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Sale-Maffra secured the men's Gippsland Cricket League premiership on Sunday.

Council has been actively researching ways to keep up with housing demand within Wellington Shire in recent months.

Josh FarrellMaffra secured important wins in both the men's and women's Country Basketball League on the weekend with the women just falling short of a finals berth and the men's side setting themselves up for a big finals series.The men's side got a comfortable win on Saturday over Lakes Entrance defeating the Pelicans 101-58.The Eagles put up an impressive 33 points in the first period, but Lakes Entrance were competitive putting on 25 themselves.Maffra skipped away in the second term however, outscoring the Pelicans by 17 points to begin building its lead.After the half time break it was simple for the Eagles to just keep themselves ahead and get some minutes into its bench players.At the third quarter break Maffra had a lead of 29 points after the Pelicans competed well but the Eagles got away to the final margin of 43.It was a good spread of scoring from Maffra and solid performances from a number of players.Byron Sandeman (18), Andrew Quirk (13), Coby Burgiel (13) and Tom Stephenson (11) were all in the points for the Eagles.It was a similar tale in the women's fixture with Maffra walking away with a 33 point win to help them stay in finals contention.It was tight first period and the Pelicans went into the first break with a one point lead.The Eagles were immense in the second term outscoring Lakes Entrance by 22 points only allowing seven points from the Pelicans.After that the Eagles kept the scoring down once again keeping the Pelicans to seven points in the third period and 11 in the final period.Maffra finished the match with a scoreline of 77-44 to start its weekend well.Emerson Connolly had an insane match scoring over half of Maffra's score putting up 39 of the Eagle's 77 points and only fouling the opposition once.Jaime Gallatly and Tayla Gallatly assisted Connolly well with 13 and 11 points respectively.The Eagles men's side got an important win on Sunday afternoon in what was a seesawing affair.Maffra looked comfortable for most of the match but left the door slightly ajar and Moe took the lead in the third period before the Eagles put the foot down and came away with the win 103-90.Andrew Quirk started the match well getting busy in the paint drawing fouls to have seven points halfway through the first period.While the match may have been a dead rubber as both teams had already made finals, neither was going to go down easy.The score at the break had Maffra up by three points and the match was poised to be a close one.In the second term Maffra was able to pick holes in Moe's defence and improved its lead to 15 points.The Eagles were disciplined at both ends of the court and drew a lot of contact in the paint to head to the line regularly.Moe was growing frustrated and tensions threatened to boil over before the half time break.Coming out after the break Moe switched into gear and Maffra struggled on offence and the deficit was quickly reduced and Moe even jumped into the lead.The Eagles were turning the ball over regularly and were ice cold from all parts of the court.The Eagles managed to stem the flow - recapturing the intensity that had served them well in the first half and got its offence going to lead by three points going into the final period.In the fourth term Sam Whelan got to work hitting multiple threes to break the back of Moe's comeback and surge Maffra to the lead.He was then controversially fouled out and Moe may have sniffed an opportunity to get back into the match.Coby Burgiel was not in his regular form, but got busy in the final term to ensure Maffra remained ahead.The scoring was well spread for Maffra with Sam Whelan walking away with 20 points, Andrew Quirk 19, Thomas Stephenson 17, Marcus Cope 12 and Coby Burgiel 12.The Eagles women's side got an important win over top of the ladder Traralgon who were missing a few players but were still not going to be easy to overcome.Maffra defeated the T-Birds 73-37 with a good spread of scoring from a number of players.The Eagles got away to an

Briagolong resident Dominic Goss was awarded the Ambulance Service Medal last week.

Four months ago, Christine Morris noticed an interesting email had popped up in her inbox.

Sale residents will get the opportunity to farewell a World War II boat that spent much of its life on the Gippsland Lakes tomorrow.Howard Bowman will be donating the vessel to the RAAF Museum in Point Cook, but it will stop by the Port Of Sale.Mr Bowman found the boat with his sister and her husband Jacinta and Phil Fleming in the mid-1980s on the Yarra River, near were Polly Woodside currently resides.With his interest piqued, Bowman travelled back to the city with his father Howard Bowman Snr - a WWII veteran in the 22nd infantry battalion."I was by then obsessed with the vessel and its history so my sister and I jumped at the opportunity to purchase her," Mr Bowman said.Mr Bowman took full ownership of the boat and decided he would bring it back to the Port of Sale."With the help of my father and many others we motored it across Port Phillip Bay to Mordialloc Creek, where she was crane loaded on to a huge boat trailer and transported along the Princes Highway to Sale," Mr Bowman said. "It was a major exercise in those days without any type of escorts, where she was launched by two cranes in to the Port of Sale."The boat remained a familiar sight in around the waters of Gippsland over the past 35 years."She would be moored in freshwater in Sale through the winter and then on our return from Darwin, we would take her to Lakes Entrance for the summer," he said.The boat was a regular talking point in Lakes Entrance as holidaymakers of all ages.The boat has never missed a Wooden Boat Show at Paynesville and was a major attraction for those in attendance. The boat has been kept in as original condition as possible while also being made a comfortable second home and family cruiser without losing its visual originality.The boat spent much of its working life on the Gippsland Lakes, performing search and rescues.It is believed the boat travelled to Papua New Guinea in service and was even used as one of the opening boats in the 1956 Olympics held in Melbourne.Mr Bowman had hoped the boat could retire in East Gippsland where it had spent most of its life."I would have really liked her to retire in East Gippsland somewhere as it has spent the last 35 years moored between Sale and Lakes Entrance and that is also where I will spend most of my retirement, but after many phone calls and letters the interest and funding was just not there which I felt a bit sad about as it would have been a great donation to the community for a tourist attraction," he said. Mr Bowman then began making calls with the Maritime Heritage network where he was put in contact with David Gardner OAM.Mr Gardner is the RAAF Airforce History and Heritage Branch curator at the Air Force Headquarters in Point Cook.The museum was excited to acquire the piece and intend to restore the boat to its 1940 condition and display it."It is most gratifying to have the interest and support of individuals such as yourself to offer the museum such an historic artefact relating to an important element of RAAF operations during WWII and beyond," Mr Gardner said in a letter to Mr Bowman.Mr Bowman is excited for the boat to travel to Point Cook, where it will be on display close to where it was built in Fishermans Bend and hopes to remain involved with it."I will also be involved in helping with advice and restoration under the leadership of David Gardner and crew," he said.

Detectives from the Homicide Squad are investigating after a man died and another was seriously injured in Sale on Friday night.

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Wellington shire and surrounding areas.

Ask most bowlers across the planet what their favourite cricket memory is and there is a good chance they will reply a hat-trick or what they dream of and it will also be a hat-trick.

Under pressure, early learning centres across the Wellington Shire have closed their doors and locked them as Gippsland's early childhood education and care sector faces an unprecedented increase in demand for childcare while simultaneously dealing with a national shortage of teachers and educators.

Sale businesses are struggling to stay afloat as the Omicron wave swells COVID cases to an all-time high, washing widespread fear and trepidation throughout the local community.

Wellington Shire Council is urging the public to avoid coming into contact with the water in Lake Guyatt in Sale, due to a blue-green algae bloom.