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Upbeat Arts Promotes Mental Health With Brand New Choir in Wavell Heights

Photo Credit: Upbeat Arts / upbeatarts.org.au

Upbeat Arts has launched its brand new choir in North Brisbane (Wavell Heights). Their programs are tailored to provide people who are marginalised and experiencing mental health challenges with a platform to connect with the community and gain their confidence back.

On 20 April 2022, Upbeat Arts launched their Absolutely Everybody Choir – North Brisbane which is now rehearsing every Wednesday from 10 am to 12.30 pm. The North Brisbane Choir is led by conductor Melissa Gill.

Upbeat Arts has been at the forefront of providing “social prescription” to adults who are marginalised due to their mental health issues since 2014. They provide a safe and fun environment where members participate with like-minded people in non-medical activities including choir, creative writing, music theatre and songwriting.

“Studies show that a hearty session of creativity can equate to a good physical workout and stimulate the body, mind and spirit! We’ve developed, piloted and currently run a wide range of innovative arts programs including choral, drama, instrumental and creative writing.”
Upbeat Arts

Aided through Queensland Health’s funding, Upbeat Arts holds five art programs per week: three in South Brisbane, one in North Brisbane and one online for Qld residents.

Upbeat Arts Queensland Programs include:

Absolutely Everybody Choir – North Brisbane
Absolutely Everybody Choir – South Brisbane

The Choir rehearses on Friday mornings with conductor Melissa Gill and accompanist Richard Thayil.

Word on the Street (Creative Writing)

In partnership with Queensland Writers Centre, the creative writing course covers poetry, letters, short-form writing, spoken word and storytelling. Award-winning author Claire Christian handles each session.

Word on the Street ONLINE (Creative Writing)

The program is exclusive to Queensland residents. Members have the opportunity to submit their work and be included in the annual Upbeat Arts’ Word on the Street publication.

Song School (Song Writing)

The program helps members develop an appreciation of the form of a song and develop songwriting skills as well as improve their vocal skills.

Apart from Queensland, Upbeat also operates in Victoria and New South Wales. Click here to apply for free membership in one of their programs.

Heritage Status Sought For Wavell Heights Church

An application has been filed to enter St Luke’s Wavell Heights Presbyterian Church into the Queensland Heritage Register.

Read: Proposed New Cafe, Refurbishment At Geebung RSL Club Lodged

Located at 64 Spence Road, Wavell Heights, the nomination for the church was submitted by architect Donald Watson for the 1966 church building and its surrounds, and excludes the earlier church halls and the later manse.

Under the Queensland Heritage Act 1992, one of the criteria for entry in register is if the place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

History of the St Luke’s Wavell Heights Presbyterian Church

In January 1949, the Nundah Presbyterian session called for a meeting to form a Presbyterian congregation at Wavell Heights.

The use of one acre of land for Wavell Heights church buildings was obtained from the Medical and Social Services Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland (PCQ) which had in 1948 acquired 10 acres of land in Spence Road for a War Memorial Hospital.

The current front hall, which was previously the church hall, was built using an interest-free loan for the PCQ.

In October 1959, the Home Mission station at Wavell Heights became the separate sanctioned charge of St Luke’s Wavell Heights Presbyterian Church and was able to call its own minister.

There were 196 members by the end of that year, up from 124 the year before. By 1957 there were 341 “scholars” in the Sunday School with a teaching staff of 31. Growth continued, more accommodation was required, and consideration was underway for a new church building by 1961.

Wavell Heights Presbyterian Church — Photo credit: Queensland Government/Andrew Ladlay

The firm of Cross and Bain was appointed as architects on November 4, 1964, with James Gibson nominated as project architect.

Gibson was known for designing several Queensland church buildings, such as St Matthew’s Church of England in Holland Park, Toowong Presbyterian, The Grove Methodist in Ashgrove and St Paul’s Church of England, Manly.

Wavell Heights Presbyterian — Photo credit: Queensland Government/Andrew Ladlay

The church, which opened on November 9, 1966, and blessed on the 19th was highly influential, and received three mentions in the periodical Australian Presbyterian Life.

Based on the report submitted to the Queensland Government, no further building work other than maintenance, repairs and minor improvements has been carried out, apart from a new PWD toilet in 2020, air conditioning in 2019, and a playground and basketball court and a manse carport, all in the 2010s.

Proposed New Cafe, Refurbishment At Geebung RSL Club Lodged

Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Geebung RSL Club may be up for a makeover if the recently lodged application for internal renovation and extensions to the existing building gets the green light.

The development application seeks approval to make improvements and extensions to the existing facilities at the Geebung RSL Club at 323 Newman Road, Geebung. The proposed site is in the Geebung local centre and has frontages to Newman Road, Collings Street and Jully Street.

Proposed site | Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Existing plan | Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Proposed plan | Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au

The proposal involves the renovation and expansion of the existing building and establishing a new cafe and bar on the Newman Road frontage without altering the building’s height. To make way for this improvement, the memorial garden and sports bar will be relocated next to the proposed new entrance to the club and will undergo revitalisation.

Proposed cafe and bar at Geebung RSL Club perspective 1 — Proposed cafe and bar perspective 1 | Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Proposed cafe and bar at Geebung RSL Club perspective 2 — Proposed cafe and bar perspective 2 | Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Designed by BSPN Architecture, the proposal increases the overall gross floor area by 98sqm to 317sqm. To be retained is the current vehicular access and parking arrangements, particularly with the access to the main premises and secondary parking area via separate driveways to Newman Road.

Proposed Memorial Garden at Geebung RSL Club perspective 1 — Proposed Memorial Garden perspective 1 | Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Proposed Memorial Garden at Geebung RSL Club perspective 2 — Proposed Memorial Garden perspective 2 | Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au

The proposed development is summarised as follows:

Modifications and additions to the club’s existing TAB bar and create a new café and bar on the corner of Newman Rd and Collings Street.
Relocation of Remembrance Corner Memorial Garden and Sports Bar to the east end of the existing carpark fronting Collings Street.
The revitalisation of the existing entry and Memorial on ground level, on the Collings Street frontage.
Internal additions and refurbishment to the existing club.

Greet the Morning With Delectable Baked Goodies at Flour & Chocolate Northgate

Photo Credit: Flour&Chocolate Northgate / Facebook

Flour & Chocolate Patisserie is a gorgeous cafe and patisserie in Northgate that has become the locals’ go-to place to enjoy relaxing moments at the outdoor verandah whilst savouring a serving or two of their yummy artisan bread and a nice warm cup of coffee.

When Kylie and Lachlan Scott opened their first bakery in Morningside in 2012, they dreamed that it would one day be at the top of customers’ minds when it comes to baked goods. Ten years down the road and two locations later, Flour & Chocolate indeed grew in popularity among the locals both in Morningside and Northgate.

Opened in January 2019, Flour & Chocolate Northgate provided them more kitchen space than their Morningside location could offer plus outdoor seating to boot, which means being able to serve baked goodies that are available daily and to even experiment and introduce new products based on customer feedback and seasonal availability.

The result: a place where locals can find their favourite classics from bread and cakes to doughnuts and cupcakes, and discover some new, delectable varieties.

Rye walnut bread | Photo Credit: Flour & Chocolate / flourandchocolate.com

For those looking for bread options, traditional sourdoughs (grain, purple wheat and oat sourdough; traditional white sourdough and blended sourdough) are on offer, as well as artisan bread (Baguette, Ficelle, Ciabatta and Traditional Vienna), Cheese and Garlic Cob and Brioche Rolls.

Coffee croissant | Flour&Chocolate / flourandchocolate.com

Their range of croissants, meanwhile, includes Almond & Chocolate (traditional butter croissant with almond cream and studs of dark chocolate), Ham and Cheese Croissant, Pan au Chocolat (with chunks of Couverture chocolate) and Traditional Beurre Croissant.

Flour & Chocolate Northgate: Danish selection — Danish selection | Flour&Chocolate / flourandchocolate.com

Buttery Danish delights are also a must-try with yummy toppings such as Raspberry, Blueberry, Boysenberry, Apple Crumble, Salted Caramel and Apple Cinnamon as well as other seasonal flavours.

Flour & Chocolate Northgate: Ham sandwich — Ham sandwich | Flour & Chocolate / flourandchocolate.com

Or satisfy your sandwich cravings with these options: Classic Egg Salad (baguette filled with house-made egg mayo mix with green oak lettuce), Ham & Brie (ham and Adelaide Hills brie, with onion marmalade on crisp Baguette) and Brekkie Sandwich (fried egg, bacon, house-made BBQ sauce, American red cheddar with aioli on Brioche Loaf). Vegetarian Sandwich, Salami Milano Special and Foccacia are popular choices as well.

Flour & Chocolate Northgate — *Photo Credit: Flour&Chocolate / flourandchocolate.com*

As for the drinks, Flour & Chocolate offers Mocopan Italian Barista Coffee and Tielka organic teas.

Located at 78 Old Toombul Road Northgate, Flour & Chocolate is open Tuesday to Saturday from 6.30 am to 2 pm.

Flour & Chocolate Northgate | 78 Old Toombul Road, Northgate QLD 4013

GingerCloud Foundation Opens Modified Rugby Program in Wavell Heights

The world’s first touch-only Modified Rugby Program from the GingerCloud Foundation will open a new season at the home of the Norths Ruby Union in Wavell Heights.

The Modified Rugby Program (MRP) is specially designed to support young people with Autism and other learning, and perceptual disabilities need. The Season starts in the week of 18th April 2021, which comprises one-hour training session and Saturday morning games.

As Rugby clubs across Brisbane support the inclusion of our young people (MRP Players) into the club community, this program is a chance for the kids to experience the sheer joy of being in a team sport, often for the first time.

Brisbane Rugby Union Clubs are powering disability inclusion for our young people with Autism or other learning and perceptual disabilities out on the rugby field.

The MRP, which begins in April 2022, is divided into specific structural, Allied Health, and coaching modifications based on the varying needs of MRP Players both on and off the field.

MRP Juniors (7-13 years) and MRP Colts (16-25) years) Players are individually matched with a PlayerMentor for support, guidance and friendship on the rugby field and beyond.

MRP 7s and MRP 7s Plus division (assessed by on-field skill ability) Players are higher skilled and are supported by PlayerMentors as a team, with no specific MRP Player having their own PlayerMentor.

The MRP’s PlayerMentors are young adults from local schools who provide guidance and friendship both on and off the field. They are credited for the success of the MRP as they encourage the MRP players to have fun, feel safe and secure, and be part of a club.

Other venues participating in the MRP include:

Brothers Rugby Union Club
Wests Bulldogs Rugby Union Club
UQ Bullsharks Rugby Union Club
Souths Rugby Union Club
Easts Rugby Union Club
Caboolture Snakes Rugby Union Club

To learn more about GingerCloud MRP email GCSupport@gingercloud.org

Northgate Woman Celebrated Windfall With Simple Thai Takeaway

Photo Credit: I, BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0 , / Wikimedia Commons

When this Northgate woman received life-changing financial news, the first thing she wanted to do to celebrate her good fortune was to have a simple Thai takeaway meal with her partner. What would you do if you received news of an unexpected windfall?

“Oh, my goodness! This is so beautiful. You’ve made my Thursday morning even more beautiful!” the woman said upon learning the happy news.

The latest Lucky Lotteries winner, now $200,000 richer, said she had always thought that if she didn’t win, it just isn’t meant to be. But when she purchased the winning ticket, she did wonder if it would ever happen.

“I’m going to call my Mum straight away,” she said, adding that her mum is her biggest fan and wants to cry and celebrate the great news that has come her way.

”She’s always been my greatest supporter and I’m sure she’s going to have a little cry with me.

“I feel like I’m in a dream.”

The Northgate woman held the 1st Prize winning entry in Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot draw 1563 which was drawn Thursday 9 March 2022. She bought her ticket online at thelott.com

“We’ve been talking about buying our first home and thinking about the future and retirement” | Photo Credit: The Lott / thelott.com

When asked how she plans to celebrate her windfall, she replied,“I’m going to get my partner and myself some Thai takeaway tonight; a bit of pad thai, some satay chicken, maybe some spring rolls.”

“More seriously though, we’ve been talking about buying our first home and thinking about the future and retirement, so we’ll definitely sit down and think about our future.

“Thank you so much, this is completely lifechanging.”

Amid the Summer Heat, Wavell Heights Residents Encouraged to Review Home Security

Photo Credit: Alistair MacRobert / Unsplash

With the rise in temperature in the past weeks, Wavell Heights residents were tempted to leave their windows and doors open. But police warn that they could be compromising home security in the process.

North Brisbane police recorded ten offences in Wavell Heights between December 29, 2021, and January 12, 2022, eight of which occurred Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. These offences included three burglaries, three unlawful entry of motor vehicles, and four unlawful use of motor vehicles.

Police added that offenders targeted keys, wallets, phones, cash, pushbikes and clothing and were able to enter through unsecured doors or windows; however, three of these offences involved entry through force or fly screens.

Leaving doors and windows open could impact home security

Police warn against leaving doors and windows despite the hot weather as it allows offenders to “break and enter”. Instead, residents are advised to exercise regular assessment of home security, introduce targeted security measures and change everyday behaviours.

Good home security should:

make it easy for an offender to be seen
make it difficult for an offender to gain entry
make it difficult for an offender to exit with your property
make it difficult for an offender to gain benefit from your property.

Reviewing home security | Video Credit: QueenslandPolice / YouTube

To conduct a home security review and identify your existing and potential security opportunities, the best place to start is from the outside and then work inwards.

Otherwise called the “layered approach”, homeowners should start their home security assessment from the external perimeter, then proceed to the external wall and access before checking the internal walls. After that, the next step is the internal areas, then the property and lastly, people.

If you happen to have information for the police, you may contact Policelink immediately and provide the information using the online suspicious activity form. Or you may report crime information anonymously via Crime Stoppers or call 1800 333 000.

Starting Soon! Wavell Heights and Geebung FOGO Pilot Collection Rolling Out

Brisbane’s pilot Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) program is set to roll out in selected streets across the city, including Wavell Heights and Geebung, with the first collection service taking place on 8 March 2022.

The FOGO pilot will cover a total of 6,000 households in an effort to reduce the impact of food wastes in landfills. Wastes collected for this initiative will be processed and transformed into compost for various farms, urban gardens, and public spaces in Brisbane.

Residents who will join the pilot will receive their FOGO caddy in mid-February. Contents of this caddy should be emptied out in their green waste bin every one to three days. However, those who are already composting may also use the contents for their own gardens.

The below streets in Wavell Heights and Geebung will be included in the pilot phase. Participating in the FOGO program is free and separate from the existing green waste recycling service.

FOGO pilot participants, however, must take note to exclude food wastes like dairy products (yoghurt, cheese, ice cream, all milk types), meat products (bones, red and white meat), and seafood in the FOGO bin.

Acceptable food wastes include fruit and vegetable scraps, leftover food scraps (cooked and uncooked except meat), tea leaves, tea bags, coffee grounds, eggshells, and mouldy bread, cereal, pasta, rice or grains.

Residents are encouraged to clean their caddy with every use as it’s dishwasher safe and made from recyclable materials designed to be rinsed and reused.

For more information about the FOGO pilot, phone Council via 07 3403 8888.

Plaisted Park Tree to Be Removed Due to Safety Concerns

Photo credit: Councillor Adam Allan / Facebook

A feature tree at Plaisted Park, located in between the Skate Bowl and the park exercise equipment, will have to be removed for safety reasons, due to a failure in one of the tree’s large limbs.

BCC arborists conducted an inspection and assessment of the tree which revealed a serious defect in the union of the tree’s two remaining ‘co-dominant leaders’ which can lead to future failures.

A tree will have co-dominant leaders when its main trunk has two or more branches or leaders of about the same diameter growing from the same location. Unless early intervention is done, such as subordination pruning, these branches grow with no single stem becoming the dominant one.

Photo credit: Councillor Adam Allan / Facebook

Co-dominant leaders eventually result in “bark inclusion” which happens when bark is included in the union of the two stems causing the tree to be structurally weak and prone to failure. Such failure can happen anytime but the risk is particularly high during storms.

The team explored options to help the tree by reducing the weight loading on its remaining sections. Despite their best efforts, the chief arborist had to recommend removal of the tree considering the “high probability of future failures, and the target zones of the failed sections”.

“The target zone encompasses the Skate Bowl and Exercise equipment. As both of these areas are utilised by park patrons on a regular basis, public safety is therefore the major consideration in this removal outcome,” Cr Adam Allan reported on a Facebook post dated 19 January 2022.

“You can see in the photos below that the structural stability of the whole tree was compromised and unfortunately, the only option was removal,” he said.

Replacement plantings of three Poinciana trees are scheduled to be undertaken once the subject tree is removed, likely before February ends.

5 Reasons To Shop At Fab Finds Markets in Zillmere

It’s great for the environment

Did you know that Australia discards around 23 kilograms of clothing to landfill each year? Help reduce textile waste by giving old clothes a second chance at life–donate them or sell them so you can make extra money.

Fab Finds Markets offers affordable stall holder options along with a comfortable and fun place for all to sell their closet clear out.

You can find high-quality items for a cheaper price

fab-finds clothes — Photo credit: Fab Finds Markets/Facebook

Expect to see reasonably priced clothing from all your favourite brands like Witchery, Mimco, Kookai, Decjuba, Sussan, Country Road.

“I have visited before as a shopper, but today was my first day as a seller. Awesome morning, great buzz in the air. I was really happy with my sales, if you price it reasonably people will buy it, everyone loves a bargain. I’ll be back,” shared local Niamh.

It features a relaxed vibe

secondhand-brisbane clothes — Photo credit: Fab Finds Markets/Facebook

It’s worth a morning rifling through the indoor and outdoor stalls since it’s an all-weather event, hosted on grass, bitumen and inside the airconditioned hall. It’s also located close to public transport with plenty of parking. Plus, the entry for shoppers is FREE.

You can find rare and unique items here

preloved-shop-brisbane macrame — Photo credit: Fab Finds Markets/Facebook

There’s something for everyone at the Markets– items are not limited to second-hand clothing, because there are also stalls where you can buy shoes, hats and accessories for women, men, children, and babies.

If you wouldn’t want to miss this event, head on to the Geebung Bowls Club on 30 January 2022 at 8:00 a.m. You can find all the details from Fab Finds Market’s Facebook page or on Instagram @fabfindsmarkets.