Warm and balmy nights are the first sign Christmas is in the air and what better way to join in on the festivities than spend a night singing carols by candlelight?

The Knox Carols by Candlelight is one of the biggest Victorian carols event outside the annual Myer Music Bowl event.

Country singer Gina Jeffreys, Play School’s Jay Laga’aia, and ’90s boy band singer Gary Pinto will all be belting out yuletide favourites.

Children will be entertained by a visit from Father Christmas and the Australian Army Band will also take to the stage.

Read the full article at Knox Weekly

RESIDENTS are scorching mad over Knox Council’s “hypocritical” crackdown on long grass deemed a fire hazard.

While the council has been prosecuting residents for failing to keep their lawns clipped to 20cm, grass on land owned by the council and Melbourne Water has shot up to almost 1m.

The furore follows Wantirna resident Nicola Earle being ordered to pay just under $1000 by Ringwood Magistrates’ Court for twice letting her grass grow over 90cm tall.

Half the tab went to legal costs and the rest to the council for slashing her grass.

Read the full article at Knox Leader

If you list your property for sale with a Barry Plant office you can apply to purchase a Melbourne Victory family Premium C Reserved membership this season at the special rate of $430 and receive a complimentary upgrade of your seats at AAMI Park to Premium B Reserved.  This is a saving of $200 per family membership (RRP: $630.)  A family membership comprises of two adults and two juniors.  The offer is valid for new membership purchases only and is subject to membership availability at the time of purchase. 

Terms & conditions apply. Please contact us for full details on 9753 2828.

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KNOX Council has abandoned its draft Mountain Gate structure plan, citing lack of resources and community concerns over height limits and the impact of high-density development.

However, a motion to urge Planning Minister Matthew Guy to downgrade the status of the Mountain Gate activity centre in the Melbourne 2030 strategic planning framework was defeated at a meeting last week.

Mountain Gate – which has the shopping centre in Ferntree Gully road as its heart – is one of four major activity centres in Knox earmarked for housing and business development in the Melbourne 2030 strategy.

Cr Darren Pearce proposed the move to have the area downgraded to a neighbourhood activity centre.

Read the full article at Knox Weekly

PLANS to help at-risk communities in Knox prepare for the bushfire season have been drawn up and will be sent to homes within weeks.

The CFA has launched township protection plans for 23 communities in the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley as part of Fire Action Week.

The 2011-12 fire season is expected to see a higher than usual grass fire risk, with large fuel loads a result of strong growth after a wet winter and spring.

CFA district 13 operations manager David Renkin said conditions were approaching those of the last major grassfire season, in 1977 – "there’s also real potential for us to have a number of ‘spike’ days, where the fire danger rating is 35 and above".

"History tells us that after an extreme event such as Black Saturday, there is a heightened sense of awareness, and then complacency and apathy sets in. There’s always the potential for a fire to grow very quickly and get into the residential area very fast."

Read the full article at Knox Weekly

A morning glory is one of the rarest cloud formations in the world and occurs most often in northern Australia near the Gulf of Carpentaria. It’s a low-lying tube-shaped cloud that appears to roll through the sky like a baker’s rolling pin, sometimes stretching up to 1000km. Source: www.news.com.au

A client who sings your praises is potentially the best form of recognition a business can achieve. When a client holds your service in such high regard that they nominate you for an award, you know you must be doing something right.

That’s exactly what happened for the Rowville office of the Barry Plant Group who was recently recognised for their superior level of customer service in the Australian Business Quality Awards. Barry Plant Rowville took out the customer service category winning a gold award – the organisations most prestigious accolade. Businesses can only achieve the gold award status if they gain a score of 90% or above for customer satisfaction.

The Australian Business Quality Awards are based on assessment ratings from an organisations own clients. They are an indication of an effective business striving for excellence, and worthy of custom.

Director of Barry Plant Rowville, Brenton Wilson said that his team was delighted to receive the notification that they had been nominated by a client for the Australian Business Quality Awards.

“The success of the business relies heavily on our clients and customers experiencing superior customer service, and it is our constant aim to make sure we deliver upon our promise to do so. The company’s Red Carpet message is both customer focused and driven, and we take what that represents very seriously. Winning this award indicates that we are achieving our goal to deliver everyone an excellent service, but more importantly, it shows that our clients recognise and are appreciative our continual efforts to do so”, Mr Wilson said.

Barry Plant Rowville has in place systems and procedures to ensure they always meet the benchmark set within their office for customer service.

“All home owners who sell through Barry Plant Rowville receive our Red Carpet Guarantee, a document which lists important actions that we guarantee to carry out during your dealings with us”, Mr Wilson said.

The staff at Barry Plant Rowville also undertakes regular training programs which concentrate on building client relationships and view this aspect as an integral part of their roles.

“We want to ensure every client is being given a consistently high level of service. By doing so, we believe we achieve complete customer satisfaction and hopefully continue to be recognised for our work in this area.”