Latest news with #Glenroy
News.com.au
28-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
First-home buyers battle for $640k Glenroy townhouse
A Glenroy couple who brought their newborn son home to 6 Sunbeam St — and later built a backyard deck with help from Dad — have sold their first home under the hammer for $640,000. Matt and Shani Panopoulos had owned the two-bedroom townhouse for eight and a half years, having paid $580,000 in 2017 as first-home buyers. All five auction bidders on Saturday were also first-home buyer hopefuls. Why Sydney buyers are flocking to Melb Tragic side of Aus housing crisis exposed The young family were thrilled to see it go to another buyer starting their journey. 'We bought it in winter, brought our son home in winter, and now we're handing it over in winter, it feels like a full-circle moment,' Mrs Panopoulos said. Their favourite feature was a custom-built deck added with Shani's father, who had mates with spare materials. It became the family's second living area. 'We had coffee there in the mornings, summer dinners, and a little play area for our son,' she said. 'It's a space that really became the heart of our home.' During Covid lockdowns, the second bedroom doubled as a home office, and the parkland across the road became their daily retreat. 'It was perfect,' she said. 'We had nature just across the street and somewhere peaceful to clear our heads. I don't think we realised how lucky we were until we really needed it.' The couple have since upsized closer to extended family, but said they would miss the quiet, neighbourly street and the strong sense of community Glenroy offered. 'It was the perfect first home, easy to care for, beautifully designed, and in a great spot close to everything,' Mr Panopoulos said. 'We were very lucky to find it.' Ray White Glenroy agent Abdullah El Hosari handled the sale and said interest was strong from the start, with the final result soaring $90,000 above the top of the $500,000-$550,000 price guide. 'There's no body corporate, and it's been so well looked after,' Mr El Hosari said. 'You could feel the love and care the moment you walked in.' Mr El Hosari added that limited supply in the winter market had helped fuel strong demand. Ray White Victoria and Tasmania chief auctioneer Matt Condon sold the home under the hammer to a first-home buyer in front of a crowd of onlookers.
ABC News
21-06-2025
- Automotive
- ABC News
Ian McLeod, 95, powering his farm ute and house on waste vegetable oil
The blue farm ute in Ian McLeod's shed costs a couple of dollars a week to run, and his farmhouse power bills are virtually non-existent. In a world searching for sustainable and affordable energy, the 95-year-old farmer is quietly perfecting a personal power system, running on waste vegetable oil. "Most of the farms around here have brand new utes, so when I bought a SsangYong for $1,800 online, people thought I was mad," Mr McLeod laughed. "But when Rudolph Diesel first made the diesel engine, he used vegetable oil. "I thought to myself, 'I could do that,' so I set about finding a ute with a pre-combustion diesel engine and converting it. "Modern engines have to have the highest-grade fuel possible, whereas I deliberately went the other way. "I went for an engine that would run on low-grade fuel." Alongside the ute in Mr McLeod's shed at Glenroy in south-east South Australia are engines and mechanical inventions to purify the vegetable oil he collects from local restaurants. "Nine times out of 10, when I go to a restaurant, they say, 'Just take the oil'. They don't want it. All I have to do is clean it." For that job, Mr McLeod took an old electric separator and made a centrifuge out of the inner bowl, which purifies about 15 litres of oil an hour. "It costs me peanuts because the engine driving the separator is running on the same oil anyway," he said. "My main engine for generating power for the house runs on neat vegetable oil and starts from stone-cold on a freezing, cold morning. "I'm gradually getting it better all the time." For the best part of nine decades, Mr McLeod's remarkable mind for mechanical ingenuity has been known only by close friends, family and his wife Shirley, 92, a retired nurse. "Up until the past four or five years, people had virtually ignored Ian … now they realise he's worth knowing and a lot of people are pests now!" she laughed. As a child, Mr McLeod recalls being awed when his father took him by the hand and showed him a huge steam engine on a thrasher on their outer Melbourne farm. "That sowed a seed in me," he said. By the time he was eight, he had built his first steam engine using a turbine he made inside a Malt Extract can from his mother's kitchen. Mr McLeod also drew on his mechanical mind to overcome the trauma of his early school years. "I was a happy little kid, but I used my left hand to write, and the teacher in charge had a mind to change that and belted me. "It's a sad story; I stuttered then for 40 years and wet the bed until I was about 11 because I was just a bundle of nerves," he said. "So making these little steam engines and fixing things around the farm used to help me; it gave me back a bit of confidence." The McLeods came to the black-soil plains of Glenroy via a converted scrub block at Dorodong in Western Victoria, and the family farm at Bulla near Melbourne. The journey, marked by challenges met with determination, imagination and perseverance, is one which the pair look back upon fondly. "We got away to a pretty rough start on the family farm when the Depression ripped the rug out from under my father and his brother," recalled Mr McLeod. "Shirley was from Northern Queensland and her family pioneered the sugar industry up there. "Times got so tough at one stage, she wanted to go back. "I arranged with her early on — I told her she was free to leave with one condition: I'm coming too." And while they've faced tough times, Mrs McLeod said they had "gone through them together". "Some of our happiest years were when we first started on our own at Dorodong with a shed, two young children and second-hand tractors that Ian rebuilt," she said. Later, at Glenroy, Mr McLeod set his sights on irrigated cropping. "I hired a post-hole digger and, with the help of some local fellows, put five irrigation bores down in one day by hand. "I had to put multiple bores down because I didn't have enough money to buy the piping to connect them." Mr McLeod said he bought a stationary irrigator, which he converted to become self-propelled — one of the first in the country. "It became a useful machine. Then a company from Corowa got wind of it, hopped in a plane, hired a car, came out to the farm and crawled all over it, took photos and said, 'Thanks very much Mac', and I have never heard from them since," he laughed. Over his many years on the land, Mr McLeod has bought broken-down, second-hand and wrecked tractors and headers "for $25 or so" and rebuilt and redesigned them to create exactly the machinery he required for growing his crops. "We harvested our first crop of sunflowers with a $25 header that I rebuilt," he recalled. "I built a windrower, joined two old, wrecked tractors together; made a grain dryer for our maize crop, built weigh scales … I always looked for opportunities to mechanise and become more efficient." As the seasons change in the south-east, and Glenroy's flood-plain past is met with a two-year drought, the McLeods reflect on a long life on the land. "We just live quietly out here in our little nest. We're not part of the social set," Mrs McLeod said. "We've faced some tough times and plenty of good times," Mr McLeod agreed. "When things go wrong, that's an opportunity to find a way around it. "When things go smoothly, I get bored."
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Uriah Rennie: Sheffield figures pay tribute to former referee
Trailblazing former Premier League referee Uriah Rennie has been described as a "proud Sheffielder" who will be sadly missed in his adopted was the top flight's first black referee and took charge of more than 300 matches between between 1997 and 2008. Outside of football he worked as a magistrate and, last month, took up the role of chancellor of Sheffield Hallam partner, Jayne, and his older brother, Glenroy, said he would be "so very sadly missed", following his death aged 65. In a statement, they said: "Our family have appreciated all the support from the nursing teams from Northern General and Weston Park Hospitals, plus close family and friends during the past few weeks at such a difficult time."Born in Jamaica, Rennie moved to Sheffield as a child. In April he revealed he was learning to walk again after a rare condition left him paralysed from the waist sports minister Richard Caborn said Sheffield had "lost one of its favourite sons". Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, Caborn, a former MP for Sheffield Central, said: "He was born in Jamaica but he was adopted by this city and adopted by the great sport of football."I was with him a couple of weeks ago at Weston Park Hospital and he was really on great form, so last night when I received the news it was really, really sad news because we thought he was on the mend." Caborn said he had been "really, really proud" to have been appointed the new chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University. The university's vice chancellor, Liz Mossop, said Rennie had been a "trailblazer for inclusion in sport", as well as a "man of great integrity with a fierce commitment to equity and inclusion". She added: "On behalf of the entire University community I want to express our shock and sadness at the news of Uri's death. "Uri had only just begun his role as the University's Chancellor, but even in this short time he had already made a profound impact, challenging us to be bolder in our ambitions and how we should truly live our values. We were greatly looking forward to working with him.""Uri was a proud Sheffielder and family man, deeply committed to the city and to helping people from resilient communities to achieve their potential."South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard offered his condolences to Rennie's family and "many, many friends". "He broke down barriers and lifted others up," Coppard said."As well as his work in football, he campaigned to promote inclusion in sport and worked as a magistrate in Sheffield. May his memory be a blessing." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
News.com.au
25-05-2025
- News.com.au
Man's body located after suspected fight at home in Glenroy, Melbourne
A man has been found dead inside a home in Melbourne's north, with police suspecting a fight may have broken out before his death. The man's body was found at a property in Glenroy at about 3pm on Sunday. Police believe the man and another person may have been in an altercation at the house the night before. It is believed the parties were known to one another. 'The exact circumstances surrounding the man's death are yet to be determined and investigations remain ongoing,' a police statement read. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
ABC News
25-05-2025
- ABC News
Police say there was altercation at Glenroy house where man was found dead
Homicide squad detectives are investigating the death of a man at Glenroy, in Melbourne's north, on Sunday. Victoria Police said the man was found dead at a property in Bindi Street just before 3pm. Investigators believe an altercation between known parties took place at the residence the previous evening. Police said the exact circumstances surrounding the man's death were yet to be determined and investigations were ongoing. Anyone with information has been urged to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.
