st thomas more blesses new hall

It was terrific to join with the school community of local primary school, St Thomas More in Belgrave, to welcome the addition of their new school hall

Marg Geason, school principal, has been instrumental in delivering the changes to the school, including overseeing the building of the new school oval.

It was a wonderful occasion, the hall will be a great asset to the school community.

Bishop Tomlinson conducted the blessing, whilst federal member for La Trobe, Laura Smyth, unveiled the plaque

The school choir sung "a Child of Song" and participants were treated to a slide show showing the development of the school over the past year.

greenfields for st thomas mores

report from the roundtable – 24 nov

At this week’s council meeting we had to consider the demolition of the Austral Hall at St Thomas Mores Primary School. The hall was included in a recent request to the Minister to apply interim heritage controls.

The school want to construct a grassed area for their students to play which has been funded by the “Building and Education Revolution”. The application was referred to the local historical societies and no objection had been put forward by them or any community member.

The hall, originally built by the community in a day in 1920, was gifted to the local Roman Catholics in 1938, who used the building as a church until the modern day St Thomas Mores church was built. The building has become very dilapidated and for some time has not been used by the school or the community.

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Approximately 200 students attend St Thomas Mores Primary School, they have to go off site to play sport because they don’t have access to a grassed area in their own school.

I was happy to move the motion to approve the construction of the oval and demolition of the Austral Hall. When balancing up the pros and cons, providing open space for children to play figured far more highly to me than a hall that really was separate to the historically significant ‘beauty bend’ and was in a derelict state. The motion was supported unanimously.

st thomas more turns 50

Today was a special celebration for the parish of St Thomas More which saw the 5 churches of the parish come together to commemorate 50 years in the Dandenong Ranges. Sacred Heart of Gembrook, St Joseph of Emerald, St Thomas More of Belgrave, St Paul of Monbulk and St Clare of Mt Dandenong were all represented. The choir of St Thomas More’s Primary School sung beautifully.

Bishop Hilton Deakin led the Eucharist and was joined by Fr Nhan Le, Fr Gerard McKernan and Fr William Matthews. Part of the proceedings included local community members recounting their experiences in the parish over the last 50 years, it was a fascinating journey to earlier days in the region.

It was a wonderful celebration of community and reminds us all of the great diversity we enjoy in this country.