Stories From: Community

On my visits to the Central Mountains Men's Shed in Lawson, two things stood out to me: here were a group of men who gained skills, fulfilment and pride from their work at the Shed, and here were a group of men with strong bonds and friendship.

At Provocations, the Seven Valleys Festival of Big Ideas, local high school students, Ollyvar Baker, Samara Kirkland and Jasmin Cole, performed poetry that communicated the future they want to see.

Lithgow features as a backdrop on ABC TV’s The Messenger, as the fictional town of Moledale. This is the story of one of our prized buildings and the community that built, maintained and restored it to become the Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub.

For seven years, Blaxland Preschool Kindergarten has been delivering an innovative nature-based program that encourages adventure & risk-taking. Inspired by Scandinavian Forest Kindergartens, Bush Preschool is offered to children one day a fortnight.

Six Blue Mountains artists take strikingly different approaches to expressing ecological emotions associated with fire, flood and pandemic.

Hamish Dunlop visits Sonters Fern Nursery in Winmalee. David Sonter tells him how the 2013 Winmalee fire destroyed the nursery and spore bank, and of its recovery with a lot of community help.

Leura’s Harvest Festival made a joyful return this year after three years of reluctant hibernation. Volunteer Adele Cannella tells us how the event brings the community together and showcases the Blue Mountains.

In April the Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub launched its first citizen science activity for 2023: the Lake Pillans BioBlitz. I spoke with Alice Blackwood, ecologist and Field Technician at Western Sydney University about citizen science and their findings at Lake Pillans.

What goes on under all those poly-tunnels at Lithgow & District Community Nursery? Get the low down here.

Zig Zag Railway is open again after series of disasters. How does a team of volunteers keep coming back, despite so many adversities ?