The guide is being prepared for Upper Lachlan Shire Council by Jennie Curtis of Fresh Landscape Designs.

The Crookwell Gazette attended two meetings at Gunning and Grabben Gullen on Wednesday and other meetings were also held the same day with the Gunning Garden Club and the Dalton and Collector communities.

From discussions at both the Grabben Gullen and Gunning meetings, similar topics were covered.

Entry points to the village of Grabben Gullen and town of Gunning, recreational stop-over points, notice board or town maps, signage, bins, more seating and covered picnic areas.

The themes for both the village and the town were discussed and many suggestions were to keep the heritage of the town and history of the surrounding landscapes, using stone or timber.

Grabben Gullen’s focus was on the entry to the village from the southern end and to make a ‘happy corner’ to showcase the friendly village.

It was discussed that this corner will be further improved with the addition of a large basalt rock and plaque plus more native plantings.

They are also hoping to get the entrances to the village on the Wheeo Road and Crookwell Road cleaned up, with further tree planting to be followed on by what has already been achieved.

The Gunning meeting also covered suggestions of litter (especially the bins near the swimming pool), regular mowing and maintenance, disabled access, correcting the angle of the main street tree guards, town signage, local area maps and walking or cycling trail maps. The youth of Gunning were also asked what they liked and disliked about their town and their answers were similar.

The 19 children, with ages ranging from 8-18, said they would like to see the parks kept nicer, more artwork in the streets, a hop scotch area painted, a water fountain, development of a music or a creative centre, bike racks and more trees planted.

Topics favourably discussed were the heritage and buildings, fresh air, the community coming together in times of need, great places for exercise, the friendly people and the nice wide streets.

Further meetings are scheduled for Bigga Friday August 11, Taralga and Breadalbane Monday August 14, Tuena, Binda and Crookwell Wednesday August 16, Laggan and Crookwell Progress Association Friday August 18. Jerrawa meeting to be confirmed.

It is not too late to contribute suggestions to the themes guide. A survey is available here  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FXJKKCM

And the schools of the Upper Lachlan are invited to take parts in the Schools competition. This competition is designed in two stages. First students will prepare entries in school. There are different tasks for various year levels. The schools will then each select three entries to submit for judging. The judges will select a winning entry from each school for a prize. There is also an overall prize plus every participating school will receive a prize. See the information here

https://www.our-towns.org/