CollinsPlus
E-news
Edition 8. September 2005
Editor:
Barbara Collins - admin@collinsplus.com
You can
send news at any time to The Editor. A reminder email will be sent out
a little while before each edition is due. So please keep the newsletter in
mind whenever anything happens in your family that you would like to tell
everyone about!
Index
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All about Mary Agnes Collins |
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Website news
CollinsPlus Search Engine!
New Bios
There are two new biographies on the
CollinsPlus website – Con’s mother and father, Mary Agnes Collins (nee Coffey) and
Cornelius Charles Collins Snr. It’s tricky doing bios for people who are not
longer here but Con and Aunty Kath (Con’s sister in law) have done a great job
with their memories of our ancestors. I have made Mary Agnes – or my Nanny
Collins – the featured family member in this month’s newsletter.
Collins Family News
Go to Collins Family in CollinsPlus
Website
Social Events
Fathers
Day, 4 September 2005
Every time we have a BBQ at
Gregory Lodge Nursing Home, the weather is perfect. And that’s how it was on
Sunday 4th September for Fathers Day this year – as you can see in
this picture. Click here to see more pictures.
Left to right: Renato, Mercy (one of Bridget’s
lovely carers at the Lodge), Paul, Graham, Con, Bridget, Judi and we think Bear
is under the table!
Next Family
Lunch
Lunch on Sunday September 25th – which is just
after Con’s birthday on the 22nd so we can make it a birthday celebration at
the time! Venue: Con’s place. Time: 1.00pm. Judi and Renato will be cooking
chicken wings and fried rice and making Renato’s mother’s famous cake. Barb is
bringing Rocky Road. Bring your own drinks. Let Barbara or Judi know how many
are coming from your family for catering purposes – by Thursday 22nd please.
Sorry about the bad timing on this lunch as
not everyone can make it. I’ll be making a list of 3 proposed dates for next
year and distributing it to everyone for a look and comments before the end of
this year. With such a big, diverse and busy family, it’s hard to find dates
where everyone can attend.
Con Collins
Con Collins is the Ground Zero man for this website.
Con saw his oncologist on 18/9/06. Dr
Grigg requested a blood test for genes - they think they may have found
the gene that causes Polycythemia and Con could be a good example. The tests
could be a good thing for future generations.
On 15th September Con had an appointment
with his blood specialist, and was not looking forward to the result as his
blood count was down. However his blood count has gone back up and the
specialist said Con was “indestructible”.
The Collins family was sad to hear that one
of Con’s oldest friends passed away on Thursday 1st September. Ern
Carne and Con worked in the Post Office and at ANL. Ern and Thora shared a
special friendship with Con and Bridget that spanned many decades and even
preceeded their marriages.
Con’s winter bowling season has ended. The
team who beat Con’s team by one, won the final. Con’s team came third having
beaten the other semi loser.
Con received a commemorative medal from the
government for his war service. This medal was issued to commemorate the 60th
anniversary of the end of World War 2. Con says he would have preferred the
money it cost to produce and distribute it!
Footnote for Brenton re receiving a birthday card from Con in July: Con
says, "I didn’t send you a birthday card in July, you must have mistook me
for CON-FUCIOUS".
Footnote for Brenton re receiving a birthday card from Con in July: Judi
says, “I sent the card in July but the email address is Con’s so it would look like it came from him.”
Barbara Collins
Barbara Collins is the first child of Con Collins.
See
Barb’s news in Teres Family News
Graham Collins
(Graham Collins is the first and only son of Con Collins who is the
Ground Zero man for this website. Graham
Collins Family)
Darcy is
also learning to drive in my car now, and is doing well. Not so sure about my
nerves though. You’d think I would be getting used to this after teaching his
brothers and sister as well.
Brenton’s
pool team have made the Grand Final. Brenton won his club’s Best Player Award.
Wade's
footy team (Aquinas) got knocked out of the finals in the semis. Wade sustained
a few injuries this year, dislocated shoulder and a minor lung perforation (see
Wade’s report below) being the worst ones, and was happy to see the end of the
season.
Tyson’s
team (Mitcham) did not make the finals, but Tys had a very consistent year, being
named in the best 6 players, 13 times in 18 games. He was also happy to see the
end of the season after nursing injuries and general soreness for most of the
year.
Carly is
enjoying her role as a Personal Trainer at the local gym, and is picking up
more roles all the time. She is still working for Elite Fitness (in Sales) as
well, but she hopes to fill more hours at the gym and eventually work in that
environment full time.
As for
me, nothing much going on. I plan to get back into golf now that the footy
season is almost over, and look forward to our annual trek to Yarrawonga with
the boys in October. I finished all my Wilbur Smith books and am currently
reading a heap of Sidney Sheldon novels.
Darcy
Collins
(Darcy is the fourth and youngest son of Graham Collins who is first
son of Con Collins)
Darcy's Team’s (Knox Falcons) won the Grand Final
against Scoresby on Saturday 10 September.
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The game was shaping up to be a tough contest
with Darcy’s team, Knox, starting off extremely strongly – they were 50 points
up at half time and 10 goals up early in the 3rd quarter. Scoresby had finished
at the top of the ladder and were a team of giants. They had about seven
players who were over 6 foot tall and a lot of people were tipping them to win.
Scoresby fought back, but Knox hung on to win by 22 points. Needless to say the
celebrations continued for a couple of days.
Now the team, Knox Falcons have had this
record:
2002 - Premiers
2003 - Premiers
2004 - Runner-Up (2 point loss)
2005 - Premiers
Darcy says they have been very successful and
are confident on winning it again next year. The team were out all Saturday,
Sunday and Monday celebrating and Darcy didn’t make it home for 3 days
straight. He’s very happy and very proud. He finishes school on Friday 19th
September for the term and has been doing real well in his studies. He’s now look towards his pre-season
training which he will start as soon as Carly makes him a workout program. He
wants to come back next year in peak shape!
Wade
Collins
(Wade is the third
son of Graham Collins who is first son of Con Collins)
During a
football game, Wade
got kneed in the ribs - under the arm. He could not breath and at first the
trainers thought he may be just winded. But when the breathing difficulty
continued, Graham took him to hospital for xrays.
They showed a small perforation,
but no broken ribs. They said that the ribs must have compressed inward enough
to push onto the lungs and cause the small perforation where air had escaped
into the cavity between the lungs and the ribcage. This air sac (or
accumulation of air in the pleural cavity) is called pneumothorax.
He had to have further xrays for
the next 4 days, and if the air sac did not reduce in size, they were going to
insert a tube through the rib cage for the air to escape. And to make sure the
sac closed, they were going to
fill the sac with talcum powder. Strange
but true!
Luckily all went well and he
didn't need this procedure.
Wade went on an end of season
trip to Ballarat for 3 nights which was a lot of fun.
Carly
Collins
(Carly is only
daughter of Graham Collins who is first born son of Con Collins)
The gym job is going great! I’m
doing gym floor shifts, personal training clients and now I do reception as
well - and I've even taught a few
classes! I love it there. I’m still working at Elite Fitness Equipment too.
I've decided not to compete in
the sports model competition. I could keep up with the training program, but I just couldn't stick to the
diet. I might do it in a couple of years when I’m older, but at this age, I
still like to go out and have a drink on weekends. I would have had to cut out
things like bread, pasta, potato, dairy etc - just too hard at the moment.
I auditioned for the Commonwealth
Games to dance in the opening and closing ceremonies! I got a second call back,
which was good, because only a couple per group got the call. Now I just have
to wait until October 10th to find out if I got a position. It will be pretty
exciting if I do!
(See Carly’s health tip further down in the newsletter.)
The Bill Collins
Family
Bill Collins was the only brother of Con Collins. Kath is Bill’s wife. Go to Bill Collins page for more information on this family.
Aunty
Kath’s operation went well and she has had the stitches out and does not have
to see the doctor until October. Her doctor was on TV last month as he was
going back to Fiji to operate on a little one who had been burnt. Kath
comments that it is good that these specialists who earn a lot and have great
skills can then spare their time to help those who do not have the money to pay
for surgery.
Paul
& Michaela were a great support to Kath during the recuperation. Michaela
had to have the sinus surgery in September.
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The Collins
Boys |
Kath with her
grandchildren |
The Zoch Family
Catherine Zoch is the 4th girl in the Con and Bridget
Collins Family. She is married to John Zoch. Go to Zoch Family
page.
Jessica
Jessica recently attended a Grease theme
party as the ‘pink lady’ – see more pictures here.
The Gough Family
Mary Gough is the 3rd girl in the Con and Bridget Collins Family. She is married to Chris Gough. Go to Gough Family page.
Alex reports, “Lots has been happening here
in the Gough house. I have finished my dance lessons and have had the social.
It was loads of fun. First we did the dances that we learnt (Cha Cha, Pride of
Erin, Waltz, Strip the Willow, and many more). They had awards for the best
dancers - bronze silver and gold. I won the gold. When I told mum, she
went on about how I had inherited my good moves from her and when I told dad,
he said the same thing. We won our school netball grand finals and we all got a
blue ribbon.
We’ve all started holidays. In the first
week, dad is taking us to Marfield Sheep Station because he has family living
there. In the second, week mum is taking us to Phillip Island.
Zac’s school got in to the Wakka grand
final even though they did not win they all preformed well and had
loads of fun. Zac had his last musical performance on Thursday. The grade
5&6s performed a story about a band. One of the band members was having a
birthday and was turning 40. We saw flash backs on how the band tried to become
famous. We saw many 70s-80s rock legends such as Kiss, ABBA, Rolling Stones,
Sky Hooks, Kylie, Spice Girls, AND MANY MORE. Zac did 3 performances. He
was the father of someone who was trying out for the band. Here are pictures of
him (you’ve gotta love those pants).
Zac also went to the athletics carnival and
participated in the Shot Put. He didn’t win but had fun.
Max made it to the second week of the tennis
finals but unfortunately they bombed out. Max also got a new hair cut, Mohawk
City. He’s also had it coloured black with a couple of red stripes.
Us kids went with dad to our aunty di's
wedding. It was during the day and everyone enjoyed dancing except for Max (he
didn’t inherit anyone’s dancing gene - Zac and I must have gotten them all).
That’s all from us. We’re looking forward
to the holidays!
The Cabrera Family
Judith
(nee Collins) is married to Renato Cabrera. Go to Cabrera
Family page.
Judi and Renato
We had a lovely dinner/smorgasbord at
Moonee Valley with Barbara and Paul. We were amazed at the quality of the
sweets that where very decedent and elaborate - not what you are used to
getting at those sort feasts. We controlled ourselves pretty well, I think (or
did we?). Most important we had a great
time together.
Since last newsletter we have been to two
Chilean dinner dances - need I say anymore. Great time, lots of food and drink,
heaps of Latino dancing and very, late nights. On the 22nd of September
it is Chilean Independence day and it is celebrated annually with the Chilean
Festival, so on the weekend just prior to that we are off to a weekend full of
everything Chilean and looking forward to it.
I have been consulting again with Nicole at
Gregory Lodge on behalf of mum and trying to sort out a few things in regard to
her care comfort and wellbeing. Dad and I have been thinking that it
might be a good idea to set up a permanent craft/material table in her room so
she can fiddle around with things, while she is wandering around in there (have
to put a bit of thought into it though - re safety etc).
The campaign to increase staffing ratios in actively mobile dementia
wards in Nursing Homes has been nicknamed: Project Ratio. The letter
that Judi sent to the Federal Minister for the Aged, was copied to
other
pollies and a couple of them have responded. The campaign is documented
on Judi’s
page on the CollinsPlus website so you can see the responses there.
Bear News
Bear has been having a bit of trouble with
the thunder we have been having. He is very scared of it and runs around the
house trying to find a place to hide, shaking like a leaf and panting like he's
going to have a heart attack. Even after the thunder is over, he jumps and
get scared with any sort of a banging noise.
His daily walks now have to include going
past the school where lots of the children know him now and call out his name.
He licks their hands as they poke them through the fence and they run along
calling “Bear, Bear” and have to push their hands under the fence just so they
can get a pat (Bear loves all the attention).
Deacon
Peter
Deacon
is the son of Mary (Molly) Deacon (nee Lennon) who is the youngest sister of Bridget
Collins (nee Lennon) who is married to Con
Collins.
It was great to hear from Mark Deacon. He has sent this introduction.
Mark and James are second cousins to the Collins, Gough and Zoch kids and yet
you have never met each other! Mark has also got his own website and if you would like to see his site
and make contact with him, email me and I will send it to you. Thanks
for the contribution Mark – we would love to hear more from you!
The McManus Family
Ellen (Helen) McManus nee Lennon was
Bridget’s eldest sister. Margaret Martin is the eldest daughter of Ellen
and Pat McManus. Go to McManus
Family Page.
Margaret reports that she and Terry have
been tree planting last week. Only 320 to go! They are planting on one of their
paddocks to link up previous plantings and a dam. The birds and other small
animals should have a very smooth and safe path now to get to water. The frogs
are very happy with all the rain recently. They are quite noisy singing
away and Margaret says they have a large number of gorgeous
ducklings swimming on the dam.
Trish is looking forward to the school
holidays and both Brian and Kevin are busy visiting their relatives
overseas.
The Teres Family
Paul Teres is partner to Barbara Collins,
daughter of Con Collins. Go to Teres Family
page.
Sophie and Andrew
are pleased to announce the new baby will be a BOY!!! They have been busy
preparing a room for the new family member. See
pictures of the room here.
Andrew brought Max over to visit his ‘grandpa’ a few weeks ago. Max
was very interested in hearing what Paul had to say – or, maybe the attraction
was really that ham sandwich!
Paul is preparing to
visit his Mum in Brisbane once again next month. Following that trip, he will
be doing his 100km bike ride and then he and Barb are off to Phillip Island for
a week’s holiday.
Barb and Paul have
been doing ‘senior’ things recently. We attended the Seniors Expo and had our
hearing tested and saw a great show by Denise Drysdale. We had front row seats
so when Paul decided he wanted to go to a Centrelink talk halfway through the
show, Denise heckled him all the way out of the auditorium! Paul won a couple
of Showstopper tickets to “Nashville Favourites” at Crown that included a light
lunch and lots of prize draws – none of which we won - but it’s always fun
thinking “it could be us this time!” as the numbers are drawn out.
Lisa’s belated birthday was celebrated at a Yum Cha at Golden Dragon
Palace Chinese restaurant in Lower Templestowe today (Sunday 18th).
Here is the whole group but click here for more
pictures. Note the picture of Paul about to eat a tasty dish called Chilli
Chicken Feet. Unfortunately, Paul did not realise they were REAL chicken feet
when he ordered them.
From left: Sophie Teres, Andrew Teres, Barbara Teres, Lisa Teres,
Adrian Noyes, Barb Collins.
All about Mary Agnes Collins (nee Coffey)
(Mary Agnes was the mother of Con and Bill Collins, grandmother of Barbara’s generation, great-grandmother of Brenton’s generation)
Mary Agnes Collins (nee Coffey) 1899 – 14/2/1961
Biography as
told by Con Collins, her eldest son, in 2005. Memories by Kathleen Collins,
wife of Mary’s second son, Bill, have also contributed to this biography.
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Mary Agnes
Collins (nee Coffey) was born in 1899 in Cosgrove South, Victoria. She was
the daughter of Thomas Coffey and Catherine (Kitty) O'Brien. Kitty died when
the children were very young – Mary was about six at the time of her mother’s
death. She had a brother, William, and a sister Kathleen Marcella. Mary Agnes
and her sister, Kathleen, were raised by a strict aunt in the Caniambo and
Gowangardie areas. Her brother, William and father disappeared out of her
life. Mary, in
keeping with the times, did not receive the assistance that she needed to
grieve and accept the loss of her own Mother and, consequently, missed her
until the day she died herself. Mary never talked about her teenage years so there is a gap until she
married Cornelius Charles (Snr) on 30 August 1920 in Glenferrie, Victoria.
They had three children: Kathleen (1921), Cornelius Charles (Jnr) and William
Thomas. The death of Mary’s first child, Kathleen, child caused unresolved grief due to the circumstances of that loss. |
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In 1922 the
family moved to Beechworth, Victoria. The children were raised as Catholics
and sent to St Joseph’s School. Once a week she walked half way to the school
with a hot lunch. Con and Bill would meet her at a small creek bridge and
have a picnic. It was widely
known that Mary was an excellent cook and housekeeper in every possible way.
She was a great cook and was adopted by the local football club and the local
cricket team to head the many fundraising events that required ‘goodies’. She
also supplied some of the cakes at the monthly Euchre parties. Mary and Con
Snr did not have very much money to spare, but they made certain that Con and
Bill were always well dressed and fed. |
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Mary had quite
a temper that she mainly kept in check. Con remembers a night when the family
of four was playing Ludo. He said that in one game she was going very well.
She only needed one on the dice to make it to safety. Dad had a shot before
her and threw three sixes and a one to make a total of 19. It was the exact
amount to catch up with Mary and send all her chips back to base. It took
them all a half an hour to find all the chips after Mary sent the board
flying. Kathleen
(Bill’s wife) remembers Mary often telling her how she did her block when she
lost at a game of e.g. Snakes & Ladders, and would, believe it or not,
tear the board up. She had a
short fuse, but recovered quickly. |
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The family
moved back to Melbourne (North Fitzroy) in 1934. While waiting to obtain a
house, they boarded in King William Street, Fitzroy. To country people, this
was a very wild area. Especially as they were told Squizzy Taylor used to
live a few houses down the street. Later that
year, they bought a house at 310 (old number) Albion Street, West Brunswick.
Mum soon made herself popular with the neighbours. She always said her
cooking skills dropped when she had to cook with a gas stove. She missed the
wood, sand enclosed country stove. |
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Her roast
dinners were famous along with her incredibly high scones. When her sister, Kath,
(who never married) became psychotic, Mum had a sleepout built in the
backyard and looked after her until she was admitted to Mont Park where she
died of a stroke in 1956. She was a VERY
generous lady and would take the coat off her back if she thought someone
needed it. How proud she was of her two sons, Cornelius and William (Con and
Bill) and was very fond of her first daughter-in-law, Bridget (nee Lennon) who
was married to Con. Kathleen (second daughter-in-law) remembers how Mary,
over the Sunday roast on a number of occasions, asked “When are you getting married”. Mary made
Kathleen welcome immediately. A day at the
races was a pleasant outing for her. Playing cards was another point of
enjoyment. |
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Barbara was
the first grandchild and was a joy to Mary. She was very spoilt and loved. Barbara’s
memories are of a wonderful grandmother who would tell stories, make up games
to tempt her to eat her vegetables and warm her cold feet by hand. She also
inherited Mary’s short fuse! Mary Therese
(Gough nee Collins) was 'on the way' when Mary Agnes died and she was quite excited about
another little one coming into her family. Michael, in
picture on left, was Kathleen and Bill’s first born and Mary was so happy
that she and Kathleen’s late Father danced around the kitchen. Kathleen
recalls, gratefully, how beautifully she looked after her when she returned
from hospital. The next grandchild, Paul, was a bigger baby and Mary
delighted in telling people of his size. Mary very much
enjoyed the ‘new gadget’ of the 50s – television. She would stay up very late
watching it. She obtained her driver’s license for the first time when she
was 57 – on her first try. It is
regretful that Mary didn’t open up much about her childhood as there is sure
to be a great tale to be told of her sad, younger life. Her nature was such
that she did not want to impose her sorrow on her children. |
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Carly Collins
Only
daughter of Graham Collins who is only son of Con Collins.
Carly
is doing a Personal Training course at Box Hill Institute of TAFE.
CARLY'S SEPTEMBER HEALTH TIP……..
See all Carly’s Health Tips in the CollinsPlus newsletter. http://www.collinsplus.com/sharinglifestyle/health/health.htm
THE
IMPORTANCE OF WEIGHT TRAINING
Weight Training is important for everybody, regardless of age,
gender, or what you want to achieve. Even if you only want to lose weight,
doing strength training will increase your metabolism, so even at rest you will
be
burning more calories than normal. If you only ever do
cardiovascular training, such as walking, jogging, bike riding etc, you will
burn calories, and lose weight, but you will have no muscle tone. This is
because once the
body uses its initial sources of fuel, it turns to your muscle next.
So while you are burning calories away, you're also burning away your muscle!
Even in older people, very light weight training will help with
strength and bones, so day to day living becomes more easy!! You don't need to be a member of a gym either.
There are plenty of exercises you can do at home
around the house! Find small items around the house like, packets of
sugar or flour, or cans on soup etc, to use as weights! Also you can use objects
such as the wall to do push ups on, calf raises, sit ups on the floor, tricep
dips on the edge of a chair, free standing squats, etc, etc,
There are many sites on Google that you could have a look on for
more handy ideas. Just type in
"fitness at home" or something along those lines, and you'll find a
heap! Have fun working out!
A Challenge from
Barb!
Motivated by
Carly’s Pedometer suggestion, Barbara has ALMOST reached her first 1,000,000
steps (or 700km) which she began on 6 June 2005.
Happy birthday to: Click here for
your birthday
card -
Ya Ya Sisterhood
(big file)
This is for the girls
Man of the Year Awards
Click here for first 3 placegetters
The Tomato Garden
An old immigrant Italian man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his tomato
garden, but it was very hard work as the ground was hard.
His only son, Vincent, who used to help
him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his
predicament.
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks
like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too
old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here my troubles would be over.
I know you would dig the plot for me.
Love, Dad
A
few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Not for nothing, but don't dig up that
garden. That's where I buried the BODIES.
Love, Vinnie
At 4a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and
local police arrived and dug the entire area without finding any bodies. They
apologized to the old man and left.
That same day the old man received another letter from his
son.
Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's
the best I could do under the circumstances
Love, Vinnie
Warm and Fuzzy
The Wallet – an inspirational story.
All websites featured in this newsletter are archived on the Links Page of the CollinsPlus site for future reference.
See your operation on the web before you go under the knife
Many
American patients can do just that through the website http://www.slp3d.com. It broadcasts operations
ranging from heart valve replacements to procedures for degenerated knees.
Slp3d originated as an educational teaching tool for doctors.
The Info
Choice site
http://www.infochoice.com.au
This is good
website for comparing financial goods and services. It’s very helpful if you
want to compare the pros and cons of eg credit cards or mortgages. They’ve done
all th footwork for you.
The InfoChoice family of websites is run by InfoChoice Limited (formerly Market faxts), an Australian independent ‘infomediary’ in the market place for financial and investment services.
They do not recommend or
endorse any provider, product or service. Their aim is to provide unbiased
information on a wide range goods and services and present them in an objective
way which allows consumers to make easy, meaningful comparisons, and make
informed choices.
Examples of some of the information on this site:
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Where do I
start? |
Find the
best |
Google Earth
– Explore, Search and Discover. A 3D interface to the planet.
http://earth.google.com/
Want to know more
about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite
imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic
information at your fingertips.
Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right
in.
Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving
directions.
Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.
Save and share your searches and favorites. Even add your own
annotations.
Google Earth puts a
planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your
desktop. View exotic locales like Maui and Paris as well as points of interest
such as local restaurants, hospitals, schools, and more.
You can get Google Earth for free on your computer – It’s about 11Mbs. Just go to the website and download. You will be able to find YOUR HOUSE on it but it does take a lot of MBs to view so only use if you have a large monthly or unlimited MB allowance. Click here to see Barbara and Paul’s place from space. Once you find your place, you can save the view (File – Save) and it saves it as a .jpg file (like a photo) onto your computer.
Congratulations
this month to ….
ü Judi Cabrera on getting a quick response from a couple of pollies!!!!
ü Darcy Collins‘s team (Knox Falcons) on winning the Grand Final
ü Mark Deacon on hosting his own website
ü Con Collins on being indestructible
ü Brenton Collins on winning his club’s Best Player Award
ü Wade Collins on recovering so well from a pneumothorax
ü Tyson Collins on being being named in the best 6 players, 13 times in
18 games
ü Alex Gough for winning gold for dancing at her social
ü Alex Gough on helping her school team win the netball
grand finals
ü Alex Gough for writing such terrific family reports!