Free Chestnut Roasting

James carefully holding chestnuts

Mark your calendars: Sunday 27 March 2011 9am to 11am

Just down Bumballa road is the Pinehaven Stud and Chestnut Farm. We are now in the Chestnut season which lasts from 25th March to 29th April each year.
The farm grows a number of different Chestnut varieties including Morena, Prolofic, Special, Purton’s Pride and their very own King chestnut.
The farm is so close to us and the public are encouraged to pop in and pick their own chestnuts. The farm has all the facilities required including toilets, barbeque and chestnut roasting too.
On Sunday 27 March, the farm is hosting a Free Chestnut Roasting at the shop to let us experience the delights of roasted chestnuts.
We will set up in Maple Lane (near the phone box) and serve free roasted chestnuts from 9:00am to 11:00am.
Many of us have heard of roasted chestnuts in books or movies. Here is your chance to experience the real thing with locally grown chestnuts.
If you are looking for a day out, why not call the farm and organise to make a day of it. Farm opening hours are from 10am to 5pm.

Why we employ young people

Jacob and Jamie in the kitchen

Back in the Age of Sail, the time of Napoleon and Wellington, boys as young as 15 were Lieutenants in the army and navy. 15 was considered an age of responsibility and the young person was expected to contribute to their family and society around them.
Even going back to the 1960s, young people were regularly employed in many businesses formally as apprentices or trainees, or informally as paperboys, lawn mowing, cleaning, etc. This utilisation of the talents of young people was a benefit to themselves, their families and society as a whole.
That is why we like employing young people at the Wingello Village Store. Every young person employed takes part in our immersive training program, learning all the facets of our rather diverse little shop. Learning about the businesses of Retail, Cafe, Restaurant, Post Office and handling all the goods and services we provide gives a good start to any resume.
If they work in a full time position, we then enrol them in an official traineeship which provides nationally recognised TAFE equivalent certification. They also are provided with formal food safety certifications through registered training organisations.
The village also benefits from having young people working in the store. Often there is friction between generations and much of it is caused by the lack of contact the generations have in day to day settings. The opportunity for young people to interact with the village and for all villagers to meet young people in a helpful environment provides great benefits.

Eric weighing Zach and confirming correct postage

A further benefit is the general youthful playfulness and joy of life. The store - and village - are happier places with young people having a somewhere to utilise their skills and share their lives in the midst of village life. There are few places where young people have the opportunity to be such an integral part of a small community.
We are providing a structure whereby young people of the village can learn useful skills, get paid doing it and participate productively in village life.
Being young, they will eventually move on to other employment and we envisage a steady flow of young people working in the store. The more the shop is patronised by local villagers the more we will employ locals.
By shopping locally, the whole village benefits in many ways.

Customer Loyalty Program

Did you know we have a very effective customer loyalty program at the Wingello Village Store?
The customer card you use to borrow DVDs is also your loyalty card.
At the end of every 3 month period, we add up all your purchases (excluding cigarettes, telephone credits) and for each $200 you have spent, we give you a credit of $10.00.
Rather than paying for advertisements in various magazines or newspapers, we want to reward our regular customers directly.
All you need do is mention your account number and we will record the purchase against your account.  You still pay as you go or in advance, we just record the sale to you.

Wingello Village News March 2011

Wingello Village News March 2011

Wingello Village News for March 2011 is out.

Highlights:

Chestnut Roasting
Why we employ young people

Good Neighbours II

A blackout becomes a community event
On Saturday night (Feb 5) a very hot week ended with a gratifying cool change.  Around 9pm Wingello and Penrose experienced a blackout which - as always - the children found exciting.
Thinking about the retained heat in the shop and the freezers with all our ice creams, I drove to the shop with Eric and we opened all the doors to let that lovely cool breeze flowing through the front door to the back of the store.
The temperature dropped 2 degrees in about 45 minutes but the important part to this story is what happened while we were waiting for Nature to do her work.
As it was a refreshing change in the weather and most homes remained quite warm, many villagers were outside on their verandahs or going for walks.
You could see the flashes of torches in all sorts of places and there was a great lightning show being put on for our benefit in the clouds.
Noticing a couple of flashes in and around the shop many people flashed lights our way, making sure “everything was OK”.
One neighbour even rushed over with his car to make sure no-one was doing anything “silly” at the shop.
Thank you to Wingello for the community watch.
Why be anywhere else?

Now open Sundays until 2:30pm

We have been running the Wingello Village Store for two years now - doesn’t time fly!
On Sundays for the last 12 months we reduced the time we were open to only a few hours in the morning.  This worked out very well allowing the locals to get their newspapers, bread and milk and for the early risers breakfast and other food.
The popularity of the Un Named Cafe has meant we now need to be open longer to meet demand.
So from February onwards we will be open on Saturdays and Sundays until 2:30pm.
Public Holidays will remain open until only 10:30am.
If this is what you want, show us your support.

Wingello Village News February 2011

Wingello Village News February 2011

Wingello Village News for February 2011 is out.

Highlights:

Good Neighbours II
The story of The Little Girl and the Diamond Tree

Australia Day in the Park

Hanging around on the swings as the fog rolls in.

Flags flying on Australia Day

A good crowd of locals turned out for a very relaxed Australia Day in the park.
By 4:00pm the worst of the heat was over and it was very comfortable underneath the tall pine trees. By the time we had finished our barbeque, the wind turned around 180º and a cool wind from the coast came in. Quickly the fog followed dropping the temperature in half.
A classic Wingello day!

Good Neighbours in Wingello

Eric dressed for a Summer swim

Small villages and towns are famous for the interest residents have in each other.  This is often viewed as scary by those used to the anonymity of big city life.
People who have grown up in a small village are used to knowing many or all of their fellow villagers.  When they make a move to the larger city there is the culture shock of being surrounded by millions of people yet knowing hardly anyone on a more than cursory level.
In Wingello we have a good blend whereby you can live your own lifestyle without interference from others yet neighbours are there if you need them.
We had an example of this a few days ago.
A house was vacant during the holidays with the owners away.  The neighbour heard a CRACK and went to investigate.  The power cable joining the house was sparking and shorting on a semi regular basis.
The neighbour knew who was caring for the house while the owner was away and gave her a call.
When she arrived he quickly rushed out and stopped her entering the property. She hadn’t noticed the power shorting and could well have been injured by the electrical fault.
The first thing one must do in this case is dial 000 (Triple Zero).  Don’t try calling Integral or the Fire Brigade directly.  The emergency services will contact the appropriate authorities and the necessary response happens quickly.
In this case the 000 Centre contacted the Wingello RFB whose members’ pagers went off. They responded quickly and assessing the situation contacted FCC (Fire Control Centre) in Mittagong who called Integral Energy who came out to correct the problem.
The electrical fault was able to be rectified and the house was saved.
The neighbour’s actions not only potentially saved the lady managing the house from danger, the house was also saved from destruction.

Post Office Boxes in Wingello

A customer examining the new PO Boxes

Wingello now has official Post Office Boxes for rent.  As we don’t have mail delivery, the boxes are available for a subsidised rate, roughly only 1/3 of the normal price.
You can see the PO Boxes on the Maple Lane side of the store.  We specially installed them so all boxes are reachable for all of our customers no matter how tall they may be.
Just ask for an application form in the store.