Tell us a bit about you and what you do?
My name is Vicki Catchpole. I have lived in Hume for the last 20 years. I have been an artist most of my life. I live with my husband and two teenage kids, who attend local schools. We enjoy exploring the many walking trails with our dog and sometimes bikes. I work as a nurse, and do painting as a stress relief.
What’s your connection to Hume?
I enjoy the support for artists in Hume at the Craigieburn art group. The art group has been a great support for developing my art. I am now the president there, and I am honoured to assist in helping other artists learn and become established in Hume. We are a multicultural group of about 30 adult artists, of varied ages, who meet on Mondays to paint, at Selwyn House in Craigieburn. We now have two group exhibitions each year at the Hume Global Learning Centre in Craigieburn. Our next one starts on August 4, and includes a range of mediums.
What do you like about where you live?
I often photograph places nearby, in the Woodlands Park and surrounds, using the photos as reference for my artwork. We also enjoy listening to the frogs, and spotting the wildlife, including kangaroos, blue tongue lizards, kookaburras and other birds. We have a wide choice of sports to join in locally. Activity and social connection is so important to maintain healthy bodies and minds.
What, if anything, would you change about where you live?
I would like to see the bike tracks better maintained, and more connected to enable better access from all the new housing developments. It seems that the infrastructure is far behind the local developers. I have seen many kids doing the mad dash across Mickleham Road, trying to get to school, where there are no footpaths either way to the nearest pedestrian crossings. With all of the roadworks happening at the same time, many people are frustrated with no clear roads to get to work or school, and having many near misses. I hope it won’t take a kid to get run over for road developers to get their act together. I would like the council to set up bike riding groups on the school holidays, for different ages and neurodivergent kids who find it difficult to make friends. I have given the same feedback in the many council surveys. I have also noticed that a lot of people travel into the city or across to Epping to access healthcare. I had initially heard that Donnybrook was going to be the Geelong of the north, but there is still no hint of a tertiary health care hospital.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Overall, we love our home and green surroundings, not too far from the city or country. We have friendly neighbours and a supportive community, that we hope to have for many more years.
