Merry festive season!

Star Mail's team Tanya Steele, Andrew Kwon, Kerrie Hollis, Stewart Chambers, Callum Ludwig, Gabriella Vukman, Shamsiya Hussainpoor, Tracey Aitken and Mikayla van Loon.

Well this brings us to the end of another full year – one with everything from environmental challenges, community initiatives and unfortunately, some tragic news too.

But each story we tell, we hope enriches the community and leads to a better informed Yarra Ranges.

None of this would be possible, however, without the ongoing support for our six newspapers, from the readers who pick up a paper copy every week, to the subscribers, advertisers and contributors – local news wouldn’t be able to exist as it does in our communities without you.

As another year draws to a close, the team at Star Mail wish everyone a very happy and safe holiday season with family and friends.

We will be taking a break over the Christmas period and so this will be the last edition of 2024 until our return in early January.

The office will also be closed from Thursday 19 December until Thursday 2 January.

We look forward to bringing you the heartwarming community stories and hard hitting news from Tuesday 7 January with the return of our print editions.

Take care of each other, stay safe if travelling over the New Year period and best wishes for 2025.

The team can’t wait to hear from you when we come back!

– Mikayla van Loon, News Editor