This time of year is synonymous with end of year functions and I’ve attended several over the past month, including:

• The Maroondah Citizens Advice Bureau on the 1st of December,
• North Ringwood Community House, where I was joined by ward colleagues, Cr. Nora Lamont and Cr Ann Fraser on the 4th of December,
• The Ringwood Chamber of Commerce on the 8th of December, with Cr. Ann Fraser and Les Willmott,
• Eastern Volunteers on the 10th December
• The Ringwood Spiders on the 13th of December, with Cr Nora Lamont and Cr. Paul Macdonald

Despite us rapidly approaching the end of the year, it is still business as usual. On the 10th of December I had the pleasure of attending the graduation of the Maroondah FReeZA Group, Stuff Your Stereo Productions, along with Cr. Natalie Thomas, Rob Steane and Peter Gurr.

FReeZA is a program for young people who organise music gigs, through EVs Youth Centre in Croydon. This year’s group was particularly innovative in forming partnerships with other organisations and introducing gigs covering a range of musical genres and tastes. The Youth Services Team who oversee the group, are already busy at work planning for next year’s group and I commend the Team at EVs for organising yet another successful event.

Lastly, on the 13th I had the pleasure of opening the Maroondah Carols by Candlelight.

While there were patches of light rain during the morning, we were fortunate to have pleasant weather for the evening. The large crowd enjoyed the carols immensely and I would like to congratulate the many people and community organisations that worked together to host such a fantastic event.