The Echo » Community

Welcome to Blackheath and Medlow Bath

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:14:45 +0000

The Echo has been delivered into letter boxes in Katoomba, Leura and Wentworth Falls for the past 18 months and provides local news and events as well as low cost advertising for local businesses. It’s great to be able to extend the distribution to Blackheath and Medlow Bath. The Echo is being delivered with [...]

Local Businesses Support Winter Magic

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:54:42 +0000

This year there has been a been a big increase in the number of businesses sponsoring the Winter Magic festival. After the success of initiatives like the Christmas shopping evenings, businesses are increasingly seeing the benefits in both cross promotion and community involvement. This year the major sponsors were Sydney Water, the Carrington Hotel, Scenic World and the Tanya Loviz Gallery.
The other businesses include eateries the Bamboo Box, Greco’s and the Three Sisters Chinese Restaurant, Cafe Zuppa, The Soup Shop, The Hatters Cafe, Hominy Bakery, Cafe Expresso and the Parakeet. Bookshops Chekhovs Three Sisters Second Hand Books,Top End Newsagents, Blue Mountains Books and Mr Pickwicks.Clothing and homewares shops Mountain Style Clothing, Vivianna Creations, Lynne Curran Designs, Incantations, Ravir boutique, Woody’s House & Garden, Zuri Homewares, Very Fashion, Katoomba Workwear, and The Hattery, the fun and the magical Weirder the Better and JC Party Shop, Jobfind, Nova Employment, fitness specialists Village Fitness, Katoomba Sports & Aquatic Centre, High and Wild,YHA, Blue Mountains Hardware, LiIianfels, Theo Poulos Real Estate, Colless Frozen Foods, Gem Glow,Blue Mountains Beauty Supplies and Pierced Off

Medlar jelly, paste tart and cheese

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:05:43 +0000

The medlar is a beautiful tree perfect for growing in the upper mountains. The fruit is ripened off the tree and delicious if prepared the right way.

10.30 am Sunday 6 June 2010 It will probably be too late for you to go but there was the opportunity to go to Bullaburra with the Blue Mountains Fruit and Nut Tree Network for demonstrations of making medlar jelly, medlar paste and medlar tart, and for a talk on making medlar cheese. there was a a handout with recipes, a cup of tea, a slice of tart and a sample of jam and paste! All for just $6. Limited to 12.Book by ringing Melanie on 4759 3505.

Pink Fest

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:46:23 +0000

PINK FEST is a 10 day GLBTIQ Festival starting on Friday 11th June, the Queen’s Birthday weekend. There are events planned throughout the 10 days starting with:
• BENT Art exhibition starting
the Festival on 11th June
• The Annual Blackheath Dance on Saturday 12th June
• The Annual Queens Ball on Sunday 13th June
During the week there will be Bushwalks, Picnics, a Pool Party, and Drag show events taking place at various venues around the mountains from Glenbrook to Blackheath.
The week culminates with Pink Fest Flicks opening on Friday 18th June and ending on the following Sunday at the Edge Theatre in Katoomba. To be involved, contact genie.melone@gmail.com. For more details: www.pinkmountains.com.au.
The Bent Art Exhibition is opening at the Wentworth Falls School of Arts, on June 11th from 6.30 till 9.30, and will run till June the 14th.
BentART was established in the Blue Mountains in 2005 to celebrate works in the visual arts of Australian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (“LGBT”) artists. It is now the biggest art competition of its kind in Australia, and this year there are three new categories, a New Entrant Award, a Youth Award, for under 25’s and an Aboriginal Award.
Due to both increasing recognition and sponsorship, this year the prize money has more than doubled from 2009, and is over $5,000 in total. This year’s sponsors include Wall to Wall Real Estate, and the Alex Hotel in Leura. Catering for the opening night is being provided by Rolling Wines of Orange, and Richard Moon, and the Blue M Café in Katoomba.
The judging will be done by John Kirkman, CEO of Penrith Performing & Visual Arts Centre. Geoff White from Katoomba Fine Arts gallery on Lurline St is judging the New Entrant and the Youth award.

The Warm and Fuzzy Festival

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:40:48 +0000

June 27th 10am – 2pm at Katoomba North Public School hall
The idea for first Warm and Fuzzy Festival came about over a humble cuppa and chat late last 2008 at Katoomba North Public School. Some local residents were talking about what makes North Katoomba such a unique and dynamic place and what they love about their community. This led to talk about creating a community arts projects celebrating all that makes North Katoomba such a great place.
Talk of a festival began!
A series of workshops teaching craft skills such as knitting, crochet, stitching and dying gave us great opportunities for having fun together, creating connections and makings many fine beanies and other winter woollies for sale and display at the first ‘Warm and Fuzzy’ in August 2009.
This year the Warm and Fuzzy Festival will offer these activities:
• cooking demonstration for budget comfort food
• display of the skills acquired
• try some microwave dyeing
•sale of hand-made winter woollies
•spinning demonstration
• food and drink to buy
• activities for children
•a workshop on ways to keep your house warm from Transitions Blue Mountains
•singing from the Katoomba Neighborhood Centre choir led by North Katoomba resident Trish Adams.
The Katoomba/Leura Rural Fire Brigade will be holding a Community Information Day with a sausage sizzle and their trucks on display
The Community Room at Katoomba North Public runs activities for parents and community members every Wednesday and Friday 9.15 – 11.00 and over the next few weeks some of these will be in preparation for the festival. All welcome.
Enquiries: Jeanette at Connect Child and Family Services 4758 9966.

Board Games

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:27:56 +0000

Ronnie and Damien from Hideaway Retreat at Wentworth Falls are playing host to a budding community of Board Game Players, and would like to invite friendly and like-minded folk to join them for a game or two in Edison’s Laboratory.
“We have the classics like Scrabble and Risk and Monopoly,” says Ronnie, “but we want people to branch out a bit. We have some fantastic games.” So if you’ve ever wanted to play ‘Apples to Apples’ or ‘Killer Bunnies’, if you’re looking for fellow devotees of ‘Doom’ or ‘Dominion’, or your idea of a perfect evening includes ‘Beer’, ‘Bootleggers’ and ‘Billionaire’, then this is the place for you.
Some of the games are for two people, some of them can be played by up to 20 people, so you can bring a long a car-load of friends, and everyone can play.
The games are held the first week of every month. Players can arrive any time after 1pm, and play will continue till 10pm.There is a $5 charge, which includes tea and coffee and there are soft drinks for sale. Players are allowed to bring their own snacks.
As most of these games take some degree of concentration and skill, the evenings are aimed at adults or teens. Please note most of the games are aged for 8 and up and not really suitable for small children. All children under 15 years of age should be accompanied by their parents.
For more information, contact Ronnie or Damien on 0402 773 000, or visit the website at bluemountainsboardgames.weebly.com/index.html. The website includes a full list of games, and directions to Edison’s Laboratory, at the Hideaway Retreat.

ANZAC Day parade

admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 12:42:11 +0000

When the marches down Katoomba Street this year, it will be under the command of a local serving member of the Army Reserve. Lance Corporal Keith Robinson from Wentworth Falls, carried out the task of being the ‘Parade Marshall’ in last year’s ANZAC march through Katoomba, and has been invited to take on the roll again this year. Keith is a member of the 1st/19th Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment and is based in Lithgow. Members of the unit will be spread across the Mountains and the Central West on ANZAC Day performing ceremonial duties in various towns. The RAAF members in the picture are from the RAAF base in Glenbrook at last year’s ANZAC service in Katoomba.

Radio Plays

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:58:36 +0000

Blue Mountains Radio Players have moved to a new home at the Coach House, behind the Mountain Heritage Hotel on the corner of Apex and Lovel Streets, Katoomba. Performances are on the last Sunday of every month, at 2.30pm.
For those without cars, The Blue Mountains Bus company will be sending a bus to the south side of the station to meet the 2.22pm train from Sydney and the 2.25 from Lithgow and deliver to the Coach House door.
The group perform plays written strictly for radio, mostly from the 30’s and 40’s. The plays are evocative of another time, where love, death, and pathos unfold slowly, drawing you into the moment, or will catch you up with their impeccable comedic timing and clever exchanges.
Juliette Palmer- Frederick has been running the group for fifteen years, with a floating cast of both professionals and amateurs coming together under Juliette’s guidance to produce two or three plays per month.
“Radio is not easy,” says Juliette. “You only have voices and sound effects to create your story and your characters. We all give each other lots of feedback. ”Juliette is an accomplished actress and a former drama teacher. The players have been invited to perform at the Henry Lawson Festival of the Art at Grenfell on the June Long weekend. The plays for March are “Alter Ego” by Arch Oboler, and “Jane Goes to the Psychiatrist” by American comedian Goodman Ace, based on the Easy Aces radio show where Ace and his wife Jane perfected their unique kind of domestic comedy.
April’s plays are “The Rocket from Manhattan” and “Life of Riley.”
Performances are the last Sunday of the month at 2.30. The cost including Devonshire tea is $12 per person.
For catering purposes those interested should give Mountain Heritage a call on 4782 2155. CDs of previous plays will be available for sale on the performance.

Controversial art

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:51:43 +0000

Local designer and business woman Helen Mountford has clashed with Integral Energy over an art project intended to make public spaces more friendly and welcoming.
In the same spirit as the vibrant knitted covers for street-signs and power-poles, Helen decided to make a colourful cover for the electricity box outside her shop, which had been covered in black graffiti.

The covers were made from bright and lightweight cotton fabrics, and were removed at night. Helen had several and used them to bring the bright designs inside her shop onto the pavement for passers-by to enjoy.
“I had been using the covers for more than a year, then I decided to share the love and made covers for the boxes outside fresh, Anglicare, the Common Ground Café and St Vinnies” said Helen.
Workers from Integral Energy removed the covers, on the basis of them presenting a danger of overheating. “When they came to me and asked me to remove mine, I asked why.” said Helen. “They said it was because the covers were covering the ventilation hole in the front and the back of the box, and that they couldn’t see the numbers on the box.”
Helen immediately suggested cutting little windows in the box-covers around the ventilation holes, and offered to machine embroider the numbers on the front of them so that they would be clearly visible.
“They still didn’t think it would work,” said Helen “but they haven’t been back. That’s why I’ve left mine there.”
A spokesperson for Integral Energy said that the company shares the community’s frustration with graffiti vandalism on its network. “Our network is there to serve a practical purpose – to ensure a safe and reliable supply of essential electricity supply to customers. While some parts of the community may wish to change its appearance, this needs to be balanced against our service responsibilities to customers
Our primary concern is that a knitted cover could cause a padmount substation to overheat by disrupting the flow of air around the electrical equipment inside, leading to lengthy blackouts while the equipment is repaired.
Innovative approaches have been employed to discourage vandalism in other parts of our network. In these areas, we have entered into partnerships with artists and local government to manage graffiti vandalism without compromising the safety and reliability of electricity supply to our customers. “
Meanwhile, Helen has plenty more ideas for the project. “Shopkeepers that don’t want a box–cover outside their businesses may be keen to take up another initiative of the art group.” She says. “Pole covers that are Velcro-ed on and off so you can remove then at night. Fat and thin poles are catered for. Anyone who is interested should check out two outside The Shed Hairdressers on Bathurst Rd.”

Lone Pine Descendent

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:26:03 +0000

The Katoomba RSL Sub-Branch has had a donation of remarkable historical significance.
Blue Mountains historian, Mr Geoff Bates presented the Sub-Branch with two Aleppo Pines that are direct descendants of the original Lone Pine that grew on Lone Pine Plateau at Gallipoli.
Lone Pine was the scene of a major offensive launched by the 1st Australian Infantry Division on 6 August, 1915.The battle took place in an area, the size of two football fields which became known as Lone Pine because it was dominated by a single pine tree.
In three days of fighting the Australians lost more that 2273 men and the Turks losses were estimated at 7000. Seven of the nine Victoria Crosses awarded to Australians at Gallipoli were earned at the battle of Lone Pine.
A soldier, who took part in the battle, sent a cone from the tree home to his mother. Two seedlings were grown from this cone, one of which was planted at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The two pines presented to the Sub Branch are come from the Yarraluma Nursery in Canberra and are certified to be directly descended of the original Lone Pine.