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Newsletter Sunday 28 June 2026

Newsletter Sunday 28 June 2026

Coming Up:

  • Meet Up and Make It craft group, Thurs 2 July, 1.30pm in The Dish. Bring a project, some mending, or just come for a friendly chat!
  • Sat 4 July EXTRA Working Bee as we have a lot of plants to plant out (and the weeds are going crazy!) Meet on Alandale Rd under the oak tree opposite No 48 at 9.30 am.
  • Sat 18 July Working Bee, 9.30 am start. Meet at 43a Sherwood Rd
  • Wed 29 July Working Bee, 9.30 start. Meet on Alandale Rd opposite Wimbledon Grove.

There's a lot to catch up on over the last 2 months ...

Around the Village:

  • The Thai restaurant Crave Lab is now open for lunch Wed - Fri
  • The Organic Market will be CLOSED this Tuesday 30th as well as Monday, open again on Wednesday 1 July.
  • Aniseed reopens for coffee on Monday 29th after a short break last week.
  • The Fabric ReStore recycling shop has extended their funding campaign and are still accepting donations. You can help them continue their good work via this link https://crowdfunding.startsomegood.com/thefabricReStore?ref=ab_1EytXd_ab_7JCXvUaFP0S7JCXvUaFP0S
  • Footy Fun Day is happening on Wed 8 July between 10 and 1. See notices around the Village for more information.
  • Members of Friends of Eaglemont Village appeared in a photo in the June Banyule Banner newsletter, with Alida McKern, Councillor for Chelsworth Ward, in her Ward Round segment. Feedback on the current proposal (Darebin Creek to Ashby Grove) has been extended to 5 July - more details on this link: https://shaping.banyule.vic.gov.au/HFS
FoEV members with Cr Alida McKern

Other Council News

CONGRATULATIONS to Robert Bender (Friends of Wilson Reserve) who received Lifetime Contribution Award at the Council Volunteer Celebration in May. Robert's vision and consistent hard work over many years is a large part of why Wilson Reserve, and the adjacent area along the river looks as good as it does, so this is a very well-deserved award.

Council is asking for feedback

on these issues (see the Shaping Banyule webpage):

Banyule flood mapping

This is being done by Melbourne Water and you can share your local knowledge via this link: https://letstalk.melbournewater.com.au/flood-information/banyule

And lastly Trees ...

Council is giving away trees for you to plant at home. This year there is a choice of 5 different varieties. For more info follow this link https://www.banyule.vic.gov.au/Waste-environment/Environment-sustainability/Sustainability-and-stewardship/Adopt-a-tree-program

Colour on Sherwood Road

These two shrubs are both near the Fairy Garden, and there is plenty of other colour about. As many Australian natives flower in the cooler months we can look forward to much more colour over the next few months.

Many readers will remember Ivan and Noel and their supermarket.

Here is an article about them by Sally Trotter:

A few years ago, (quite a few now as you will see!) I set my year 11 English students this writing assignment:

Reporter at Large : Go and visit some place of business or other enterprise, talk with people there, watch its operation, take notes, then write an account of the visit afterwards. Use your narrative to convey a lot of information about the enterprise, to catch the atmosphere of the place and to show what the people there are like.

As was my practice, I would write alongside my students and share it with them. This is my version of ‘Reporter at Large’:

Two Good Fellows

The grocer around the corner is a local institution. There's always been a self-serve in Eaglemont as far back as I can remember. For the last 15 years, it has been run by Noel and Ivan, two middle-aged bachelors who live across the road from their shop. When I arrived to begin my report, they were both working away, Noel on the cash register, and Ivan stacking the milk. Both wore matching maroon aprons and had their shirt sleeves rolled up.

The shop has 2 aisles, packed to the rafters with everything you can buy at Safeway or Franklins and more besides. The range is incredible. Enter and veer left. First, bread, opposite dog food then toilet paper, cordials, brooms. Then the freezers, with Plumes ice-creams, gelati, frozen potato products, party pies, croissants and more. Little extras hang on hooks at regular intervals. Things such as elements for those old ceramic electric jugs, mouse traps, egg timers. Then those items that make me doubt their necessity: a gadget for making julienne strips, and a twisty tie dispenser with cutter for securing up all those garbage bags.

Shopping is done to the backing of 3MP, and as I cruised down aisle one past the freezers, the sound of Billy Joel's Piano Man followed me. Towards the back, past soups, tinned vegetables, jam you'll find baby food, cereal, eggs. Along the back are fridges with fruit juice, margarine, butter, cheese, bacon, pasta. Opposite the fridge is a rather tired rack of socks and undies that I wouldn't ever buy, and I'm not sure anyone else does, judging by the dust on them. Round the corner to another fridge for milk, cream, yoghurt. This is the far end of aisle two. At the back, opposite the milk are soft drinks, tea, coffee, nuts, flour, pasta, spices. Towards the front of the store are biscuits, chocolates, shampoos, vitamin tablets, condoms. On weekends, aisle two has all the newspapers and magazines, brought over from the newsagency and lined up in pies on the floor. Behind the cash register are cigarettes, and various brands of tobacco, cigars, lighters and razor blades.

When I asked Noel and Ivan what they liked most about their work, they replied, "The people."

"We've seen kids grow up and have their own children and they all shop here. We get mothers coming in during the day and whinging about their kids and after school the kids come in and do the same about their parents. We just listen and never let on to either party."

Noel showed me some of the postcards next to the till. They were sent from Turkey, Thailand, North Queensland. They were from customers, who have been shopping at Noel and Ivan's ever since they started. One was simply addressed to: ''Mr Noel and  Ivan, Eaglemont Grocer, Australia.”

There was a card from a lady who had moved to Creswick and wanted to thank Noel and Ivan for their service over the years. Noel and Ivan's services extend further than running their shop and carrying your parcels out to your car. They take orders by phone and deliver, or some people will shop there and have their goods delivered.

Noel told me about one lady who is 94 years old, who says that without them, she'd be in a home. Not only do they deliver her groceries, but they also do other messages for her too. Like cashing cheques so she needn't go to the bank, delivering orders from the chemist, posting letters and getting the paper. As Noel says, "She could be my grandmother." This says a lot about Noel, who was an orphan. His mother died soon after he was born, and his father was always on the move looking for work. Noel's adoptive parents made his father sign a statement that he would never reveal his identity. He would visit, but Noel was told he was just a friend of the family. When someone inadvertently told Noel at the age of nine, he was shattered.

Noel and Ivan have been in the area for over 30 years. Before moving to Eaglemont, they ran two stores in Briar Hill and Rosanna, but staff problems and an armed hold-up led them to move. They have since been offered bigger stores by the Goodfellows chain, but don't want to move. Ivan says, "I don't want to be a number. That's all you are in the bigger stores. We both like the one-on-one contact we have here with our customers."

They repeated several times that they loved watching their customers grow up, knowing mothers and daughters who then became mothers. They are open seven days a week, from about 8 am to about 7 pm, but the long hours don't bother them. "No longer than a housewife," says Ivan.

Ivan takes a great interest in whatever you are buying. He especially likes to comment on purchases such as chips, and chocolate, with remarks like, "We're treating ourselves are we?" or, "We're being naughty are we?"

He draws the line at commenting on the purchase of feminine hygiene products. Whenever tampons appear on the counter, they are whisked into a discrete brown paper bag and no questions asked.

Ivan's other comments concern the fact that you have been let off the chain, so to speak. "Does anyone know you're out?" is a favourite. As I thanked them for talking to me, Ivan farewelled me with his classic, "Straight home for a cup now!"

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