Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to remark on a couple of milestones in our local community of the Ryan electorate. Last week I visited Fran Alt at the Bellbowrie Bakery to thank her for her 29 years of trade. My local community will be sad to see the Bellbowrie Bakery close its doors this weekend on 26 June. I know that for many Fran is a smiling face that you see every morning for your coffee and breakfast. For others Fran is the go-to for Christmas mince pies. One local loves Fran's mince pies so much that, despite the closing this weekend, they have already ordered 36 Christmas mince pies to freeze for later this year. The Bellbowrie Bakery has been operating for 29 years. A lot of small businesses barely last a year or five years, so 29 years is an enormous achievement. The bakery has been the centre for three generations of the family behind the till. The 2011 floods almost closed the bakery for good, but the community rallied to assist with the clean-up and to get Fran back on her feet. When Fran started at the Bellbowrie shopping centre in 1992 her children, Liam and Natasha, were just teenagers. Now they work in the business, as does Fran's granddaughter, and I know she's terribly proud of this family connection. After selling more than a million pies, sausage rolls, loaves of bread and pastries, Fran has decided it is time to hang up her apron and retire. Fran, on behalf of our local community, I thank you for your service to the community over those many, many years and I wish you all the very best for your retirement.

It's fete season again, and after COVID it's fantastic to be getting out and about with these events in our local community of Ryan. We had two fantastic fetes over the weekend. First was the fete at Hillsdon Kindergarten, where my son, Theo, attends. He was very excited. He attends a lot of school and fete events with me in my role, so it was exciting for him to get to go to the one at his very own kindy. I thank the volunteers and staff at Hillsdon Kindergarten for the incredible work that they did putting together what was a tremendously successful event.

Likewise, the Payne Road State School had its 50th anniversary fete on the weekend. It was a milestone that they should have celebrated last year but didn't get to, of course, because of COVID. Regardless of that, we held the 50th anniversary—a little bit late—and it was a very successful fete. The school opened in 1970 with 88 foundation students, and they're going strong. They have a wonderful and vibrant community and I enjoyed their company on the weekend. I want to thank Kym and the whole team of volunteers, and Nicky, the school's principal, for all the hard work that they've done to bring that community back together after last year for a very successful fete. I wish them all the best.