

should be good!

When Time Flys ......

OMG - What happened to April? It would appear as though I have missed a few days!

Training and assessment went well (I think) - I guess everything will be confirmed when the uniform, badge and official paperwork arrives.

Tenterfield has enjoyed its weather, the temperatures have remained quite mild throughout the day and there is still plenty of sunshine to be had. The nights however have been creeping in and the familiar smell of cozy wood fires has started to permeate the evening air. Our pretty trees are fast loosing their leaves but not before their wardrobes are depleted of colours.

  

Three locals who appeared in a Murder-Mystery called 'Unearthed', recently had the red carpet treatment at the School of Arts where the film, partially made here in Tenterfield, had its premier. Monique Spencer, Terry Powell & Geoff Newman were all very impressed with the end result.

Talking about films - if you haven't already seen 'Charlie & Boots' - do. It's just 'Oh-so-Ozi' and of course you get to see a little bit of TenterGrafiX as Father and Son drive into Tenterfield for THAT thick shake!

Another new movie 'Beneath Hill 60' could be a good one to see - it is based on an unpublished autobiography written by Oliver Holmes Woodward who was born in Tenterfield. Woodward trained in the local mines - this training inevitably assisted in the destruction of Hill 60.

'Black Saturday'
(Acrylic) Linda Nye©

Congratulations to Lu Potter and Linda Nye for scoring equal points in the 'Peoples Choice' award in Tenterfield's recent 'Brush with Verse'.

After three months of full-time exhibitions held throughout the Borderline region the Borderline 2010 Art Trail came to a close on the holiday weekend just as Art In The Mill celebrated its 10th birthday at the Ballandean Timber and Case Making Mill.

Before we close the story for this year on the Art Trail a huge congratulations must surely go to Tenterfield Local Aboriginal Lands Councils involvement - an extraordinary exhibition - very inspiring - TenterGrafiX congratulates Ronella Jerome and all involved for an exciting and vibrant first effort and PLEASE keep the Moombahlene Artist Gallery going - it's a side of Tenterfield that people need to see! Well done.

Water, Water everywhere ......

Last week was full-on at the shop, culminating in an even busier weekend catering for an RFS run First Aid course at Tenterfield HQ both Saturday and Sunday, as well as managing to squeeze in my own BFS training on the Saturday afternoon covering the practical portion of BF Equipment.

Why do I do this to myself - by Thursday I am looking forward to Friday 'cause its the end of the week and I reckon I can put my feet up over the weekend ... Ha!!

It was gratifying to experience team work from the trainees and their Trainer - it made the afternoon run smoothly.

Smiles, concentration, questions and answers, soggy boots, improvisation and generally enjoying ourselves - made for the perfect classroom situation.

Have a look at the gallery for more photos.
http://www.tentergrafix.com.au/html

A Brush with Verse

'Don't Fence Me In' by Keith Barnett

Not wanting to miss out on seeing familiar faces, wonderful art, poetry, music and local wine I grabbed my trusty camera and chucked on some lippy and off I went to the opening of what has become a local event - 'A Brush with Verse' - held at the Forest to Furniture Gallery in Tenterfield (25 March -25 April). Described as a 'Unique exhibition of art inspired by poetry'. Well worth the effort - some exquisite items on show. Well done to all involved. For more photos go to http://www.tentergrafix.com.au/events.html

Lucky Customer ....

29th July 2004
Gary Rogan of Tenterfield was the lucky 1000th new customer at TenterGrafiX last week and received a surprise prize and certificate in honour from proprietors Ruth and Darryl Offer.

Tenterfield Star 29.7.2004

Rotary International - Tenterfield

18th May 2004
Darryl & Ruth Offer were asked to be guest speakers at the Tenterfield branch of Rotary International. Between them they talked about their career changes and the story that led them to Tenterfield and the opening of TenterGrafiX.

Our First Day .....

13th October 2003

What we offered: film processing, reprints, enlargements, films, batteries, frames, albums, inkjet cartridge refill kits and refill service, specialty papers and cameras.

What was to come: passport photos, photos from digital media, photo restoration, custom framing, scrapbooking and laminating.

We had rented a nice little shop which by the time we had finished doing what we had to do ... had a sort of tin shed country feel about it.

Family and friends kindly sent their support in the form of flowers and emails. All of which were very much appreciated. We certainly had a steep learning curve ahead of us!

Even in the early days we were quoted in the Tenterfield Star as saying:

"It is interesting to note that with improvements in technology many people are taking up the Digital Challenge. While this may have many advantages, it has one major disadvantage and that is, unless these photos are printed to a permanent medium eg true photographs, future generations will not have a pictorial record of this era. Anyone with an interest in Genealogy will understand the implications of this".