THE much-anticipated opening of Eclectic in its new location in Anson Street has arrived. Eclectic moved from its former Summer Street premises to Anson Street, in the former Maggie T store.
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It has been a hectic week for owners Karen Sampson, Kerryn Westgeest and Melanie Fenton in the lead-up to today’s opening.
The store will be open from Monday to Saturday and the owners are excited by the prospect of welcoming customers to the new location.
Carving out new direction
BEN and Rebecca Crombie have taken over McMurtrie and Co Stonemasons, one of Orange’s oldest businesses.
The young couple are sharing the load of running the business, with Rebecca working full time in the office and Ben operating the supply side of the stonemasonary business, servicing Orange and the central west.
They also employ two staff members.
Mr Crombie has a particular interest in the history of Orange and its early days, which goes hand-in-hand with the long-standing business, which has existed in Orange since 1870.
He said he was inspired by Lee Bradbury, the last of the McMurtrie family to be involved in the business, and considers him a mentor.
“Quality means a great deal to me, as I think stonemasonary is one of the last businesses which has maintained its quality integrity,” he said.
Mr Crombie said since taking over the businesses he had spent his spare time researching the history of Orange and sourcing photographs that had a link with the history of the business.
“Council helped me with some information and I found it so interesting that in 1900, when Orange’s town population was very small, there were 21 stonemasons working in the town.
“Of course in those days they did a variety of work including floors, bluestone paving and much more,” he said.
Mobile florist hits the road
THERE is a new mobile business visiting the Agrestic Grocer every Wednesday.
Megan Foster says her Megan Claire Floral Design caravan has been a great deal of work to set up, but it has been worth the wait.
“As far as I know this is the only mobile florist shop in Australia. Plenty of people sell flowers out of caravans but this mobile florist service is a first,” she said.
Customers who saw the caravan at the Agrestic Grocer on Friday should not be confused as it was a one-off to cater for the demand of Valentine’s Day.
Megan’s floral designs have been a regular feature of the Agrestic Grocer for the last 18 months, and will still be available on the days the caravan is not visiting.
The business is based in Cargo.
Closing the gap
VERTO training and employment chief executive Ron Maxwell welcomes the federal government’s Closing the Gap report this week, but says VERTO already has a proud record of assisting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people with training and employment.
“Through our ATSI program which VERTO hosts in the mid-western region of NSW we achieved 117 per cent of the target for employment outcomes for the last six months of 2015,” he said.
Mr Maxwell said the organisation achieved a creditable 500 per cent target for training outcomes for the same period.
“Over 12 per cent of our training services students who identify as ATSI, which is 10 per cent more than the national average of other providers,” he said.
Mr Maxwell said the report deepened the organisation’s commitment to employment and training for ATSI people across NSW.
