E-BLAST - 1 NOVEMBER 2015

Leadership Group Young Writers - met in Tweed Heads Friday evening and Saturday morning 30-31 October working on the development of the Mission - Vision.
left: Sam Gillespie, Sophia Sinclair, Russell Modlin, Laura Veloso, Dr Mark T (advisory), Belinda Croft. (Wesley T was in Cuba).   

REACHING - LEADERSHIP GROUP

Reaching - the Leadership Group Young Writers working on ideas for the Mission - Vision. Russell Modlin brought a draft paper from which the final document was developed.
left - Laura Veloso, Sophia Sinclair, Russell Modlin, Sam Gillespie, Belinda Croft

SERIOUS - LEADERSHIP GROUP

Serious - the Leadership Young Writers developing the Mission - Vision.

TEAM WORK - LEADERSHIP YOUNG WRITERS

Team work - the leadership group young writers hard at it devising the mission - vision. 

GROUP WORKING - LEADERSHIP YOUNG WRITERS

Group working by the leadership young writers on the Mission - Vision by Laura Veloso (left) and Sophia Sinclair.

MARK AND DELMA - TABLE TENNIS

Mark and Delma attended the Friday night National Table Tennis Top 10 Tournament at Seagulls, Tweed Heads and although well publicised in the media found they were the only two spectators outside of coaches and two mum's. 1980 (35 years ago) Mark won the Shell Australia Table Tennis Tournament with a wooden bat. All our family play table tennis. 

E-BLAST - 25 OCTOBER 2015

Mark's book "Driving Trains The Australian Way" and sub-titled "From Grease Rag to the Cloth" was published in 1984  -  31 years ago and was Mark's first of 16 books on train driver's anecdotes. It was not his first book though, that distinction went to two of his five field hockey books. His train books were sponsored by Clyde Engineering and the head manager told Mark he couldn't put it down and read from cover to cover that same night. 

TALES OF THE FOOTPLATE

Mark's book "Tales of the Footplate" was published in 1985  -  30 years ago. It details train driver's anecdotes which were willingly sent to him by train drivers across Australia. This was the second of Mark's 16 books on train driver's stories. As the Footplate Padre he recounts such stories in his articles.

TRAIN DRIVER'S STORIES

Mark's book "Train Driver's Stories" published in 1987  - 28 years ago now. These are the types of stories that Mark publishes now in his Footplate Padre articles. Mark wrote a total of 16 of these train driver - railway anecdote books with train driver's around Australia as keen willing contributors.  

FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT

Mark's book "From the Drivers' Seat" published in 1988  -  27 years ago. It details 14 journeys as described by the train driver as if on the driver's seat. Some of these were on The Sunlander, The Spirit of Progress, the Brisbane Limited, the Overland, the Melbourne-Albury Inter-urban ..... 

SOUTHERN AURORA

Mark's book "The Southern Aurora" published in 1989  -  26 years ago. It details every aspect of this fabulous train with anecdotes and stories by the driver's of it. It ran overnight between Melbourne and Sydney. The front cover has the train hauled by a Victorian X Class and NSW 81 Class. 

RAILWAY DRAMA

Mark's book 'Railway Drama' published way back in 1990 - 25 years ago - it contains engine driver's anecdotes of railway drama incidents. Mark's Footplate Padre stories come from his 16 railway books. The cover shows a NSWGR 44 Class in snow between Orange and Lithgow.

E-BLAST - 18 OCTOBER 2015

Delma shows everyone interested her pet garden projects at Timeout in the Tweed. Visitor Bing de Mol and Delma are seen here inspecting the Raspberry tree Delma planted earlier this year and is growing gung-ho with even now some fruit appearing. The mango tree just out of view provides a Feb crop.

DELMA SINGS ALONG

Delma loves singing along with the television program 'Songs of Praise' from the UK. We set aside 7.30pm Sunday evenings for the program. Mark listens as even his humming is out of tune!

ART STUDIO

The Basil Sellers Tweed Art Studio was opened in 2007 by the late Ian Carlson. Delma bought the curtain material and sewed them to fit - there are two curtains which slide out. When we relocated to Tweed Heads Mark necessarily spent some time developing his art ministry.  

SUN NEVER SETTLES

Mark's 2009 art work titled "Sun never settles" was exhibited in his 2009 exhibition at the South Tweed Sports Club and sold to a visiting Englishman and now hangs in England.  

MACKAY - CREDITON

Mark's 2009 art work titled "Pioneer River" which depicts where he grew up on the dairy at Crediton - the Pioneer River, the green the diarying lands and the red is the burnt sugar cane coastal lands around Mackay. This painting is hanging in Brisbane.   

WHALE WATCHING

Mark's 2008 art work 'Whale Watching' - many view the whales at Point Danger in Tweed Heads as we have several times already in the past 2 months. This painting is hanging in a private residence on the Gold Coast.

E-BLAST - 11 OCTOBER 2015

Midge Point Bush Fire - the Midge Point Rural Fire fighters saved the Midge Point township and the many acreage rural homes. The fire raged from O'Connell Creek and the firefighters retained it as a control burn into the hills all the way into Midge Point. The Laguna Quays Resort was saved as was Marine Pde where the Lagina Quays Respite cottage is situated. Photo is the Midge Point Rural Fire Service truck.

MIDGE POINT BUSH FIRE

Midge Point Bush Fire - photograph taken from the back window of Terry and Cathy McMullen's home in Midge Point. The Midge Point Rural Fire fighters retained the fire in the hills behind Midge Point and did not allow it to cross the main road from Proserpine into Midge Point. The Midge Point bush fire has now been on watch for nine days.  

MIDGE POINT BUSH FIRE

Midge Point bush fire raced from O'Connell Creek to Midge Point and the Midge Point Rural Fire firefighters kept the bush fire contained to the right side of the main arterial road from the north. This saved the Laguna Quays Resort and all the homes on the left and into the side streets. The fire travelled into the hills towards the Bruce Highway.

MIDGE POINT BUSH FIRE

Midge Point bush fire came close to several homes, all were saved by the Midge Point Rural firefighters. On their Facebook page the Midge Point RFS expressed their thanks to the art group ladies who provided drinks and sandwiches and even cakes.  

MIDGE POINT BUSH FIRE

Midge Point bush fire aftermarth - along Condor Road, the main arterial route into Midge Point from Proserpine. The road off the Bruce Highway at O'Connell Creek heads to the Laguna Quays Resort and Midge Point communities - 15ks. This entire areas was burnt.      

MIDGE POINT BUSH FIRE

Marine Pde is the street where the Laguna Quays Respite cottage is located - the local Midge Point Rural firefighters retained the bush fire on the other side of the main road, Kunipippi. Marine Pde is the dividing line between Laguna Quays and Midge Point - south the main road becomes Condor Rd.