21/09/2026
OFF at Lugarno Lions Club Festival
It was very hot and sunny yesterday when OFF had a stall set up at the Lugarno Lions Festival at Gannons Park. We had a variety of activities on offer to the festival visitors including plenty of informative brochures on local birds, plants and walking tracks and our forward program of expert speakers and field days, all in high demand.
Mark Secombe, the Greater Sydney Landcare’s Streamwatch Coordinator was on hand to demonstrate the finer points of water quality sampling and monitoring including all the different types of water bugs that, when collected and aggregated, give you a good indication of the health, or otherwise, of a creek or stream. It’s remarkable what abundance of life can be found (or not found) in the waters using a simple microscope. He also demonstrated, using a 3D catchment model, how stormwater flows through the catchment taking with it any of the many pollutants to be found on our roads, foot paths, reserves and our properties ending up in creeks and rivers. A salutary lesson in looking after our local environment.
Friends of Glenlee and Lugarno Progress Association along with OFF are petitioning the NSW Government to Save Glenlee, Lugarno. Development of the site would be a devastating loss to the local community. Many people at the festival stepped up to sign the petition to acquire the site making it a worthy addition to the Georges River National Park.
By lunch time and early afternoon the heat became oppressive and lots of visitors were seeking any shade they could find, some taking refuge in the shadows of the OFF gazebos. Despite the heat it was an interesting and enjoyable day engaging with festival goers.
