Shoreham Bush Chapel

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  • 2025 AGM

    Our official 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the CYMCA was held on Saturday, 22nd November at 2:00 PM at the Shoreham Community Hall – Byrnes Road, Shoreham.

    A smallish – yet enthusiastic – audience (including local Councillor David Gill) attended and several others joined us via Zoom.  Our President Barry Furness reported on progress over the past twelve months and also our plans for next year – including our major interpretive signage project. Treasurer Bill Genat reported that we remain in a sound financial position with funding in place for the signage work.

    New Committee

    Peter Renkin assumed the Chair while all positions were declared vacant. We are very fortunate that almost everyone agreed to remain on Committee giving us great stability for the coming year – the exception being Ian Young who decided not to re-nominate.

    A vote of thanks was made to Ian for all his work for the Chapel from the early days – including being instrumental in the Chapel being recognised as a War Memorial.

    Changes in roles:

    • Carol McIvor has stepped down from being Vice-President, staying on as an ‘ordinary’ committee member.
    • Lois Young took on the Vice-President role.

    Presentation

    Once the formal AGM processes were completed, Bill then presented a very interesting slide show which resulted from his research at sources such as the State Library and also included photos from Barry’s extensive collection.

    Our “featured image” above shows an example – the full photo appears below:

    Standing room only – part of the crowd at the Opening Ceremony (1951)

  • We won a Heritage Award!

    On the 3rd July 2025, the Cyril Young Memorial Chapel Association won a 2025 Mornington Peninsula Heritage Award for Restoration of a Heritage Place. The citation was for:


    “RESTORATION OF THE STONE PLATFORM, LECTERN AND PULPIT
    AND SEVERAL ROWS OF SEATING IN THE FORMER OUTDOOR BUSH
    CHAPEL OF CAMP IN THE BUXTON WOODLAND RESERVE
    MARINE PARADE SHOREHAM”.

    Our headline photo above shows our president Barry Furness, second from right, accepting the award on behalf of the Association. Glen Parker from Lotus Landscapes (second from left) also won an award for Excellence in Trade Skills for his work on our project.

    All Heritage Award winners on the night

    We acknowledge and thank the photographer, Yanni Creative for both photos from the event.

    The awards are judged by a panel comprised of a Heritage Officer from the Mornington Peninsula Shire, a member of the National Trust conservation team and Mornington Peninsula branch representatives.

    This is what we started with…

    We’ve done what we can given that the rear of the Chapel remains in private ownership. Go and have a look!

    Our next project stage is to install some interpretive signage to help put everything in context.

  • More pews!

    Three more additional rows of seats on both sides of the Chapel have been installed.

    Photo courtesy of Ann R.

    As it happened, our builder suddenly had opportunity to construct the two sets of additional rows when a gap in his schedule opened up. He had already cast the seat bases needed.

    We were then able to negotiate a change in our funding priorities to match. This is more-or-less the limit of what can be done with restoring the seating while part of the Chapel remains on private property.

    Postscript: word gets around fast !

    Here a group from Balnarring, Flinders and Red Hill pause for quiet reflection – while seated on the restored bench seats.

    Our thanks to Alison for capturing the moment.

  • Cyril Young Memorial Chapel Association AGM 2024

    The 2024 Annual General Meeting of the CYMCA is planned for Friday 15th November, 2024 at 2.00 pm at the Shoreham CFA, Byrnes Road, Shoreham .

    There will also be an on-line option for those who can’t be there in person.  We will forward a Zoom link closer to the date.

    All are welcome.

    The CFA has generously offered its premises for our meeting.  However, please note – there is strictly no parking in CFA grounds – in case of an emergency call-out.  Ample parking is available nearby in Byrnes Rd and Cliff Rd.

    We would also like to remind you that annual subscription fees of $20.00 are due now.  The membership (renewal) form is linked below.

    Please join us for the AGM to hear about our achievements during the past year and plans for the year ahead.  Stay for a cup of tea and chat following the meeting. If you are not already registered with us, please send a message to us at shorehambushchapel@gmail.com and we will send you the Zoom link when available.

    Please find the links below to our Membership and Committee/Office Bearer nomination forms:

    cymca nomination form 2024-25Download
    cycma membership form 2024-25Download

  • 2024 Plants are all in the ground!

    After several weeding and planting working bees, our annual allocation of plants from the Shire are all in the ground – bushing up the entrance area to the Chapel off Marine Parade.

    Drizzly rain could not deter a record-breaking turn-out for our regular working bee on 8/6/2024 from getting the final tranche of plants in – ably assisted by Council’s contractor Angela from NatureLinks.

    Congratulations to Sue (the group leader), Kate, Ann, Alison, Andrew, Bill, Viola and John for their sterling efforts on the day.

    The tree guards provide a more benign climate for the young plants, protection from the Swamp Wallabies and clearly signpost where the plants are ahead of slashing and other maintenance later in the cycle.

  • Cyril Young Memorial Chapel Association AGM

    The 2023 Annual General Meeting of the CYMCA is planned for Thursday 23rd November, 2023 at 7.00 pm. The meeting will be conducted on-line.

    All are welcome.

    Please join us for the AGM to hear our President, Barry Furness, talk about our work during the past year, plans for the year ahead and respond to any questions you may have. Our activities during the past year include –

    • Obtaining a large supply of Jarrah timber from Western Australia to restore the bench seats in the Chapel.  Jarrah was the timber used for the original seating but is difficult to source these days. 
    • Presenting to Planning Panels Victoria in support of amending the Mornington Peninsula Planning Scheme to apply a Heritage Overlay to the entire Chapel area.  The amendment was officially gazetted on 31st August.
    • Setting up this website to keep Members, Friends and the wider community up to date about the project.
    • Developing a plan for interpretive signage in Buxton Reserve, between Marine Parade and the Chapel, to inform visitors of the history of Camp Buxton in general and the significance of the Chapel in particular.
    • Monthly working bees to maintain the Chapel site and surrounds, including a planting morning with the Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation group which resulted in more than 500 new plants in Buxton Reserve.

    Members and Friends will be automatically sent the Zoom link closer to the date.

    If you are not already registered with us, please send a message to us at shorehambushchapel@gmail.com and we will send you the Zoom link when available.

    Please find the links below to our Membership and Committee/Office Bearer nomination forms:

    cycma-membership-form-2023-24Download
    cymca-nomination-form-2023-24Download

  • Progress on the Interpretive Signage

    We’ve reached the stage of requesting quotations on the Interpretive Signage from suitably qualified graphic designers.

    We extend our thanks to Russell Barrett (renowned architect with special interests in Heritage matters and President, Shoreham Community Association) for his recommendations on suitable designers.

    Fund-raising to follow!

  • Amended Heritage Overlay now in force

    The Heritage Overlay amendment C239 has now been officially gazetted.  The changes recommended by Planning Panels Victoria were accepted by Council last year but had to be approved by the Minister for Planning and published in the Victorian Government Gazette before being formally part of the Mornington Peninsula Planning Scheme.

    The amendment means that all of the Chapel is now covered by a Heritage Overlay, whereas until now, it only applied to the section on private land.  The amended overlay also includes the fire-pit in the vicinity of the Chapel and protects the remaining camp outbuildings.

  • Jarrah arrives!

    We were fortunate to secure a supply of recycled Jarrah, the same timber used for the original chapel seating, at a very good price.

    Jarrah is hard to come by in Victoria these days in suitable dimensions but committee member Bill Genat managed to locate some in Western Australia and arrange for its purchase, transportation and re-milling.

    Seat tops (three boards wide)

    Bill has since processed the timber with appropriate preservation treatments.

    Seat battens to be attached to concrete supports

    We also thank local builder Alan Machin, for helping with its
    transportation from Dandenong to Shoreham after the timber was re-milled.

  • Heritage Changes Adopted

    Following the Shire’s Planning Services Committee Meeting on Monday, 24 October 2022, and having considered the Planning Panel’s Report, Council resolved to adopt the HO127 amendment with changes as recommended by the Panel. Please see here for details.

    In due course, these changes should be approved by the Minister for Planning.

    The CYMCA is pleased that the existing anomaly will be corrected and that the former Camp Buxton fire-pit will also be protected. All this helps to preserve Shoreham’s heritage.