RUSSIANS and Americans have been united in their appreciation of a short documentary filmed at Beatty Park, with Pacing the Pool impressing critics film festivals in both eastern and western hemispheres. Part of the Revelation/City of Vincent film festival, Pacing the Pool tells the story of local swimmer Richard Pace. When he was four he…

MAYLANDS has a childcare crisis, with dozens of families unable to find anywhere to book in their kids. The critical shortage has forced Bayswater council to take the unusual step of helping find premises.  In June Maylands Peninsula Primary School principle Paul Andrijich and school board chair Peter Klinger wrote to Bayswater council seeking help.…

PEOPLE sleeping rough have a reduced life expectancy of up to 30 years according to new research by UWA and the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness. And the figure of 56 rough sleepers dying in Perth last year is likely a “significant underestimate” as it only comprises deaths confirmed by GPs or hospitals that’ve been forwarded…

NO one sets out in life to become homeless. Neil was a 63-year-old male, with a 10-year history of rough sleeping. He was one of seven children, and had three children of his own, but had lost contact with most of his family in the few years prior to becoming homeless. Neil has been through…

A 26-year-old Bayswater man has been charged with arson over the July 29 fire at Future Bayswater’s shed on Beechboro Road South. Police allege that at about 1.20am that morning he entered the rear yard and set fire to the shed, causing around $40,000 of damage to property that was not insured. He was also…

AFTER seven months’ construction a date’s been set for Beatty Park Leisure Centre’s indoor area to reopen, with major works scheduled to be done by August 22.  Vincent council has spent around $3 million on indoor renovations to replace pool tiling and the 1962 toilets, upgrade pipework and water filters, make everything wheelchair accessible, and…

MARJORIE WILLIAMS, the woman who helped preserve Anzac Cottage where she grew up, has died on August 4, age 100. Ms Williams (nee Porter) was born in the cottage the community built for her father, a wounded Gallipoli veteran. A veteran herself, Mrs Williams served as an air raid warden and was in the Australian…

AUNTY THERESA WALLEY, an Aboriginal elder, author and founding member of the Perth elders advisory group guiding the city, has died aged 83. Perth council house was lit up the colour of the Aboriginal flag this week to honour Mrs Walley and their flags were to fly at half mast on August 12, the day…

Family of dead mother plead for immediate housing action FIFTY SIX sleeping bags laid out on the front steps of WA’s Parliament on Tuesday laid bare the grim toll of WA’s housing crisis during an evening vigil to its latest casualty, Alana Garlett. The sleeping bags commemorated the 56 people who died homeless last year,…

THE old Witch’s Hat hostel on Palmerston Street has been turned into the state’s first medical respite centre with 20 beds for homeless people recovering after being in hospital. The current system has been identified by UWA researchers as leading to ‘revolving door’ hospitals where homeless people are discharged back to the poor living conditions…