Joan Leeds may have only operated the Bangalow Post Office for a short time, but she left her mark on the village. Known for her risqué banter, quick wit and easy friendliness, she was never one for bland small talk across the counter. Customers queueing to collect packages – large and small – were just as likely to receive a cheeky aside as efficient service.

Now Joan has taken that natural comic instinct and put it to the test, recently completing Mandy Nolan’s Cranky Women comedy course – a workshop designed to help women of a certain age find their voice, shape their stories and say the things they have been ruminating on and raging about for years.

Joan saw a Facebook post looking for “cranky women” interested in comedy. “I wrote back, ‘I’m 69. I’ve got bloody lots to say.’”

And with that, she was in.

The first workshop took place at the Drill Hall Theatre in Mullumbimby. More than a dozen women arrived, most of them strangers, from different backgrounds and different decades of life experience. But they shared a sense that something inside them was ready to be voiced.

“It turned into comedy therapy, to be really honest,” Joan says.

Before anyone worked on punchlines, Mandy’s comedy students were invited to loosen up physically. “We had to do silly dances,” she says. “I have no rhythm at all so you can imagine how well that worked for me.” The laughter began there, awkward and freeing.

Then the mood shifted.

Each woman was asked to stand before the group and speak about the one thing that was truly upsetting or worrying her. That was when the hearts began to crack open and the emotions seeped out. Or in some cases, flooded.

What followed was raw and confronting. Some women spoke about grief, others about illness, family strain or isolation. One confessed she was afraid she would not be able to stop crying – and then proceeded to bawl her eyes out.

“The courage of those women was just incredible. There were so many hugs,” says Joan.

For Joan, who has never been shy of conversation, the exercise was unexpectedly powerful. “It wasn’t what I thought I was signing myself up for,” she says. “But once you make yourself vulnerable like that, you’ve got nothing to lose.”

Only after that emotional clearing, and the shaking off of the rusted-on armour of survival, broken hearts and broken dreams, could the laughter begin.

In smaller groups, each participant shared an embarrassing story, a mortifying anecdote or cringe-worthy gaff. Later, someone else in the group had to retell it on stage – embellishment and poetic licence essential.

“It was hilarious,” Joan says. “The way people could take your story and make it sound like it happened to them. Make something that was already awkward even more unbearable and hysterical.” On stage, humiliation transformed into shared laughter.

Joan’s own story involved a sudden and unfortunate gastrointestinal incident in the freezer aisle of a supermarket. Her improvised escape strategy – involving a reusable shopping bag and a swift exit – became, in the retelling, comedy gold.

Yet the course was not only about confession. It was about craft.

“I didn’t know how to write comedy,” says the naturally funny Joan. “I usually just feed off what’s in front of me. That’s just me. But Mandy taught us about the structure, the set-up. It’s a skill.”

Participants were coached in microphone technique, projection, where to stand and how to use their hands. They learned how to look at an audience without staring down a single person in terror. They workshopped their material one-on-one, refining wording and sharpening jokes.

Joan’s final routine drew heavily on her time at the Post Office, particularly her frustration with customers glued to their smartphones.

“I used to say, ‘I don’t need another app!’ but you bloody do,” she says. “If you want to know where your parcel is, you need the app.”

A cheeky reference to actor Liam Hemsworth and an imagined “big package” at the counter – polished with Nolan’s guidance – added another layer of bawdy humour, very much in keeping with the wit locals remember.

On the night of the final performance, Mandy MCed, warming the room and stepping in between performers to keep the flow of the evening.

“It was a high,” Joan says. “I’m up there doing my thing and people are laughing. I’m like, this is great.”

What moved her most, however, was watching the transformation of the other women.

“There were women with absolutely zero confidence,” she says. “From ‘I can’t stop crying’ to standing up there and making ceiling mould funny. Every one of them landed well. It was bloody brilliant.”

For Joan, the course was cathartic in ways she did not anticipate. It was not just about being cranky. It was about being heard.

At 69, she is not winding down. She is cranking things up. Whether she returns to the stage remains to be seen. Life, as always, is moving – in more ways than one.

Cranky that you missed it?

The next Cranky Women’s Comedy course runs on Sunday 17 May, 9am-3pm at Coorabell Hall with a performance at the hall on Friday 22 May.

The course cost is $150 for the full day, and funds raised at the Comedy Show performance will help support the SHIFT project.

mandynolan.com.au

Header image Cranky Women’s Comedy’s first graduates  Photo Lyn McCarthy – Niche Pictures

When Australian composer, performer and writer Eddie Perfect – the Tony-nominated creator of Broadway’s Beetlejuice the Musical and King Kong – chooses to redevelop a work with a regional company, you take notice. When he then hands that company the keys to premiere the newly reimagined production, you realise you are witnessing something big.

And 19-28 March, BTC will present Vivid White at Brunswick Picture House, a newly imagined work that evolved from an intimate and interactive workshop process with Eddie Perfect himself.

For Bangalow’s Joel Cooper (who plays celebrity architect Evan Prescott and co-produced the development phase) – the journey has been extraordinary.

“It has been incredible on so many levels,” he says. “For the company to be working so intimately and closely with Eddie – someone of his esteem – has just been so amazing.”

The relationship began with BTC’s production of Eddie’s play The Beast, directed by BTC co-founder and fellow Bangalow resident Anouska Gammon. That bold, left-field work struck a chord with Northern Rivers audiences and went on to earn multiple awards and widespread recognition, cementing BTC’s reputation for ambitious, intelligent theatre.

“The Beast really translated well for our local audiences,” Joel says. “They are receiving new theatre in a really open way, and that’s exciting.”

That openness planted a seed.

Eddie first wrote a version of Vivid White for Melbourne Theatre Company in 2017 but had always felt passionate about reworking and revisiting the piece, giving it more time in the creative development space. “The stars aligned when he saw that BTC was performing The Beast and he called Anouska and offered BTC the opportunity to be the vessel of redevelopment of the work.

A small cast assembled for a workshop process that was anything but routine. Eddie arrived with new material, rewrites and songs still taking shape. The work was a living, breathing, pulsing project that fused enthusiasm and experience in an organic and compelling way.

“He was writing songs in the space with us,” Joel says. “The outcome was to complete the show and see some new ideas and new character arcs and how they would land within the context of the work. We were just blown away.”

Importantly, the workshop was not a guarantee of performance rights. “It was never like, let’s workshop this and then you can do it,” Joel explains. “There were still a lot of questions around the show, and the future of the piece remained in Eddie’s hands.”

But the BTC held quiet hopes that they would be entrusted to light up the piece on stage for its debut.

Months later, after Eddie had stepped into the title role of Beetlejuice in Australia, BTC reached out again.

“There was a moment where we, as a theatre company, said ‘We really want to do this. We think we can tackle this,’” Joel says. Anouska spoke to Eddie and “And he said, let’s do it. Let’s take it to season.”

For a volunteer-driven regional company, that trust speaks volumes – and reflects the strength of leadership within BTC. Under Anouska’s direction, the company has consistently embraced challenging, contemporary work while nurturing a deep well of local talent.

“We’re all volunteers pouring our heart and soul into it. To be recognised at that level and for Eddie to trust us in that process was phenomenal,” Joel says.

Even now, the shape of the show is transmuting. Songs have shifted. The ending has been transfigured more than once.

“The piece is alive,” Joel says. “Eddie and Anouska and the creative team are back and forth every week. ‘How did this land? How is this song working?’ We’ve just flipped the ending again and now have this fabulous, hilarious ending song that was never in the iteration of the show.”

For BTC, this process has tapped into a collaborative flow-state fuelled by creative resonance.

“Bangalow Theatre Company has never had to work like this – being so agile and having the writer be such an active part of the whole production timeline.”

The play follows two university friends who have taken vastly different paths: Evan Prescott (played by Joel), now a television celebrity architect, and his former peer, who has wound up working in community housing. The tension erupts at a house auction, and much tension pivots on the extreme collision between renters and buyers – particularly poignant in the midst of a housing crisis.

“It’s very topical,” Joel says. “It leans into the issue of housing and will make people feel uncomfortable – not in a negative way, but in a holding-a-mirror-up-to-society way.”

His character, Evan, walks that fault line.

“Evan has had to succeed in the world as it is, not in the world as it should be,” says Joel quoting a line from the play.

“He’s constantly in turmoil between two worlds,” Joel says. “He’s got the success, the money, the richness, but he’s watching the world he knew crumble away.”

At its heart, Vivid White is a satire about property, ambition and the Australian dream. The title itself references the Dulux paint colour – a nod to renovation culture and aspirational aesthetics that is so synonymous with our postcode.

Like Perfect’s earlier works, the show tackles big ideas through satire and comedy rather than didacticism.

“It’s these big topics all painted in the stroke of satire and comedy,” Joel says. “We hope the audience leaves feeling inspired and challenged, but they’ve also had an absolutely raucous night at the theatre.”

For theatre lovers in the Northern Rivers, this production is more than a season announcement. It is evidence of the calibre of talent working quietly – and now not so quietly – in our region.

To workshop a major musical with a Broadway-calibre Australian artist is rare. To premiere the finished work is extraordinary.

For Bangalow Theatre Company, it is both a milestone and a statement: regional theatre can be fearless, sophisticated and significant.

And for those of us lucky enough to sit in the audience, it promises to be a blindingly good night out.

Sally Schofield

Vivid White

19 – 28 March Brunswick Picture House
brunswickpicturehouse.com
Presented by Bangalow Theatre Company and Brunswick Picture House

When Zoe Olive first dreamt up the Bangalow Buckle Challenge in 2018, she wasn’t chasing ribbons or prestige – she wanted to open the gates of horsemanship to everyone. The result is a uniquely inclusive competition that’s grown from 39 competitors in its first year to more than 100 horses converging on the Bangalow Showgrounds annually, all vying for the coveted silver buckle.

“It started because I saw riders who wanted to give stock horse challenges a go, but felt intimidated by the strict rules around registration, gear and presentation,” says Zoe. “So I created something independent, more accessible, where it didn’t matter what breed your horse was or what saddle you used – you just had to give it a go.”

The Bangalow Buckle Challenge is now a two-day event held annually in early March, with categories designed to cater to all levels of rider experience and horse age. From juniors and youth encouragement classes to open super horse and master rider divisions, every entrant has the opportunity to develop and showcase their horsemanship across a variety of skills.

“We don’t run a full campdraft,” Zoe explains, adding that each competitor rides four core patterns: a hack (a flatwork sequence judged on movement and presentation), a utility pattern (obstacles such as gates, poles and side-passing), a working pattern (showing agility and responsiveness often used in stock work) and cattle work. “We call it ‘beast work’ – it’s a controlled introduction where each rider gets two minutes with a single beast in the arena, aiming to demonstrate control, movement and flow.”

Campdrafting, which you may have seen in action at the Bangalow Show, requires a rider to select a single beast from a small group, separate it from the mob in a yard (or “camp”), and then guide it through a cloverleaf-shaped course at speed. It demands a high degree of cattle knowledge, horse skill and split-second decision-making. While thrilling to watch, it can be daunting for less experienced riders – which is exactly why Zoe chose a simplified format that allows everyone to have a go, regardless of background or skill level.

And it’s not just the competitors who get involved. The event is run entirely by volunteers, with many participants helping set up, ‘pencil’ for judges (writing down scores) or serving lunches in between their own rides. “It’s a real community effort,” says Zoe. “I couldn’t do it without them. That’s why we introduced the Big Effort Big Buckle – a prize not for the best rider, but for the competitor who shows the most spirit and willingness to help. It started out as a joke but now it’s one of the most prized buckles of the event.”

One of those buckle winners is former Bangalow Herald committee member Ean Jones, who has taken out both the Master Rider Buckle and the Big Effort Buckle. “He’s a real all-rounder,” Zoe says. “Always up for helping out and just such a great sport.”

The buckle itself is a key part of the event’s identity. “I chose a buckle because it’s something you can wear. It’s a visible trophy – you don’t just stick it on a shelf,” says Zoe. “People see it and ask, ‘What did you win that for?’ It sparks stories.”

The design has evolved over the years, with Zoe determined to find a buckle maker who could produce a high-quality, personalised piece. She now works with an Australian-owned company to design buckles with custom engraving, coloured stones and each buckle is stamped with the year, event and division. “We try to make each one special. Whether it’s for the Encouragement Challenge or the Open Super Horse, that rider has earned it.”

That spirit of inclusion is matched by a high standard of horsemanship and judging. Each section has its own judge, many of whom return year after year. “I encourage riders to chat to the judges, ask questions, get feedback. It’s a learning opportunity as well as a competition,” she says. In fact, the event kicks off with a two-hour warm-up session where competitors rotate through each ring to practise patterns and get rid of their “nerves and butterflies” – both horse and rider.

And while Zoe has run the event independently since day one, she’s quick to acknowledge her loyal supporters. Local businesses help feed the judges and volunteers, and a huge array of sponsors keep the event running. “We couldn’t have done this without them,” she says.

Despite running the event, Zoe has managed to ride in previous years – though she admits she’s yet to claim a buckle of her own. “I’ve come second,” she smiles. “But this year I’ve told my team that everyone who helps has to get their ride in too. We’re not riding for sheep stations—we’re doing this so everyone can have a go.”

The Bangalow Buckle Challenge is also evolving. This year sees the debut of a whipcracking competition, complete with community barbecue and bar, judged by a former Australian whipcracking champion. “It’s all part of creating a space where the whole town can come and participate, even if they don’t ride,” says Zoe.

That mindset – of making room, breaking down barriers and encouraging growth – is what sets the Bangalow Buckle Challenge apart. “Whether it’s a child on their first pony, an older rider coming back after a break, or someone just wanting to try something new, there’s a place for them here,” says Zoe. “And if they win a buckle? Even better.”

The Bangalow Buckle Challenge returns to the Bangalow Showground on Saturday 28 February and Sunday 1 March 2026, featuring two full days of versatile horse challenges for all breeds. The program includes the Super Horse Challenge, Encouragement and Jackaroo/Jillaroo Maiden Challenges, Youth and Young Horse classes, and the popular Bangalow Bucket Obstacle Trial. Special awards include the Equestrienne Magazine All Round Lady Rider Award, the Norco Stock Feeds Magnificent Master Rider Award and the Glen Gough Big Effort Big Buckle Award.

The Triple Crown Trophy will also return, spanning three regional events. Saturday begins with practice at 7.30am and competitions from 9.30am, followed by a Lions Club BBQ and the inaugural Northern Rivers Whip Cracking Championship. Sunday features cattle work, obstacle trials and awards. Public spectators most welcome – free entry.

While the formal listing process still has steps to complete, the motion marks an important public acknowledgment: the Bowlo is more than a building. It is a place of continuity and community.

For decades, the club has functioned as Bangalow’s common ground – a multi-purpose civic space where sport, celebration, music and everyday connection intersect. It is one of the few venues in town where a pensioner, a young family, a sporting committee and a touring musician could share the same floor.

The Heritage Assessment identified the building’s distinctive exposed metal ceiling trusses that define the main hall space as structural features that are characteristic of bowling club architecture from the era. Comparable trusses at Willoughby Bowling Club in Sydney, built in the same period, have already been heritage listed – demonstrating that such elements are recognised as architecturally and socially significant within NSW club heritage.

But heritage, in this case, extends beyond the walls.

The bowling greens facing Byron Street herald your arrival in Bangalow. They mark a physical threshold – from highway to village – but also signal something about identity and place. The greens speak of participation, sport and shared space.

“I believe the Bangalow Bowlers who originally selected and bought this land then constructed the clubhouse on which it sits alongside its picturesque lawn bowling green, would be thrilled that their efforts will possibly be enshrined in a heritage listing which would help to ensure the whole community get to enjoy the space – and the game they love – into the future,” says Shane Mahony, current Bangalow bowler and former greenkeeper.

Council’s unanimous vote does not immediately place the Bowlo on the Local Environmental Plan’s Schedule of Heritage Items. What it does is endorse the assessment and signal that the formal listing process will proceed. That process typically involves preparation of a planning proposal, a Gateway determination from the Department of Planning, public exhibition and, ultimately, gazettal.

When listed, demolition would be highly constrained, major external alterations would require heritage impact assessment, and any future development would need to respect the site’s recognised significance.

For many in the community, this news will be met with a collective sigh of relief.

The January 2026 community survey conducted by the Save Bangalow Bowlo Steering Committee found strong alignment on one core objective – that the Bowlo should return to genuine community ownership and control. The survey also confirmed that the club is valued as a social asset, not just a property, with respondents repeatedly referencing loss of access, routine and connection if the venue’s character were compromised.

Those themes surfaced again in council debate: heritage recognition is not about nostalgia. It is about continuity of use.

The Bowlo has hosted sporting competitions, local club meetings, fundraisers, weddings, wakes, live music and daily social rituals. It has provides an accessible venue in a village with limited multi-purpose, multi-generational spaces.

Heritage recognition in this context does not freeze the building in time. It regulates demolition and unsympathetic alteration, while still allowing ongoing operation, upgrades and maintenance.

Heritage listing, in effect, strengthens the likelihood that this site remains a sports and leisure venue into the future. It does not mandate bowls forever, nor does it prevent operational evolution required to keep the venue relevant and viable. But it makes large-scale redevelopment for any other purpose significantly more difficult, and strengthens the case for the site’s continued use as community infrastructure.

Of course, heritage status also carries responsibility. A listed building must be maintained appropriately. Works require careful documentation. Future operators – whether community-led or through amalgamation – would need to balance preservation with viability.

To the casual observer, the Bowlo’s greens, hall and modest façade may not shout architectural grandeur – although architect F.J. Board was described in the Northern Star as “possibly Lismore’s greatest architect”.

The significance of this site, inside and out, lies in the accumulation of social life and participation over decades.

Heritage protection recognises the importance of proactively safeguarding such spaces.

The next steps now lie in the formal planning pathway, including public exhibition. For now, however, Council’s decision on Thursday 19 February 2026, signals something clear: Bangalow’s bowling club is being recognised not just as a building, but a significant shared ‘third place’ space and a community asset worth protecting.

Sally Schofield

It’s exhausting, living this way, when your body is a moving target.

That’s why V-Day matters. At dawn on Saturday 14 February – yes, Valentine’s Day – women, non-binary folk, and allies rise up, dressed in red on Main Beach, Byron Bay.

It’s a flashmob that’s part of the global One Billion Rising movement, that turns a day of Hallmark schmaltz and overpriced flowers into one of collective power. Because for many, relationships don’t always mean romance and respect. Or safety.

With the sand beneath our feet and the early sun on our faces, movement becomes language with a collective dance to V-Day anthem Break the Chain.

The dance acknowledges the suffering of the one-in-three women who will be beaten or raped in their lifetime. We dance because our rage needs rhythm. We dance because – unlike the 60-something Australian women who lost their lives to intimate partner violence in 2025 – we are still here. We dance because we’re not willing to let that be our daughters’ inheritance.

To those who think our slice of paradise is immune to abuses, you’re wrong. There are stories here that would make your hair curl, and over the last decade women from around the region have shared their stories as part of The Vagina Conversations, a collaborative show featuring women and people with vaginas. Inspired by Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, Director Zenith Virago felt that our local community had their own stories to tell. So, she pulled together a contemporary re-imagining – not a monologue but a conversation.

This year, the Brunswick Picture House transforms into a space of courage and truth-telling.This show is not your standard theatre. It’s raw, local, real. It’s nurses, teachers, aunties, survivors – women from 17 to 83 – who step up to share their personal stories, often for the first time.

There’s knowing laughter. There’s heavy silence. There are moments when I’ve had to close my eyes, my face leaking, while I breathe through someone’s truth because it’s all too familiar.

“This show is activism in action,” says Mandy Nolan. And it is. All proceeds support frontline services like the Mullumbimby Womens’ Resource Service and Pottsville Neighbourhood Centre. To date, over $158,000 has been raised to support women escaping domestic and family violence.

So, to anyone who has felt that same tight grip of fear walking home, I say: join us. Sit with us at The Vagina Conversations and let someone else’s story make you see red. Then, if you can, on Saturday 14 February, rise early, dress in red, and come dance at the beach.

Because when we stand together, nobody flinches when you say vagina. And we remember: this body is not a battleground. It’s a force.

Sally Schofield

Photo credit: Lyn McCarthy – Niche Pictures

It was meant to be the adventure of a lifetime. In early December 2025, Seb Stockdale had just landed in Japan on his first solo overseas trip – a working holiday and a snowboarding dream. But it soon became clear that something wasn’t right.

“I was over there for about maybe two weeks before I started getting like symptoms of anaemia, just really fatigued and every day I just be able to do less and less.” That turned into nausea, vomiting, and a complete loss of appetite. Then a cyst under his arm became an abscess which required draining at a Japanese medical clinic, followed by IV antibiotics. “After a few days one of the doctors said I looked quite pale and did a blood test.” The following day Seb learned he was dangerously anaemic, and his platelet count was nine. It should have been 180.

That day, Seb was taken to a hospital in Sapporo, about an hour and a half away. “They ran some more tests and then the haematologist came and saw me and basically just said that they found signs of leukaemia.”

The medical team gave him blood and platelets to get him stable enough to fly. “Mum actually came over to fly back with me which was great ‘cause I had someone to talk to.”

Back in Australia, Seb was taken straight to the Gold Coast hospital where further tests revealed a diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia with FLT-3 mutation, a rare and fast-growing form of blood and bone marrow cancer.

“I need a bone marrow transplant, or it will just keep coming back no matter how many times they get rid of it,” says Seb. Dad Graeme puts a finer point on it: “He will not survive unless we find a stem cell donor.”

For now, Seb needs to get through three rounds of chemotherapy and prepare for transplant. The transplant means he needs a donor match needs to be found, and the family are appealing to people aged 18-35 worldwide to have their blood tested to see if they are a match, and to register on the Bone Marrow Register.

It’s not a matching blood type but a search for a blood donor who has six DNA markers that exactly match Seb’s. Sadly, no one in the Stockdale family has a strong enough match. ‘It’s not just about being related,” says Jen.

If your blood sample is found to be a match, the next part of the donation process is far less intense than most people imagine. “You go to your local hospital or Blood Bank or whatever and they’ll just give you party pies, sausage rolls and milkshakes and you just sit there while they take a larger than average blood donation.” No needles in the hip or anything gruesome as maybe have been used in times gone by.

After that, the stem cells are separated from the blood and used to create new bone marrow, and Seb’s old bone marrow is removed. “Then they inject that new bone marrow into Seb’s empty bones,” says Jen.

If you’re nervous about needles, there are other ways to join the register. “You can actually order a mouth swab through the mail… if you’re anaemic you know you can do the mouth swab as well. It’s obviously not the best but yeah, they definitely accept that as well.”

Locally, the Lifeblood donor centre in Lismore even knows Seb’s name. “You can say I’m doing it for Seb Stockdale and then just put it to his tally so he knows that there are lots of people out there thinking of him,” says Jen.

Seb’s already gone through one intense month of chemo. The family all shaved their heads in solidarity for Seb’s journey. He’s home briefly, before heading back in for the next round. When the time is right, he’ll be admitted to the Royal Brisbane hospital for the transplant and recovery, which will take another three and a half months. “So when he gets inducted into the Royal Brisbane hospital, they call the donor that they found as the match,” says Jen.

The best outcomes come from younger donors, which is why the register focuses on people aged 18 to 35. “Basically, the older stem cells, the harder it is for his body to integrate,” says Jen

Herald readers will remember the Stockdales as the well-loved family behind the Stockpot Kitchen, a hugely popular southern-style eatery that was a crowd favourite operating out of the Bangalow Bowlo for a number of years.

Known for its slow-cooked meats and smoky flavours it brought a welcoming, community-focused vibe to town. After years in Bangalow, the Stockpot Kitchen moved to Lismore, where it continues to serve up its signature hospitality even through the tough times. Like so many in our region, the family faced the devastating 2022 floods with resilience, rolling up their sleeves to help rebuild the town they now call home.

Now they are asking you to roll up your sleeve, literally.

Readers with kids or grandkids in the 18–35-year-old age bracket are encouraged to have a conversation with their young people about giving a blood sample and joining the Bone Marrow Register. They might just save a life.

For more information, visit lifeblood.com.au

Sally Schofield

For autistic individuals, young and old, and those with ADHD or other sensory profiles, the festive season can be less about cheer and more about managing discomfort – with a side serving of overwhelming smells and small talk.

So, with some practical strategies (and a little empathy), here’s how to make Christmas a little more inclusive for those with unique sensory needs. It may not be a Silent Night, but with a few tweaks, you’ll get through with a little less stress and a bit more calm.

Predictability is a present

Surprises might be part of the season for some, but for many ND people, routine and predictability are essential. Wrapped gifts with unknown contents can cause anxiety. A simple solution is to write a clue on the tag or give a heads-up about the gift. Even better, gift cards can avoid any discomfort altogether. If you or your child prefer to open gifts privately, feel free to let others know.

Plan your quiet place

Whether you’re visiting someone else’s home or hosting, make sure there’s a calm space to retreat to when needed – a shady verandah, a quiet room, or even the car. Pack a sensory survival kit: comfort items, fidgets, headphones, sunglasses – whatever helps soothe and regulate. Show kids where the quiet space is and how to access it. Always ask the host before wandering through their house to find it.

Eat your way

Festive food traditions can be delightful – or a sensory nightmare. If you or your child find certain textures, flavours or smells difficult, bring your own food. There’s no need to explain or apologise. Let kids serve themselves if possible. If that ends up being plain pasta or chicken nuggets, that’s perfectly fine. It’s about comfort, not conformity.

Minimise the small talk

Chatting with extended family or acquaintances can be tiring. It’s okay to stick to brief greetings like “Merry Christmas” or “Lovely to see you” and then gracefully step away. There’s also no rule that says you have to hug or kiss relatives. Teach children they can wave, high-five or fist bump if that feels more comfortable.

Know your limits

Increased sensory input, disrupted routines and social overload can lead to shutdowns or meltdowns. Give yourself and your loved ones grace. Ready-to-cook meals are your friend. You don’t need to serve a traditional spread – festive paper plates with favourite foods work just as well.

Don’t overcommit to social events. One gathering may be plenty. Plan recovery days between activities. Give children time to unwind with drawing, gaming, pets or their favourite show. Quiet time isn’t a luxury – it’s essential.

A neurodivergent-friendly Christmas is one where consent, flexibility and personal comfort take priority over tradition or expectations. This season, let’s choose calm over chaos and joy over pressure

Sally Schofield

So, when the club shut its doors abruptly earlier this year, no community notice, no public consultation – just a sign and a visit from the locksmith – it hit harder than expected. Because what we lost wasn’t just a building with beer and bowls. We lost a ‘third place’.

Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined that term in 1989 to describe spaces that exist outside home (the first place) and work (the second place), where community happens organically. “Third places,” he wrote, “are neutral ground… informal, accessible, accommodating… a home away from home.”

Sound familiar?

The Bowlo – as it’s still affectionately known – ticked every box of what makes a ‘third place’ function. It was plain in appearance but welcoming, down-to-earth in its tone, and full of regulars. You could play barefoot bowls with toddlers and teens, or sip a schooner alongside a pensioner watching the footy. No social hierarchy. Just being.

And that presence mattered more than we knew.

The club was absorbed into a Sydney-based consortium through an amalgamation completed in 2023 – one of several regional acquisitions framed as upgrades but largely ending in disrepair and closure. The promised investment never came. Sports clubs, initially wooed by sponsorship money, were left out of pocket. Staff left. And on 24 October, the lights went out without warning.

Local sporting groups have been left without training facilities and a ‘clubhouse’. Carolyn, a Bangalow Netball Club committee member, says “The abrupt closure of the Bangalow Bowling Club has had a significant impact on the Bangalow Netball Club. The Bowlo was the training courts for five netball teams and we used them every Wednesday afternoon. Families may now have to travel to other towns just so their children can train. This puts the club at real risk of losing players and memberships. We hope there is a local solution to ensure our players can continue to participate in the sport they love and remain connected to their community.”

The social impact has been immediate and devastating.

For many older residents, the club was their primary – sometimes only – point of social contact. “Third places,” says academic Louis Heath, who has extensively researched the role of Bowling Clubs in Australian society “are particularly important for those sectors of society that have limited opportunities for social interaction such as the older and new members of the community.” They provide reasons to leave the house, interact, and regain a sense of self beyond the walls of home.

For others, particularly men, the club offered what mental health professionals call a ‘soft entry point’ – an accessible place to talk without the pressure of formality or stigma.

You could just ‘drop in’ no appointment necessary. The famed ‘Table of Knowledge’ is evidence of this. That option is now gone.

For those with limited mobility, chronic health issues or disability, the actual building was one of the only accessible venues in the whole town providing respite from the weather for older residents, or those who, like Richie Allen (now quadriplegic after a sporting accident on the very fields the club overlooks), requires a thermostatically-controlled environment such as that the club once offered, to ensure his comfort and quality of life.

The closure of the club spells the end of a vital cross-generational connector. Bangalow’s Bowlo was one of the rare places where you’d see a 75-year-old retiree swapping gardening tips with a 20-something tradie, or where kids could run free in ‘the cage’ while frazzled parents debriefed on the week that was.

“We have lost our meeting and connection place. How wonderful that any time we popped into the Bowlo we would run into friends, kids would play and we would connect. We are really feeling its absence,” says Anna, mother of two aged 5 and 9.

For newcomers to town, it offered an informal gateway into the community – somewhere to strike up a conversation, find out who’s who, enjoy a meal with friends, or be entertained by people-watching, trivia nights, open-mic events, and incredible live music.

“When Norths suddenly shut the doors of the Bangalow Bowlo, it ripped a hole in the cultural life of the shire,” says Barry ‘Dr Baz’ Ferrier. ‘For musicians, the Bowlo was one of the few remaining grassroots venues where original music, low-key youth gigs and experimental projects could actually happen. There’s a proud history of local bands, touring acts and emerging songwriters all using the auditorium as a launch pad. There’s ‘closed’ sign means lost income, and one less stage in a region that already struggles to keep live music spaces alive.”

“For the open mic community, the impact is even more personal. With a 26-year history these nights weren’t just about getting up and having a sing – they were a weekly ritual where retirees shared the bill with teenagers, where shy writers tried new songs for the first time, and where friendships and collaborations were born over cheap meals and a relaxed crowd.”

Now, the building is locked, and the interiors are neglected. Neighbours have noted rising mould and the unmistakable scent of decay that clings when a space meant for people is left empty. It’s a second insult – the slow undoing of a place where so many memories live. Life events commemorated, losses mourned, graduations celebrated, grand finals won (or lost), a wedding or two, book clubs, Two-Up, a decent parmi/parma and a pint, discos, fundraisers, trivia nights and some of the best live entertainment in the country. Or just shooting the breeze on the back deck overlooking the sports fields, and marvelling at how bloody lucky you are to be living in this paradise?

We often measure community loss in economic terms – jobs lost, property value affected – but what of cultural cost? Emotional continuity? Social wellbeing? Louis reminds us that “bowling clubs significantly contribute to the social capital of our communities… fostering the social wellbeing of many, particularly older, community members.”

We need to make a stand for the value of these places for what they are really: vital infrastructure. Not just venues or businesses, but spaces that carry the emotional weight of community. They aren’t interchangeable. The damage isn’t irreparable – yet. But it does require acknowledgement, transparency and local say in what happens next. Will the community be invited back in? Or will the site continue to rot while the consortium deliberates from afar?

Whatever the outcome, I know this: when a town loses its third place, it doesn’t just lose its clubhouse. It loses part of its collective heartbeat. And I know I’m not the only one who’s not going to stand by and let that happen.

In the weeks since closure, extreme heat and heavy rain has created the perfect environment for mould to proliferate. With no maintenance, cleaning or caretaking in place, the once-lively building is both physically and symbolically rotting. Locals have reported signs of vandalism to the carefully (mostly voluntarily) maintained bowling green. For a club that served its community for 115 years, this feels like a dishonourable demise. It deserves better. We deserve better.

Residents are encouraged to:
• Donate  https://www.gofundme.com/f/bangalow-community-reopen-bangalow-bowlo
• Volunteer their time or expertise – email  savebangalowbowlo@gmail.com
• Write to Norths Collective as Bowlo members concerned about the broken promises and closure of the club
• Follow updates on the Save Bangalow Bowlo Facebook page http:facebook.com/SaveBangalowBowlo

Sally Schofield

Historic images courtesy of the Bangalow Bowling Club

Over 80 people gathered at the Moller Pavilion, Bangalow at short notice to have a say, ask questions and volunteer in many capacities for essential roles to ensure the community has the best chance of retaining ownership of the club. The session was chaired by Councillor Asren Pugh, and myself, Sally Schofield, as a concerned community member and communications professional.

Now, for those playing at home, this is not the first time the club has been threatened with closure.

Some say in the past 20 years there’s been a few close calls, the last resulting in a highly contentious ‘bail out’ via amalgamation with Sydney-based Norths Collective.

Norths’ commercial formula is the acquisition of ailing businesses with the view of breathing life back into licensed establishments. In their words: “We are in the business of running clubs – and making them better by embedding them within their local community and with the local sports clubs.”[1]

The amalgamation was proposed in 2022 including a Memorandum of Understanding that was edited and revised between Norths and the then Board of the now defunct Bangalow Bowling Club. Norths proudly promoted this agreement as “creating a clear path forward for the Bowlo to be financially secure well into the future.”[2]

Pre-amalgamation, Norths made a compelling pitch to the local community that they were in a position both financially and professionally to restore the club to optimal operation, as soon as three months following the MoU.

So, the sports clubs, members and the wider community were stunned by the sudden closure of the club which came without warning. The closure also cited several reasons why the venue had ceased trading, the number one being the state of the building (which Norths had pledged to fix as part of the deal).

At the impromptu meeting, community members formed tables of knowledge and expertise, and quickly established key areas of concern and strategic opportunities for ways forward.

Naturally, the legal table committed to scrutinising the MoU with the assistance of a barrister should the need arise for further action.

A hospitality table joined forces, pooling their decades worth of experience for revamping the food and drink side of things, while an entertainment and events group scoped out potential streams for supporting the club via live events, and fundraising.

The building and construction table were particularly productive, organising an independent building report to confirm (or not) the safety of the building, cited by Norths as the primary reason for immediate closure.

A team of business and finance specialists explored ideas about what was publicly perceived to have gone wrong with the Norths operation (in the absence of any financial reports relating to the Bowlo), and a detailed checklist of points to review was drawn up.

A table of sports club representatives shared their views on the situation and emphasises the importance of the sponsorship money owed by Norths (and promised in the MoU) much of which is still outstanding.

Finally, the communications and marketing table made extensive plans for local, national and wider coverage of the sudden closure of the Club and the lack of clarity around the stated reasons. A media plan has been drawn up focusing on social media, crowd funding, radio and television interviews to raise public awareness for the efforts of a small group of Bangalow folk trying to take on a financial-focused Sydney based consortium.

Whats App groups and group emails have popped up, and regular meetings called to ensure the tables of knowledge (and new recruits) are connecting meaningfully with one another and all working in the same direction. It’s heartwarming to see.

There is still plenty to be done. The first step is the Save Bangalow Bowlo group creating a new Advisory Committee (which then needs to be introduced to Norths via the current Bangalow Advisory Committee) who, after Norths approval, will then be permitted to communicate directly with Norths on this matter, but under the strictest confidence.

It was delightful to see the number of eligible community members who came forward to volunteer for these positions, and it can only be hoped that Norths Collective approves these nominations swiftly so that the next stage of negotiation can continue.

Norths Collective issued an alarmingly short time frame for a community response of 28 days (some say ‘one month’, another sticking point in negotiations), so the Save Bangalow Bowlo group is working around, and against, the clock to get new representatives for the Advisory Committee in place in order to continue discussions.

The clubs aren’t happy, the players aren’t happy, the patrons aren’t happy and the rest of the community is wondering what the hell is going on. The Save Bangalow Bowlo group is trying to get to the bottom of it and they will need your support in many ways to do this over a very, very short period of time.

If you can assist with a significant financial contribution, now’s the time to speak up – email savebangalowbowlo@gmail.com for a confidential discussion.

Community members with expertise in any of the areas mentioned above, a willingness for working bees (yes, here we go again, thanks Norths), or ideas for fundraising, donations of products, services and supplies – Save Bangalow Bowlo is also calling on you, so get in touch savebangalowbowlo@gmail.com

Everyone else invested in keeping the community asset in community hands, rest assured your opinions matter. You will soon be invited to express your hopes and fears for the Club via an online form, as well as advising ways in which you might be involved in the Save Bangalow Bowlo group but in the meantime, email savebangalowbowlo@gmail.com with any comments or insights you have.

The issue of amalgamation with Norths tore the village in two back in ’22. It’s heartwarming to see that we are once again united with the common goal of returning this essential community asset back to the hands of the people of Bangalow.

Sally Schofield

[1] Norths Collective website (https://northscollective.com.au/bangalowbowlo/), accessed 4/11/2025

[2] Ibid.

READ MORE

Sudden closure sparks community action
(25 October 2025)

Norths goes south
(24 October 2025)

Norths grilled over delays on Bowlo promises
(24 May 2025)

The Bangalow community has been left reeling after the unexpected and immediate closure of the much-loved Bangalow Bowlo on Friday 24 October, with no prior communication from current operators Norths Collective. Even on Sunday afternoon, long-time members and locals arrived at the club expecting to share a drink and support weekend bowls, only to find the doors locked and a closure notice on display.

Three years ago, Bangalow Bowlo members voted on a highly contested—and for many, emotionally charged – amalgamation with Norths Collective, whose business model relies heavily on income from gambling machines, including its flagship club, North Sydney Leagues Club. The terms of that amalgamation, including how the club was to be operated and under what circumstances it could be closed, are set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that applies for the first 10 years.

In response to the abrupt closure, a group of dedicated and informed Bangalow residents has formed a Bowlo advocacy group to investigate the options of restoring the Bowlo to local operation and ensuring it continues to serve as a vital social and sporting hub. The group includes members of the existing Advisory Group, disgruntled supporters of the original amalgamation, along with those who objected to the amalgamation from the start – united now in their desire for transparency, accountability and a positive outcome for the community.

“Our group represents the full diversity of the Bowlo community, people from every side of the original amalgamation debate, all united in our determination to get our local Bowlo reopened and serving the community once again,” says Asren Pugh, spokesperson for the new Bowlo advocacy group.

“Norths’ sudden closure has caused deep frustration and disappointment among members, local sporting clubs and the broader community. These decisions impact real people and the social fabric of our town,” Asren says.

Closing the Bowlo without notice to members or the community has sent shock waves through the village, and may have even breached the terms of the contentious MOU. The current Advisory Committee, appointed after the MOU was signed off, will be meet with Norths management on Wednesday. “We expect those discussions to be transparent and constructive,” Asren says.

“We hope Norths comes to the table, engages openly with our community representatives, and commits to returning the Club to local hands, allowing for trading to recommence as soon as possible,” he says.

After a positive and productive meeting on Sunday, the Advisory Committee, with the support of the new community advocacy group, look forward to presenting a united front at the meeting with Norths Collective on Wednesday.

There are plans to hold a community meeting in the coming weeks to share information, answer questions and discuss the options available to secure the future of the Bangalow Bowlo. Keep an eye on The Bangalow Herald and Bangalow Community Facebook page for more information.

Sally Schofield