🌄 No Bluff News #45

G'day {{first_name | Friend}}! We're back with edition 45 of No Bluff News. It's grand final week, and around here the flags have already started coming in. Here's what's been happening, and what's on this week.

In today's edition:

Okay, time to get stuck in!

Almost With You gets its hometown screening at the Entertainment Centre on 9 October, four months before its general release.

Albany writer-director Adam Morris shot it across the region, with Great Southerners filling roles on and off camera. Irish singer-songwriter Declan O'Rourke plays a musician on a break from tour, the Albany Shantymen sing in it, and the Premier Hotel took a pub scene.

It premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in July, and festival audiences have been asking where it was filmed ever since. Tickets are $29, or $26 concession.

Albany's Kathleen Hannig ran her 500th parkrun at Middleton Beach on Saturday 12 September, at the age of 86.

She's the only one in the Albany club to have done all 500 on the home course, and it's taken about 11 years. Her family knows not to ring her on a Saturday morning.

"I haven't got time to die so I've got to keep going," she says. Mt Clarence parkrun starts at 8am every Saturday, it's free, and she says you can walk it or crawl it.

Tony Galati confirmed this month that the North Road store will open by the end of November.

It will be Spudshed's 20th store and the fourth outside Perth, on the site the North Road IGA left in June. Galati bought the centre earlier this year and has already started hiring.

Spudshed opened a pop-up inside the Front Page News newsagency at the same centre in August, so there's already a sample of the produce and the prices in there.

Parade Street got three new signs this month, marking it as WA's oldest street. A plaque sits in the bitumen where Major Edmund Lockyer raised the first flag in the state.

Lockyer's party came ashore from the Amity in December 1826 and had a barracks and parade ground up the next year. Albany was up and running three years before Perth, and now the street says so.

Mabel Gibson's debut memoir CryBaby took the top prize at the WA Premier's Book Awards on 11 September. It covers her life from two to 24, growing up between Albany, Geraldton and Perth.

The 27-year-old Yamatji writer says she was never much good at English, and only did a creative writing unit at uni because friends were in it. That's the book the judges called heartbreaking and sumptuous.

The old Commonwealth Bank on the corner of York and Grey streets has a new owner, with the sale settling last week. It's been vacant since the bank moved to Albany Plaza in 2006.

The bank had been on that corner since 1947. A tenant is expected soon, which would put one of the best corners on York Street back to work.

Country Football WA named Albany Sharks president Tracy Blaszkow its top Great Southern volunteer on 1 September. She took the job in 2020, when the club was short of players and sponsors and facing closure.

She started on the canteen more than a decade ago, then secretary, then treasurer. The club now runs football, netball, soccer, basketball and cricket, and five years on the Sharks are premiers.

Plantagenet Meats put purple chicken snags in the cabinet for Freo's preliminary final against Sydney last week, and Freo won.

"Apparently they're lucky now, so we can't stop making them," the shop said. They're back in the cabinet this week for Saturday's grand final, and the doors are shut on the day, so grab them before then.

Share your RFDS story: Theatre 180 is collecting Royal Flying Doctor Service memories for a new radio play, 10am–12:30pm. Free | City of Albany | Thursday, 24 Sep

Albany Farmers Market: Produce, baked goods and breakfast straight from the growers, 8am–12pm | Collie Street, Albany | Saturday, 26 Sep

Fantasy Door Festival Family Fun Day: Opening day of the fairy door trail through Wilson Park, 10am–1pm. Free | Shire lawn, Mount Barker | Saturday, 26 Sep

Hang About… There's a Gnome!: Hunt for the hanging gnomes hidden in the gardens and find the secret word to win a prize | Historic Whaling Station | Saturday, 26 Sep

Albany Boatshed Markets: Local produce, gourmet food, Great Southern wines and live music, 9am–1pm | Albany Boatshed | Sunday, 27 Sep

Triple M Albany Show and Shine: Street machines on display all afternoon, 10am–3pm, $10 and under-12s free | Albany Agricultural Society | Sunday, 27 Sep

Connecting to Country, Now and Forever: School holiday nature hunts, hands-on activities and creative work, free to $10 | Museum of the GS | From Saturday, 26 Sep

Gyotaku Fish Prints: Make fish prints with the Japanese gyotaku method and learn fish anatomy, 10:30am–12:30pm, $10 | Museum of the GS | From Tuesday, 29 Sep

Burning of the Canes: Last year's vine cuttings go up, with food, wine and live music, 4:30–10pm, $47 | Gilbert Wines | Sunday, 27 Sep

Madi Goodwin: Coastal folk, country and folk-pop from an emerging singer-songwriter, 5–8pm | The Dam, Denmark | Friday, 25 Sep

Night Train Duo: Classic rock, blues and soul in the vineyard, 5:30–7:30pm. Free | Rockcliffe, Scotsdale | Friday, 25 Sep

Steve Dougherty: Live tunes through the evening, 6–9pm | The Earl of Spencer | Friday, 25 Sep

No Secrets: Grand final after-party band, 8–10:30pm | Wilson's Brewery Bar | Saturday, 26 Sep

Albany Wildflower Show: More than 500 labelled specimens, plus fungi, banksias and carnivorous plants, 9am–5pm, $5.50 | Wildflower Society of WA | Wednesday, 23 to Sunday, 27 Sep

Our Place, Rain or Shine: Theatre 180's CinePlay built from three years of Albany stories, ticketed | Albany Entertainment Centre | Friday, 25 and Saturday, 26 Sep

Southern Art and Craft Trail opens: More than 500 artists across 63 venues, running to 11 October. Free | Across the Great Southern | From Saturday, 26 Sep

Earth Emotions: Music and spoken word on our connection to nature, with narration by philosopher Glenn Albrecht, 3–4pm | Albany Surf Life Saving Club | Sunday, 27 Sep

Jungle UV Art Exhibition: junior artists and their glowing neon frogs, toucan, leopard and mushrooms, 2–6pm | Denmark Art Club | Monday, 28 Sep to Thursday, 1 Oct

Nocturnal Wildlife Tour: Meet the squirrel gliders with the keepers after dark, 6pm, $15 to $25. Bookings essential | Historic Whaling Station | Tuesday, 29 Sep

Grand final at Emu Point: The game on the big screen with food at the club, 11:30am | Emu Point Sporting and Community Centre | Saturday, 26 Sep

Grand final at Karribank: music from Matty Coull, 11:30am, $35 adults and $25 for kids, food and a drink included | Karribank, Porongurup | Saturday, 26 Sep

Grand final at Boston Brewing: Big screen, food specials and $12 pints all day | Boston Brewing Co | Saturday, 26 Sep

Koodjal Business Support: Starting a business and one-page business plan sessions for Aboriginal people, with lunch, 10am–3pm | Katanning | Wednesday, 23 Sep

Great Southern Women's Luncheon: Networking lunch, meals bought on the day, 12:30–2pm | The Premier Hotel | Thursday, 24 Sep

The Oyster Harbour Catchment Group has run more than 140 landcare projects since 1992, and on Saturday 10 October it puts the lot on show at the Emu Point foreshore. It's free to turn up between 10am and 2:30pm, with talks alongside Menang Noongar representatives, kids' activities and the water monitoring boat Paarndi tied up for a look. The Kalgan Queen runs two harbour tours on the day, 10:30am and midday, at $25 a head. Book a tour.

Frankland River's growers put their wines in one place for an afternoon on Saturday 17 October, with a central bar, food from local producers and live music through the day. It runs midday to 7pm in town, and it's $20 for adults and $5 for anyone 17 and under. Sort a driver. Get your tickets.

Katanning's show has been going for 135 years and the gate is free for everyone. The Katanning Shears competition is the centrepiece, with stalls, agricultural displays, face painting and satay sticks either side of it, from 9:30am to 11pm on Saturday 24 October. See the schedule.

Fringe favourites YUCK Circus bring their new Y2K show to the Great Southern for two nights, with acrobatics, comedy, and throwback music straight out of the early 2000s. It's at the Albany Entertainment Centre on Wednesday 28 October at 7:30pm for $40, and at Denmark Arts on Thursday 29 October at 7pm from $25. Book now.

Nat's What I Reckon sold out the Adelaide Fringe and added a Darwin show to keep up with demand, and the tour lands at the Albany Town Hall on Saturday 14 November. The sweary comedian has six million followers online and a couple of best-selling books behind him. It's $44.90 or $54.90, an 8pm start, and 15 and over. Get your tickets.

600-plus Central Great Southern kids have had free dental care: A UWA dental team visits playgroups, kindies and early learning centres three times a year. See how it works.

It's free to hold a sale on Denmark's Garage Sale Trail: Two weekends in November, 7–8 and 14–15, with tips and promotion for sellers. Register your sale.

Albany's Mount Melville tower is getting a mural: Work runs late September to early November, and the tower may close at times. See the notice.

Ocean Beach's tree-top build is the region's home of the year: It also took custom home of the year, and now goes to the state awards. See the house.

Rockcliffe is looking for growers to start a produce market: Free stalls on weekend mornings at the Scotsdale cellar door, for genuine local produce. Register your interest.

Boston Brewing's new Denmark menu has chorizo and manchego croquettes, plus peri peri chicken, gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options throughout. Take a look.

School bus driver: two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon, school terms only so the holidays are yours, $48 to $50 an hour | Busy Blue Bus Tours | Denmark

Early childhood teacher: four days a week at the Albany ELC, $93k to $118k plus super pro rata, with up to 70% off childcare, closes 14 October | YMCA WA | Albany

Onsite tyre fitter: mobile fitting with a company vehicle, training and overtime, $70k to $115k plus super | CGS Tyres | Katanning

4 Bridges Street, Albany: 2-bed, 1-bath on 339m². Harbour views, a separate 6m by 4.5m studio, and a short walk to Stirling Terrace | Offers above $760,000

28B McLeod Street, Mira Mar: 3-bed, 1-bath on 1,350m². Built in 2000 on a multi-access lot with potential side vehicle access, walk to Lake Seppings | Offers above $859,000

21A Willow Creek Drive, Denmark: 4-bed, 1-bath on 441m². Built 2017, with 26 solar panels, five batteries and heat-pump hot water | From $849,000

Denmark-Walpole's colts end a 22-year wait: Ashton Terwal kicked a goal inside the first 10 seconds and the Magpies beat Railways by 40 points for their first GSFL colts flag since 2004. Yuma Jones took the Panizza Brothers Medal for best on ground.

Kojonup 129, Bridgetown 45: Kyle Smith kicked six as the Cougars finished an unbeaten LSWFL season with a grand final win, their third flag since joining the league in 2007. Player-coach Travis Abbott took the Harvey Giblett Medal for best on ground.

Tambellup take both hockey shields: The men beat Kojonup 2-1 and the women beat Katanning 3-0 in the Central Great Southern grand finals, and Katanning's juniors took their shield on percentage after a 0-0 draw. Tambellup's Charlie Letter won the men's fairest and best and finished top goal scorer.

And that's a wrap!

If you know someone who'd love the good stuff from the Great Southern, forward this their way or get them to sign up at noblufflocal.com.

Good luck to Freo on Saturday, and well done to every local side that brought home a flag this season.

See you next Tuesday!