British India to play Drifters Wharf

Melbourne indie rock band British India will play at Drifters Wharf in Gosford on Friday, April 21.

Recently awarded both ARIA Platinum and Gold Record status for their songs I Can Make You Love Me and Suddenly, due to increased streaming during the pandemic, the band has survived COVID restrictions and is launching a 23 date national tour.

Formed in high school, the band’s critically acclaimed debut album Guillotine won an AIR Award in 2007 along with a Triple J album of the year nomination.

The band has since released six albums, have had five ARIA Top 10 debuts and earned eight entries into the Hottest 100.

It gained a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in the country, notching up more than 1,000 headline shows in metro and regional Australia, along with performances at all the major festivals across the country.

“For a band that has always felt like outsiders – too nerdy, too abrasive, too badly dressed – hitting milestones like gold and platinum feels so satisfying,” vocalist/guitarist Declan Melia said.

“I know as indie musicians we’re supposed to act like we don’t care about accolades and industry recognition – but that would be disingenuous.

“I’m thrilled that so many people enjoy British India.

“It suggests to me that even when we couldn’t tour through COVID, people still sought out our music.

“Also, I feel like both of these – I Can Make You Love Me and Suddenly – were high watermarks of creativity and expression in our songwriting.

Golden celebration for Inner Wheel club

The Inner Wheel Club of Gosford North celebrated its golden anniversary on March 8 with a luncheon at Linton Gardens Somersby with 85 men and women enjoying the day.

Fifty years of fun, friendship and service to the community began when the club was chartered on March 2, 1973.

The Gosford Bowling Club was the initial meeting place, with 19 members and the late Cecily Roberts as inaugural president.

Charter member Joan Williams, helped by current member Colleen Boyce, cut the cake at the anniversary celebration.

President Chris Hirons welcomed members and friends from as far as Scone and District women from Sydney.

A slide presentation told the story of the club’s years servicing the community while leading to lifelong friendships.

The club now has a membership of 40 very active women who meet monthly and organise fundraisers to aid the vulnerable in our community, nationally and internationally. Meanwhile, the club has donated a fully laden car of warm pyjamas and trackies to a very grateful We Care Connect following a successful stall at Kincumber Shopping Centre.

We Care Connect supports vulnerable children living on the Central Coast, with more than 10,000 children living below the poverty line in the region.

It has been operating since 2016 and the number of those needing help, especially since COVID, has grown more than tenfold since that time.

This year the charity hopes to support more than 4,500 children.

The Inner Wheel club holds regular craft stalls inside the Kincumber Shopping Centre, with the next one a Mother’s Day stall planned for Friday, April 14.

The stall will be open from 9am to 4pm featuring a range of beautiful handcrafted gifts.

Members of Inner Wheel are all volunteers and all funds raised are donated to local, national and international organisations.

For further details check out the Inner Wheel Club of Gosford North Facebook page or Inner Wheel’s website.

“After we recorded them, we all really felt like we had tapped into something special.”

British India’s Rolled Gold 2023 tour kicked off on February 10 in Perth and ends in Brisbane in May.

“It makes us super excited to get on stages again to celebrate these two tracks and all the others in our body of work,” Melia said.

Joining Melia in the line-up are Jack Tosi (lead guitar), Will Drummond (bass) and Matt O’Gorman (drums).

British India plays Drifters Wharf at 8.30pm on April 21. Tickets are available via www.britishindia.oztix.com. au.