news.

– by Vickii Byram With the release of her new single Outrageous in February, multi-award winning singer songwriter Amber Lawrence has amped up the sizzle. The accompanying video was shot on a hot January day in a warehouse. “It was hard to make it look like we were so not breaking a sweat,” the recently married star says. Lawrence says outrageous is the way she lives her life. “It’s how the songs came together. Rather than over thinking it, they’re fun. I wrote one after Ike was born [nine months ago]. Once you have your own child, you know, I get it now. You have to live the life you want to live.”Case in point, she met husband Martin on a dating App. Read more +

– by Liz Langdale Bowlers have given the new playing surface at Kew Country Club a green tick of approval after its first test on Wednesday, June 12. The project to establish a new grass playing turf has been a major community effort and one which has unfolded over several months. Kew Women’s Bowling Club president Jenny Easy said the grass green will bring members on a level playing field when they compete in pennants.  ​The majority of clubs in the region have grass as their playing surface. “It’s great that we can now practice on this surface to prepare for competitions,” Jenny said.Read More +

– by Liz Langdale Laurieton United Services Club manager Rob Dwyer says the club has taken steps to ensure safety for residents after new drink driving laws were implemented. The new NSW laws were introduced on Monday, May 20, where by all drink-driving offenders can immediately lose their licence.  According to the NSW Roads and Maritime Services website, prior to the reforms all drivers charged with drink driving were required to attend court. “Drivers who were charged with a low range offence did not lose their licence immediately, and were able to continue to drive until their court date,” it states.  Read More +

– by Vickii Byram With 30 years of chart-making success, three time ARIA Best Male Talent (alongside a select few including John Farnham, Alex Lloyd and Gotye) Mark Lizotte, better known as Diesel, says he has had a charmed life, making music exclusively for people that are interested. “What more could I ask for, ” he says. In 1987, Johnny Diesel and the Injectors moved from Perth to establish themselves in Sydney. And it didn’t take long. Their debut album went plantinum and entered the charts at No. 2 “Sure, I often think of the chain of events coming across from WA. It was a pretty cut and dried situation. We didn’t even get the chance to hang around Sydney like a bad smell. We got off the bus with $93 between us and lived on $5 a day each. We did shows for $200, which was not bad if you were solo, but not a whole band, plus one crew.” read more +

by Laura Telford​A record breaking crowd turned out to honour the fallen at the dawn service in Laurieton on Anzac Day 2019. The stillness of the air was a far cry from the rain at last years commemorations and women, men and children came together to remember the past. Allan ‘Buster’ Beatty OAM gave the keynote address and paid tribute to the “forgotten heroine” volunteer nurses of World War I.​“They [nurses] worked under the most hazardous of conditions, endured extreme discomfort in the most harrowing of circumstances and lost their lives,” Mr Beatty said. + read more

by Laura Telford ​Building a hospital in rural Nepal sounds like a mammoth task and fundraising more than $500,000 to build a Mothers and Babies Hospital in Nepal sounds insane. However after travelling to and from Nepal for almost ten years, specialist gynaecologist Dr Ray Hodgson or Dr Ray – as he is known by all – and his team wanted to do more than just temporary health camps. And so the idea of a specialist hospital was born. “The idea for the hospital first arose four years ago when we were working in the typical dilapidated buildings in the district of Dholakha,” Dr Ray said. “We were aware of the appalling state of women’s health in Nepal, and over the previous four or five years we’d been patching up these problems with surgical camps in various parts of the country. + read more

– by Liz Langdale International Women’s Day was strongly attended by those who came together to celebrate women’s achievements and acknowledge there is work still to be done to achieve better balance.  An International Women’s Day breakfast was on Friday, March 8 at the Laurieton United Services Club. Camden Haven High School students Mia Windred and Jordan Grieves were emcees at the event.​They spoke about how far women have come in achieving better gender balance and highlighted there is still work to be done. + read more

– by Liz Langdale​The community has come together to celebrate Andrew Howe’s life and his achievements on Friday, February 22 at Kendall.  The moving eulogy was delivered by Jason Hudson, who said Andrew was well respected by all and loved by many.​“He was a really reliable bloke and didn’t like to let his mates or family down,” he said.  Affectionately known as Howie, Ernie, Woody, Mundie or Andy, Andrew was eldest son to Alan and Vicki, and brother to Ash and Adam. He was a much loved grandson, nephew, cousin and mate to little Benji. Read more

– by Vickii Byram Canadian born Wendy Matthews grew up listening to the eclectic collection of her parents ’60s music. “They liked all different types of music,” she says. “My father brought a Joni Mitchell album into the house and that was it for me, I loved it.” She also credits her art teacher in grades 6 and 7 for playing records and talking about music during art class. “Music was never a school function. I never took any interest in playing, I was just a listener.” Her early influences were female songwriters. “Their poetry was amazing. Aretha Franklin, the prowess and joy of her voice. It’s not so much the material, but they were all so different. Some were incredible poets, some wonderful singers, some gave us happy pop songs to clean your house by.” ​ read more

– by Liz Langdale​The president of Quota International Camden Haven says women have come a long way but there is still a way to go to forge a more gender-balanced world.  Barbara Jackson said it’s very important to celebrate women’s achievements at International Women’s Day on Friday, March 8. The theme for the 2019 International Women’s Day is Balance for Better, a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world. Barbara said women have come a long way in achieving gender equality and her grandmother lived at a time when women received the right to vote. ​However she said senior positions in the workforce are still predominantly male dominated.  Read more