The Member for Ballina, Don Page, this week presented Mr Siwicki with a prestigious NSW Government Community Award.

Mr Page also presented him with a Certificate of Appreciation for community service in the Ballina Electorate.

“I have known Russell for many years and it is indeed my pleasure to present Russell with this award as recognition for his outstanding community service,” Mr Page said.

“Russell Siwicki has spent the better part of 40 years serving a long list of community organisations in Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads.

“He was a Cub Scout leader for 12 years and as his children grew up he moved on to other service organisations including the Mullumbimby Apex Club and the Mullumbimby Rotary Club.

“Russell is also an active member of the Brunswick Heads Chamber of Commerce.

“Russell Siwicki has also helped raise thousands of dollars for the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Variety Clubs, organising their annual appeals.

“People like Russell Siwicki are at the heart of communities like Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads.

“I congratulate Russell Siwicki on his well-deserved NSW Government Community Service award.

“I also recognise the tremendous support Russell has received from his wife Michelle over the decades. Part of these awards is Michelle’s for letting the community have so much of Russell’s time.”

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Nichole, who has returned to Maclean after many years absence, has recently opened Delphis Holistic Artistry on the banks of the magnificent Clarence River.

“We’ve been open a couple of months now and I am so happy with how the business is going” she said.

“Women are loving our natural products and the fact that they can receive all their hair and beauty services under the one roof”.

Nichole was helped along by BEC Business Advisor Allan Sams. She had accessed the BEC’s free business advice in Forster many years earlier with great results, so called the BEC as she was establishing her new enterprise.

“Allan has helped me with marketing, he has helped me set up my bookkeeping and has referred me to the BEC’s accountant,” she said.

“This helps me monitor the success of my business. I am going to sit down with Allan every six months to make sure I stay on track.”

Allan said: “New business start-up is a big part of what we do.

“With Nichole I saw her only two weeks before she opened, which is unusual. She is very experienced, she just needed start-up advice.

“And she had never done GST before so I helped her with that.

“There are a lot of hairdressers around but this business is special. Consumers are looking for holistic services and Nichole has filled a real gap.”

Nichole began her hairdressing apprenticeship in Maclean 28 years ago, when her father was the local policeman.

She later moved to Sydney, then overseas, pursuing her career as a beauty professional.

“Maclean has a beautiful community feel that hasn’t been lost” said Nichole. “I want to nurture this community with my services.”

Delphis Holistic Artistry offers massage therapy, hair and beauty services and a comprehensive gift shop with aromatherapy products, crystals and hand crafted jewellery.

For free comprehensive business advice, no matter how large or small your business, phone Allan Sams from the Northern Rivers BEC on 1300 650 058 or email info@norbec.com.au or visit norbec.com.au 

The BEC services are subsidised by the NSW Department of State and Regional Development and the Federal Government.

PICTURE: Nichole Martyn with Allan Sams.

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What we don’t do is link them and address our relationship patterns that may be harming our wealth-building, or address our wealth-building habits that may be harmful to our relationship.

Money can be a major impediment to a harmonious life, regardless of a person’s level of wealth, according to holistic financial planner Christoph Schnelle (pictured), of Burringbar.

“Many of my clients want straight financial advice,” he says.

“I advise on superannuation and investments and minimise their tax.

“But now a growing number of people I see work with me on a deeper level at the same time as utilising these essential financial services.”

Mr Schnelle explains that even many wealthy people experience pain around money, especially when they talk to their partner about money.

“I look at what causes the pain and what can be done to restore harmony” he says.

“On the other hand, many people struggle when they try to accumulate wealth.

“Here I look at how to make these clients more efficient so they can accumulate more with the same level of effort.

“I also look at what simple changes in understanding can make their wealth accumulation a more joyful experience.”

Hailed as a mathematical prodigy in his youth, Mr Schnelle was discovered and profiled by BRW magazine in their ‘Future Leaders’ edition, along with other up-and-coming Australians such as Mark Bouris of Wizard Home Loans.

“They’re young, they’re smart and they could make you a fortune,” the article states.

A prolific property investor and holder of four international high-tech patents, Mr Schnelle ran a technology company in his earlier life which attracted many millions in government R&D funding and venture capital investment.

These days he is in increasing demand to help couples and singles through their deeper money issues, through his business In Your Interest Financial Planning.

“I apply esoteric principles to financial planning,” Mr Schnelle says.

“Esoteric simply means ‘innermost’. It has nothing to do with secrets or the chosen few.”

The process of looking at the innermost is called ‘clairsentience’, literally ‘clear feeling’.

Mr Schnelle’s work is based on the premise that if he looks at the innermost of a financial issue for a client, he is able to offer a very precise remedy.

“When a client is interested and ready to look at an issue but lacks the necessary clarity, then I am often able to feel quite precisely what the issue is and express it to my client,” he says.

Sometimes the process is very simple and much can be achieved in one short phone call or meeting.

“I have clients, on the other hand, whom I work with over years and the changes can be dramatic,” Mr Schnelle said.

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Jane (pictured) recently commenced as Director of Sales at the Byron at Byron Resort and Spa and Scott secured his role as Regional Sales and Marketing Manager – Salt and Northern NSW for Stella Hospitality prior to relocating from Sydney in June.

“We knew it would be a long drive each day for Scott but we moved here for Lennox, so that’s just how it had to be,” said Jane.

“We are so happy – the reality of living here exceeded the high expectations we had, in every aspect.”

Prior to relocating, Jane was Director of Sales for Hamilton Island (a role based in Sydney with plenty of travel to the island) and Scott was National Sales Manager for Voyages Hotels and Resorts.

Scott’s role involves overseeing the sales and marketing of Stella hotels and resorts throughout Northern New South Wales.

At The Byron at Byron, Jane works on everything from securing leisure business and conference sales to overseeing reservations and dealing with tourism organisations.

Local women are invited to come and enjoy a drink with Jane and Spa Manager Melinda Dunn at ‘A Night At The Spa’, a girls night out on October 22.

Being held at the Spa and Wellness Centre within The Byron at Byron Resort, the evening is an opportunity for women, both young and old, to be pampered with sample treatments, gift bags, champagne and supper.

‘A Night At The Spa’ is being held from 6:30–8:00pm, Wednesday, October 22. Tickets are $45 and this fee is redeemable with any Spa purchase. Bookings are essential for this fun night out. Contact the Spa on 6639 2110 or spa@thebyronatbyron.com.au

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Can you give a brief rundown of your life?

Born in New Delhi, India, came to Australia (Melbourne) at the age of 12, worked as travel agent/tour operator for 20 years, worked in Melbourne and Sydney in Oz as well as PNG, the UK, Holland, the USA, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar.
 
How did you become a comic?

My friend Mandy Nolan said I was funny and should do her ACE (Adult Community Education) stand-up comedy course — she’s bigger than me so I didn’t argue!

Can you remember your first performance, and how you felt before and after it?

When my name was announced, I needed to have a poo. Needless to say, I was extremely uncomfortable and could have used some comic relief myself! But fortunately, all went well, the audience were fabulous and when I came off stage, I was like a human vibrator!

Has anyone in particular influenced your career?

No, not really, but many have inspired it — Groucho and the brothers Marx, Jerry Lewis, Peter Sellers and Dame Edna, to name a few.

Do you get nervous before a gig, and if so, how do overcome that?

I get extremely nervous, both physically and emotionally, but once I’m out there and I get a laugh, it settles me somewhat. I imagine the audience is in my Sandy Gandhi living room.
 
What’s the biggest audience you’ve performed in front of?

500-ish.

What’s the smallest audience you’ve performed in front of?

Four!

Do you have a favourite comic?

No.

You’ve just written a book. What’s it called, what’s it about?

Enlighten Up … it’s a literary titterary! A compilation of my weekly column, Enlighten Up (that appears on Thursdays in Pulse, the arts and entertainment section of The Northern Star), and other nonsense, including some funny photos. 

Will people’s lives be enriched by reading your book, or are you just out to make a literary buck?

Sure they will, it’s authentic comic relief and it’s not called Enlighten Up for nothing! And of course, I’d like to make a literary buck — feel free to buy a few copies, that way my bank manager won’t think that my best joke is my bank account!

You’re obviously very good at making people laugh. What makes you laugh?

Animals and birds!

On the flip side, what really pisses you off?

Greed.

Finally, do you have an all-time favourite joke?

Yes, my own post-9/11 joke: “Have you heard? America has changed its national emblem — it’s no longer the bald eagle, it’s the sitting duck!”

Read more about Sandhy and the book.

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• Paperback RRP$23.95
• ISBN 9781877096020
• August release with launch at Byron Bay Writers Festival at the end of July.

The following is from the introduction to the book by author Di Morrissey:

Sandy Gandhi is an institution in Byron Bay.

As Australia’s most ‘Easterly Indian’ (she claims there was one other, but she shot him!), her verbal jousting, quick quips and wild humour have endeared her to stand-up comedy audiences in Byron and beyond.

Like good things that simply happen and evolve rather than are planned, Sandy stumbled into stand-up.

A slim, tiny woman, her alter ego has now become larger than life.

Her humourous column, ‘Enlighten Up’, appears every Thursday in Pulse, the arts and entertainment section of The Northern Star – she is their ‘Foreign Gossipondent Extraordinaire’ and her motto is, ‘If it hasn’t happened, I’ll make it up!’

But I know another Sandy, a caring, compassionate, passionate, fierce advocate for the underprivileged, the handicapped, the sick and the elderly.

She has worked as a devoted carer for nine years and goes above and beyond when it comes to helping others.

And, of course, she makes them laugh!

I’m sure this collection of Sandy Gandhi’s musings will make you smile too.”

About Sandy:

Sandy Gandhi is the alter ego of Sandy Aranha.

Born in New Delhi, India, her family immigrated to Australia when she was 12 years old.

At 21 she travelled to London as a fully-fledged travel agent and worked traversing the globe, spending much time in Egypt and Africa.

She eventually returned to Australia and settled in Byron Bay, Australia’s most easterly point, making her Australia’s most easterly Indian!

Sandy currently lives between Byron Bay and Bangalow. She has been a regular weekly columnist for The Northern Star newspaper for a number of years.

Sandy is in much demand for corporate performances and is a regular on the comedy circuit in northern NSW as well as recent feature performances in both Miss (you) Melbourne in 2007 and at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2008.

Comprising over 60 of her incisive columns for The Northern Star newspaper, Enlighten Up takes us on a comical, satirical journey from Bangalore, India to Bangalow, northern NSW.

The material in these columns is often the basis of Sandy’s stand-up comidy routine that is wowing audiences nationally, including a successful stint in Bangalore, India late last year.

• Watch the birth of Sandy’s book.

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That is one of the questions that will be explored by Associate Professor Karen Brooks, pictured, at a public lecture at Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus on April 30.

Professor Brooks, who took up an appointment in the media department in SCU’s School of Arts and Social Sciences at the start of the year, has recently released a book ‘Consuming Innocence: Popular Culture and Our Children’.

In the book, she explores the complex relationship that tots, tweens and teens — never mind adults — have with popular culture.

She considers the role popular culture and, more importantly, parents, play in creating children’s ideas of themselves and the world they live in.

Her book questions the involvement of corporations that target kids and promote sexuality, and the messages and values the other media surrounding them are imparting.

Professor Brooks said the recent cases of cyber and real world bullying, where kids, desperate to become ‘cewebrities’ (a cross between celebrities and the web), upload footage of themselves beating another young person or use their mobile phones to film fights and sexual exploits, had parents and teachers reeling.

“We live in a world where we assume we have no control over the media, popular culture or the technologies that our kids are readily accessing and seem to be born using, but this isn’t true,” Professor Brooks said.

“My talk will discuss the changes in society brought about through digital technology and popular culture and our kids’ consumption of these things and examine the impact they’re all having on young people, families and communities and what we, as adults, can do about this.”

Described by former Queensland Premier Wayne Goss as the ‘grunge queen’, Professor Brooks has established a national and international reputation in the area of popular culture and is a regular commentator in the media on issues ranging from youth culture to parenting.

The public lecture will be held at the Whitebrook Theatre, Southern Cross University Lismore campus, at 7pm on Wednesday, April 30.

For information contact Wendy Broome on 66203125 or email wendy.broome@scu.edu.au

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However, the women’s surfing scene today is a world away from the sport’s beginnings in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Judy Gibbon wonders what might have been had she been born 40 years later.

Judy is a member one of the pioneering families of Lennox Head. Judy’s family moved to Lennox just a few months after she was born in 1946.

She first stood up on a surfboard in 1964 at Lennox Main Beach, and developed her surfing skills to such an extent that she won the 1967 Queensland women’s title.

There was no cash prize involved, but she did win a trip to Bells Beach for the national titles, where she qualified for the final. It was her first flight on an aeroplane — a big moment for a young lady from a tiny village.

That’s why she wonders ‘what if’: What if she was born into the current generation of female surfers, who these days compete for big money in exotic locations around the world.

Judy says she was extremely competitive in her younger surfing days, and believes that, if she had been born 40 years later, she would have had a fair crack at the women’s pro circuit, especially with her switch-foot style which allowed her to surf natural-foot or goofy-foot.

But then the memories come flooding back — memories of a 4am start, waking up her best mate Wendy McDermid by 5am and surfing perfect waves at The Pass at Byron Bay all day. If there were 10 people in the water, it was crowded.

“They were the best years of my life. It was an amazing time,” she says. Then Judy says she sees ‘all the commercialisation in surfing these days’, and you get the impression that those thoughts of ‘what if’ have been forgotten, over-ridden by cherished memories from an idyllic youth.

* * *

Judy surfed Lennox Point only once. She had a few waves, but says she ‘freaked out’ and paddled in.

It wasn’t the size of the waves — it was a fear of sharks, and those fears were well-founded.

Judy remembers fishing with her dad Ken off the Pinnacle, just around from the Point. Jewfish weighing 20kg would be hooked, but by the time they were landed, only the head and gills remained — the rest had been chomped off by sharks.

“The sharks put me off,” Judy says when explaining why she — and others — didn’t surf the Point in the early years.

“We’d see sharks when we were surfing at Byron, but we had no fear of them because we knew they were well-fed (Judy believed the Byron sharks feasted well on waste from the abattoir and whaling station, and weren’t interested in surfers).

Judy says she felt safer surfing in Byron, and she fell in love with the lifestyle.

Her and a group of women, including Wendy McDermid, Denise Campbell, Elaine North, Yvonne Smith, Leona Keevers, Sue Curtis and Bev Duncombe, surfed at the time.

Long days were spent surfing Wategos, The Pass or Broken Head — her favourite spot — in uncrowded conditions.

Then, when the day’s surfing was done, it was off to work at Byron Hospital, where nurse Judy often got startled looks from injured surfers. “Guys would come into casualty with a fin-chop or something, and they’d look at me and say ‘weren’t you in the surf an hour ago?’. They were overwhelmed,” she says.

One of those she tended to was Nat Young, who came in one day with a very large gash in his head. Not surprisingly, ‘he wasn’t a happy man’, Judy recalls.

Judy bought herself a ‘little red Mini’, the very popular car of the 1960s and ’70s. Despite its small size, Judy and her mates managed to cram six boards onto the roof racks, and themselves in the car.

They lived a dream life. “We’d be the first in the water at The Pass and we’d surf all day,” Judy said.

Being a female surfer wasn’t a problem with her peers, because ‘all the locals stuck together’.

But these were the 1960s, a conservative time, and there were some who frowned upon a lifestyle where two men and three women shared a house in Ruskin Street, spending most of their time in the water.

“The matron used to worry about me working at the hospital and whether I was giving the place a bad reputation,” Judy said, adding that it wasn’t uncommon for matron to take a stroll past the Ruskin Street house, just to make sure things weren’t getting out of hand and the hospital’s reputation wasn’t being tarnished!

The matron need not have worried. Eventually the Ruskin Street house was sold, and it was time to move on. Judy went to Sydney to further her nursing career, which advanced to such a stage that she became a psychiatric nurse.

She bought a unit in Sydney, where she lived for 16 years.

Judy continued to surf for a while, but work and paying off the unit eventually consumed all her time.

It all paid off, though. She’s now living on a beautiful local property. It’s still hard work looking after the macadamia trees and running a business wholesaling car parts and accessories, but a peek out the front window makes it all worthwhile: To the east is an uninterrupted view of the coast, with Lennox Point looming large.

PICTURES: Judy with friends (second from left) in Byron Bay in the 1960s, and Judy in action.

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