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Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Canberra Confidential: The shame of Tuggeranong

LABOR’s punishment for Tuggeranong voting Liberal at the last election, we wonder? CC’s southside snout sent in snaps of deteriorating park benches in the Tuggeranong Town Centre.

2014-02-12 16.45.082014-02-12 16.46.42“The whole area is now so depressing,” she says. “Park benches with little paint on them, the majority of shops/offices are vacant, graffiti slogans written across the entire length of one of these shops – very little in the way of shrubs/garden.”

Timeless touch of fashion

Mature model Helen Benneworth tries out for a spot on the Fashfest catwalk. Photo by Gary Schafer
Mature model Helen Benneworth tries out for a spot on the Fashfest catwalk. Photo by Gary Schafer
FASHFEST is in the air again, with about 160 leggy models strutting the catwalk auditions on Sunday, hoping to be one of 40 selected for this year’s highly anticipated follow-up event.

But, as CC discovered, it’s not all about long legs, pouty faces and fake tans. The audition included four mature candidates – including Helen Benneworth – hoping to model for designer Holly Squair, who is participating in Fashfest.

Holly, we’re told, designs for “the unique character of women aged 60 to 85 years young”. Her label, Character, features garments that are bold and designed for women not interested in fast fashion. “They desire design innovation and custom production, wearing garments that are produced for a slow fashion objective,” says our informed fashion snout.

All the successful models will endure “extensive training” to be top-notch on the catwalk before the four-day, red-carpet event begins in late April.

Fashfest, April 30, and May 1-3, more information at fashfest.com.au

Scary Kenny

image005DOES Kenny Koala, the furry fun public face of the local cops, look a bit weird in this picture? Constable K put in a commendably busy weekend at the Royal Show and he’s pictured here trying one of the life-size uniform cut-outs featured at the ACT Policing display. Don’t show it to children.

Fourth time lucky

philippinesRoyal Canberra golf pro Charles Kares, who gave “CityNews” readers a few tips in an article about the Ricky Stuart Celebrity Pro-Am, has won the PGA’s coveted Teaching Professional of the Year award for NSW and the ACT, after being nominated but missing out the last three years in a row.

Charles takes his coaching very seriously, using high-end computer software to help golfers refine their game, and you don’t even have to be member of the exclusive club to use his services. 

Travelling shoes

ANCAGREAT photo by Brenton McGeachie of Jacqueline Bradley’s artwork “Travelling Shoes” (leather, brown paper, brass and wax) publicising ANCA Gallery’s new exhibition “Safe Passage”, featuring the work of

Bradley, Karen Cromwell, Hanna Hoyne and Amelia Zaraftis exploring concepts of safety and containment. See it at the Dickson gallery until March 16.

Gorman’s new house

Alyx Gorman HERE’S another ex-Canberran taking off in the online world… Mia Freedman, creator of popular women’s website Mamamia and former editor-in-chief of “Cosmopolitan”, “Cleo” and “Dolly” magazines, has hired former Canberra gal Alyx Gorman, pictured, to edit a yet-to-be revealed new website set to launch later this year.

Mia said Gorman had been in her sights for “some time” and was well placed to lead the launch of the new vertical alongside Mamamia.com.au.

Gorman was editor of youth-orientated website The Vine for three years before moving to glossy fashion magazine “Elle” as features editor. She will work with another former Canberran, Jamila Rizvi, who took over as editor-in-chief of Mamamia in 2012.

 Flattening the bubbly

ARTS snout Helen Musa’s ears pricked up at the gala soiree preceding the Canberra Area Theatre Awards last Saturday when the CATs committee chair, urbane lawyer Dennis Martin, flattened the bubbly a bit by publicly denouncing the ACT Government’s arts funding bodies, which he said “had form” for withdrawing funding for hire of Llewellyn Hall, and bitterly suggesting that one had only to succeed – like CATs – to be thus treated.

The limited funding for hall hire goes back to a 1998 deal, after Kate Carnell’s Liberal Government partially defunded the School of Music, which manages the hall.

Hmmms

THE National Library’s Treasures exhibition is displaying a table commemorating Captain Cook’s voyages. With a veneer of timbers from around the world, it is a fine example of marquetry but, writes “Pierre the Lair”, the label insults it by calling it “parquetry”: flooring made from blocks of wood.

ONE of our distributors came across a baby left alone in a car at The Marketplace, Gungahlin, the other afternoon. Showing maturity beyond his 18 years, he stood guard at the vehicle for a short while until the mother returned when he gave the hapless parent the benefit of his view of her parenting skills. Go, Liam.

SOMEONE actually paid a researcher to discover this drivel… “In an age where ‘selfies’ reign supreme, taking over news feeds and social statuses, it seems that Aussies would still choose to display photos of their pets (25%) or loved ones (50%) in the home, over photos of themselves.”

AND more of the same from the UK Automobile Association: Three per cent of marriage proposals happen in a car.

JOKE from website popbitch.com: “I’m calling from the Anagram Society, you’ll have to rearrange your interview.”

“No problem, it’s ‘view true irony’.”

“Okay, you’re in!”

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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