SPECIALISING IN COACH TRAVEL

EXTENDED TOURS, DAY TRIPS & THEATRE SHOWS

D A Y T R I P S

The Great Synagogue, Sydney

Tuesday 29 August 2023 - $115

Includes: Light morning tea en-route, guided tour of The Great Synagogue, lunch at The Juniors at Kingsford and return coach transport

Tulip Top Gardens

Monday 18 September 2023 - $125

Includes: light morning tea, entry to the gardens, lunch onsite and return coach transport

Miss Saigon the Musical

Wednesday 11 October 2023, 1 pm matinee, $235

Includes: ticket to Miss Saigon, showing at the Sydney Opera House, and return coach transport

Pick up locations from Gerringong through to Wollongong

E X T E N D E D T O U R

Echuca & The Mighty Murray River

Sunday 10 to Saturday 16 September 2023

$2725 per person twin share Add $515 for singles

Tour Highlights: Port of Echuca Tour, Great Aussie Beer Shed, Murray River Paddlesteamers day cruise, National Holden Motor Museum, The Spanner Man, Sharps Magic Movie House, The Big Strawberry and Chocolate Apple Factory

Price includes: 6 nights’ accommodation at Wagga Wagga (1), Echuca (4) and Albury (1), breakfasts, dinners, light morning teas, all lunches, entry to all attractions and coach pickup and drop off from your home in the Illawarra area

One of Kiama’s prominent pieces of architecture is the wavy steel statue in Manning Street, not far from Kiama Council Chambers.

It’s known as the Joseph Weston Statue, and was erected in 2009 as part of Kiama Council’s 150th anniversary celebrations. The sculpture, created by Vivienne Lowe, is also called ‘Wave’, and was paid for and commissioned by Margaret Weston, proprietor of WestonPress until her death in 2012.

Joseph Weston established the Kiama Independent newspaper, which went on to become the oldest family-owned newspaper in Australia. The paper was owned and managed by the Weston family for 142 years until it was sold to Southern Independent Publishers in 2005, who sold it to Fairfax Publishing. The Kiama Independent ceased trading in 2020.

Joseph Weston was an Alderman on Kiama Council for many years, and was an early proponent of the first dairy farmers’ cooperative in Australia in the 1880s. He was also actively involved in obtaining a fresh water supply for Kiama.

After his death in 1913, Kiama Council erected a monument in honour of Joseph Weston’s work for the community. Council chose to erect the monument outside Council Chambers as it’s where the original premises for the Kiama Independent was located.

The monument was originally a drinking fountain designed by Walter MacFarlane, and was manufactured by his company, Saracen Foundry in Glasgow, Scotland. The fountain consisted of a single pedestal basin with four decorative columns rising from an octagonal

Unfortunately, the original statue was hit by a truck during an accident in the 1950s that also took out the Kiama Obelisk, which led to it being relocated to the opposite corner of the Kiama Post Office. When the new memorial was unveiled in 2009, an anonymous local resident supplied a picture showing that the original Joseph Weston fountain was now in their own garden!

The support The Bugle has received from residents of the Kiama show that strong, independent local news is alive and well, and we’re honoured and privileged at The Bugle to keep it alive!

by Mark Whalan

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Post COVID and all the pressures of modern technology in a fast paced world, it’s our kids that often suffer without the right coping mechanisms. It’s rare to find a family that it hasn’t been affected to some extent. Fortunately our area is very proactive with addressing this.

There’s no shortage of research indicating supportive connections with others are crucial for mental wellbeing, and that these can provide a measure of protection against anxiety and depression.

A recent suite of workshop programs run in Kiama (1524 yr olds) and an Australia-wide survey into loneliness (16-26 yr olds) have sought to delve further into understanding the mental wellbeing concerns of young people.

Dr Monty Badami is an anthropologist, speaker, facilitator and coach, as well as an officer in the Australian Army Reserves. He is also a parent and a Kiama local. In 2021, Dr Badami’s social enterprise Habitus, (which had worked previously with both Kiama High and Kiama Primary) was approached by a number of young people from Kiama who wanted support to make sense of the recent rise in youth suicides in the area. The last few years was really hard, and one of their biggest concerns was the feeling they weren’t being listened to.

The Lifehacks program was created and delivered by Habitus (in partnership with Sonder Youth and #Talk2MeBro) to uncover and clarify how young people in Kiama were really thinking and feeling – by asking them.

It was an opportunity to share their stories and their voices, with the program reinforcing the benefit of asking people with a lived experience of a situation, before trying to create community interventions.

The program was funded by the 2021 Youth Opportunities Grant from the Department of Communities and Justice, with additional support from The Kiama Lions Club, The Kiama Leagues Club, and Makuta Youth.

To date, 60 young local people have attended the two-day Lifehacks workshops (two in 2022 and one in early 2023), with six under 18s trained as mentors and assisting in the later workshops.

Dr Badami explains that thanks to the ‘very generous support of Makuta Youth, we can train local community members to continue to deliver the Lifehacks program in the area’. (Makuta Youth is a Kiama-based charity raising funds to support established suicide prevention and wellbeing initiatives in our community).

On 19 July, Kiama Council and SENTRAL Youth Services Kiama organised a presentation of the Lifehacks Whitepaper for the Kiama community at the Pavilionwith the Mayor, Councillors and other local bodies and community organisations represented.

Dr Badami said of the evening that he was ‘so proud of the young people, proud of the program and proud of our community’ and that it ‘genuinely felt like a watershed moment for our community’.

Below is a broad summation of the Lifehacks participants’ survey responses and feedback:

• Young people know what support is available and how to maintain good mental health, but they crave more connection.

• Young people value their relationships with adults, but need us to trust them.

• Young people are struggling and want adults to try to see things from their perspective.

• Young people know what they want for their immediate future, but feel that it isn’t enough to satisfy the desires or aspirations of their parents.

To find out more about the Kiama Lifehacks

Nowra or Ulladulla can apply via www.sonderyouth. com/changemakers or email lucy@sonderyouth.com.

There are still some places available for the next Kiama intake, commencing later in August.

Moving from the local area to the national youth mental wellbeing landscape, on Sunday 30 July, the annual International Day of Friendship, ReachOut released a report on the impacts of loneliness on Australian young people.

The report (based on a national survey of over 660 young people aged 16-26), identified that nearly 60 per of support from their friends and family, a need for closer relationships, a need for people to talk to and hopes to find new connections.

The full report can be found at: Craving Connection: How Loneliness is Impacting Young People’s Mental Health. ReachOut Australia is anonymous, free and 100 per cent online.

Support Resources:

• NSW Health Mental Health Support Services for Children and Young People

• SENTRAL Youth Services

KiamaSonder Youth

• Beyond Blue

• ReachOut Australia has cent of young people are concerned, stressed or worried

CEO of ReachOut, Ashley de Silva, explained that the ‘International Day of Friendship’ was an important opportunity to highlight young peoples’ experiences of loneliness and to encourage young people to seek

He said that not only did the report highlight loneliness as a major issue for young Australians, but that ‘loneliness can affect mood mental health and wellbeing, and other areas of a young person’s life including sleep, appetite and relationships’.

In fact, a whopping 82 per cent of those worried about loneliness believed this was having a moderate or major impact on their mental

Many of those surveyed expressed a perceived lack support information on loneliness and friendship, an Online Community and one-to-one peer support via ReachOut PeerChat.

ReachOut also has information for parents supporting young people on loneliness and friendships, a parents forum and a one-one-one parents coaching service. ReachOut encourages safe reporting about mental ill-health and suicide and encourages media to report according to the Mindframe guidelines.

by Bellinda Dunn