Hunter's Best

Steamfest Volunteers Needed

Source: Maitland City Council

Chug chug chug chug, toot, toot…

When you hear the sound of 150 years of history and feel the vibration of almost 200 tonnes of steel pulling up on the platform, your heart feels heavy with pride.  The skies of Maitland will fill with steam from these magnificent mechanical marvels on the 19^th and 20^th of April to celebrate the 23^rd Hunter Valley Steamfest.

If you have some spare time and want to give something back to the community, if you enjoy helping people or want to experience the thrill of an engine travelling full steam ahead - Hunter Valley Steamfest has openings for you!

Population explosion

Source: BRIONY SNEDDEN, The Maitland Mercury

Maitland is at the centre of a bigger-than-expected population explosion with predictions the city’s residents will number 102,597 in 2031.

Updated Hunter Valley Research Foundation projections show Maitland’s population will double based on an average annual growth rate of 2.14 per cent - increasing by about 2000 people each year until eclipsing 100,000 in 2030.

Maitland leads the Lower Hunter in population growth. Port Stephens is next with 1.64 per cent.

The Hunter’s regional population is projected to rise from 589,000 in 2006 to almost 710,000 in 2026.

The revised modelling, issued yesterday, incorporated the latest Census data, fertility rates, death rates and building approvals.

“There isn’t a great change in the average annual growth rate for the Hunter - but in Maitland, it’s very significant because it would mean the population would double in 30 years,” the foundation’s researcher Michael Jonita said.

Bitter and angry

Source: OLIVIA COLLINGS, The Maitland Mercury

Some Morpeth business owners, Christmas shoppers, tourists and residents have been left bitter and twisted after the weekend’s inaugural international boutique beer festival.

Maitland City Council vowed yesterday that the event would go ahead again in 2008 - but not in Morpeth.

Angry shop owners have complained they have been left out of pocket because their businesses were inside the festival’s fenced-off area along Swan Street.

Regular customers wanting to shop along Swan Street needed a special entry wristband or else had to pay the $15 entry fee to the festival.

Prominent business owner Trevor Richards pulled out of the festival only days before the start out of concern for his regular customers and the potential loss of income.

Mr Richards had supported the festival being a ticketed event when it was first announced in July, but dropped out after deciding the $15 entry fee might keep customers away.

Another GP to leave city and retire

Source: MICHELLE MEEHAN, Maitland Mercury

Maitland’s GP shortage has been dealt another blow, with news a long-term Beresfield-based doctor is retiring.

After 19 years working as a GP in the suburb, Dr Toni Kesby will leave the Beresfield Surgery on Christmas Eve to travel overseas with her husband.

The announcement comes two weeks after Morpeth residents learnt they could become a town without a doctor by the end of the year, with ill health forcing the retirement of Dr David Roberts-Thomson.

Maitland is already one of the worst-affected areas in the State when it comes to GP numbers, with the city’s doctor to patient ratio reaching the unsustainable level of 1:1972 last year.

Dr Kesby admitted it would be almost impossible to find someone to replace her, forcing the three other doctors at her surgery to bear the load.

“You can’t get anyone to come in the area at all,” she said.

“It means in the practice I’m in, the other doctors will have to work harder than they are already.”

Driver disqualified until 2036 arrested again – Maitland

Source: NSW Police Online

Police from Waratah Local Area Command have arrested a man they will allege was driving a car at Maitland even though he is banned from driving until 2036.

Shortly after 8am today (Wednesday, 17 October) police patrolling Maitland Road stopped the two occupants of a white 1990 Ford Laser in Church Street.

Police will allege that the 36-year-old Mayfield man who was driving the car was already disqualified from driving until 2036.

The man was arrested and later charged with drive whilst disqualified.

The man’s front seat passenger a 41-year-old Mayfield woman was the registered owner of the vehicle and has been charged with aid and abet disqualified driver.

The man and woman were both granted bail and will appear at the Newcastle Local Court on 13 November.

Boyd wonder - Maitland Triathlon

Source: JOSH CALLINAN, Maitland Mercury

A calf muscle strain, a slight bit of misdirection and the death of a friend last week was not enough to keep Boyd Conrick down.

The Redhead athlete overcame adversity and shot to the lead with a strong bike leg to win the middle distance event at the 14th annual Maitland triathlon at Morpeth yesterday.

Conrick, who knocked off work at Cardiff Fire Station an hour before racing, said he thought his shot at winning the race was over about 2km into the 8km run leg when his calf muscle tightened up.

“I thought I was gone,” Conrick said.

But Conrick battled on despite the injury, which he first sustained in San Diego about 15 months ago, and didn’t allow his competitors see his pain.

“About 3km into the run I stopped around the corner so Timmy (second placed Tim Porter) could not see me and I rubbed it out,” Conrick said.

“It (calf muscle) did not tear but I had the feeling it was going.

Josh Ross returns to Maitland coach

Source: CECILIA PEOPLES, Maitland Mercury

The prodigal son of the Hunter athletics’ scene, Josh Ross will return to the stable of renowned Gillieston Heights' trainer Tony Fairweather.

Australia's fastest man Josh Ross will return to the Hunter Valley after a heart-to-heart with former coach Tony Fairweather this week, has seen the pair reunited 10 months out from the Beijing Olympics.

Ross, 26, has returned to the Gillieston Heights-based coach 12 months after leaving Fairweather "heartbroken" when the sprinter left suddenly last October to join Sydney-based coach Emil Rizk.

There were several things Fairweather needed to hear from Ross when they met on Wednesday, 12 months to the day since they parted ways, to discuss rekindling the partnership that ended so abruptly after five years.

They parted on good terms but it was never going to be a straight-forward decision for Fairweather, who 12 months ago described the Athens Olympian's decision to leave as "gut wrenching".

Hunter triathlon series adds more weight for athletes

Source: CECILIA PEOPLES, The Maitland Mercury

Sunday’s Maitland triathlon will now boast added importance to some competitors, with the event to kick off a new ‘Hunter Triathlon Series’ in an attempt to encourage triathletes from around the region to race locally.
H Events’ race director Paul Humphreys was recently given confirmation that the Maitland event would kickstart a new four-race series called the Hunter Triathlon Series.

The four races will be Maitland triathlon, Newcastle Olympic-distance triathlon in November, Newcastle Foreshore sprint event in February and Sparke Helmore/NBN triathlon at Newcastle in March.

Humphreys said the performance of Newcastle-based competitor Nathan Stewart to win three of the Hunter’s main races last season was the “catalyst” for him to introduce the concept, which has been popular in Sydney.

To be eligible for the series, competitors must race in three of the four events and individuals across each age group earn points from each race.

Clubs in the region will also earn points towards an overall club award, with Hunter clubs including Maitland, Tomaree, Singleton, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.

“The point system rewards people on their performance not just their place,” Humphreys said.

He said while most attention in the sport was often on the elite competitors, a series such as this helped cater for the non-elite competitors and encouraged them to race locally.

The Maitland event was given further good news this week with Louth Park’s Brendan Sexton confirmed to race in his hometown event on Sunday.

Sexton has enjoyed a solid international racing season, highlighted by a silver medal at the world triathlon championships in the under-23s at Germany in August.

Hot field primed for Maitland Triathlon

Source: The Maitland Mercury

Maitland Triathlon Club is poised for another big season, with new members encouraged to turn out of the club's first race of the season on September 23.

The Maitland Triathlon will be held on October 14. Now in its 14th year the event will attract more than 350 competitors to Morpeth to complete in a choice of two triathlon race distances.

The event includes a 1km or 1.5km swim in the Hunter River followed by a 30km or 55km cycle ride around Morpeth and Duckenfield and an 8km or 12km run around Morpeth.

Meanwhile, the Maitland Triathlon Club is once again gearing up for another jam packed season of racing and social events.

Permanent campus for technical college by December

Source: ABC Online

The chairman of the New South Wales Hunter branch of the Australian Technical Colleges says he hopes a permanent campus for the Maitland college will be open by December.

The three campuses at Singleton, Maitland and Newcastle are all fully operational with capacity enrolments but are all currently operating out of temporary facilities.

Hunter chairman Jim Gould says the Maitland campus is on track to be open by the end of the year. "The college is fully open and operational over the three campuses and they are all in temporary premises at this stage," he said.

"The purpose-built facilities at Maitland are well in progress and should be ready for a handover in early December.

"The Singleton campus is in council and is waiting for the DA [development application] to come out and should be out in the next couple of weeks, but the Newcastle campus is still being held up by some traffic issues."