The candidates for the East Gippsland Shire Council election have been confirmed.Nominations closed yesterday at noon with just three members of the current council – John White, Dick Ellis and Mark Reeves – re-standing. All are former mayors.Joe Rettino, Natalie O’Connell, Marianne Pelz, Colin Toohey, Ben Buckley and Jackson Roberts will not re-stand.The election has attracted 21 nominees, all...

Bairnsdale Secondary College will farewell the leader of its highly successful music program, Gerry Ciaverella, at the end of this year.Mr Ciaverella, who is the face of music in East Gippsland thanks to his amazing work with the school’s swing and jazz bands which have performed spectacularly for many years at local events and even interstate, says goodbye after 25 years in the job.His decision...

While East Gippsland residents have embraced the recent return of warmer weather, the welcome hasn’t been as kind for the menacing mosquitoes.Residents throughout the East Gippsland Shire have reported an increase in the numbers they are continuing to swat.President of the Bairnsdale Golf Club, Stephen Mann, told the Advertiser “I think they’ve been pretty bad for quite a few months”.“They’re...

Ron and Margaret Davidson today (Wednesday) celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.Ron, 95, and Margaret, 91, were married at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Warragul on September 16, 1950.They have four children, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren.Over many decades Ron and Margaret have, as a partnership, run businesses throughout many regions of Victoria. These businesses have...

President of the Bairnsdale Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Jaime Savory, along with local hospitality traders, thinks it would be a great initiative to expand outdoor dining in Bairnsdale.“This industry needs our support more than ever and I think collaboratively we should be able to work with local government to fund fencing and umbrellas around Bairnsdale eateries,” Ms Savory...