The hall has been allocated $30,000 which will be used to update facilities in readiness should the area be struck again with such disasters and these upgrades will be happening throughout the coming months.

The Tinonee Memorial Hall has been selected as a recipient to receive funding this month through the Greater Bank Community Funding program for which the hall committee is very grateful.

A date has yet to be set for the hall's annual general meeting due the upheaval with lockdowns etc. but hopefully it will be within the next month.

Staff and students should be happy with the beautiful spring weather that has been happening and it is hoped the youngsters are enjoying themselves doing such things as fishing in our great Manning River or getting out to have a swim at one of the local beaches and when they go back to school it will be under normal conditions.

It had been hoped to have the museum opened last week but members went back this week. The museum is taking all the COVID precautions should visitors like to come and have a visit through our great little establishment. The operating hours remain the same at this stage.

I noticed Wingham Museum re-opened on Friday of last week (September 17).

Over the weekend the members of Tinonee Rural Fire Service in their large tanker unit passed me with lights and sirens going as I made my way home from Wingham mid morning - not sure where they were heading to but hopefully it wasn't serious and that the coming season will not be as bad as last years.

Another change has been made in the newspaper history of the Manning River Times with only a Friday edition now being published, so that means I have to change too - now a Friday column instead of the long standing Wednesday edition. I am hoping I can continue but with COVID still hanging around, many of the organisations which I have over the years reported on are still in recess or no longer operating as we have known them.

I will continue to report on them to the best of my ability.

As an aside, this week marks the 33rd anniversary (birthday) since I began my column on Wednesday, September 18, 1988 and I would hate to think how many words I have written in that time.

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