Ballina Information Blog

Working with people, being part of a team and celebrating your community are all in a day’s work when you sign up to volunteer at Rivafest 2008.

If you enjoy being a dedicated team member and have spare time on Saturday 29 November and Sunday November 30, why not consider volunteering at this year’s Ballina Rivafest?

Ballina Shire Council event co-ordinators are looking for approximately 50 people to help make this a special event for our community.

Whether you are skilled or wish to be skilled in organising, public relations, controlling crowds, working with performers and technicians, constructing marquees or sandpits, or simply just enjoy working, learning and meeting new people, Rivafest has a job for you.

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Over the past six or seven years Ballina Info has established itself as the premier source of online information about Ballina and its surrounding areas.  To date we have always looked upon Ballina Info as being somewhat of a community service and hence probably haven’t given it the time it justifiably deserves.  This is all about to change! 

Over the past month we have regularly discussed what to do with Ballina info and have come to the conclusion that we need to turn it into a viable business model which will allow us to reinvest our time and resources into making it a much more feature and content rich experience.

To give you a bit of an idea of how the site is performing I thought I would throw together some quick numbers on traffic to date this year.  All the statistical information comes from Google analytics, which is a must have tool for any website owner.

Overall statistics between January 2008 and October 7, 2008
Visitors: 114,376
Page views: 411,178
Pages/Visit: 3.59

Busiest Day:
1,338 on April 8, 2008 (fatal shark attack in Ballina)

Most popular content:
Accommodation (117,607 page views)
Cinema (97,601 page views)
Business Directory (93,607 page views)
Blog (37,407 page views)
Real Estate (11,691 page views)

Blog statistics
1389 posts, 233 comments
Most discussed article: St Helena Speed Camera

Accommodation Verified Online Bookings
$44,441.60 of confirmed bookings for local providers

As you can see the site is performing very nicely, even though somewhat neglected. In the coming weeks we will be putting together a post and a survey to determine what areas of Ballina Info you would like us to work on, in the meantime feel free to leave your comments below.

It’s almost time for the annual Girls Night In, a fundraiser for The Cancer Council.

One of the organisers, Deb Grant, said: “This is our third year helping to raise money for The Cancer Council and we’d love your help to make it bigger and better.

“The night is all about enjoying your girlfriends, remembering those of us who have suffered from cancer and thankfully recovered, or family and friends that may have lost their battle.”

Details: 

• Venue: Riverwalk Café, River st, Ballina
• Date: Friday 24th October
• Time:  7pm-10pm (Games and activities will begin at 7pm)
• Cost: $25.00 per person (this will include nibbles, drinks and your donation)
• Theme: Wear lots of fun Pink

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Ballina Shire Council is pleased to announce the opening of the Ballina Skatepark redevelopment at Missingham Park.

The $250,000 project has now been completed, enabling the park to be officially reopened by Ballina Shire Mayor Phillip Silver on Saturday 11 October, coinciding with the Fair Go Skateboarding Festival.

The extensions of the Ballina Skatepark have seen the addition of a deeper closed bowl and further street elements, expanding upon the existing three open bowls and street courses.

The redevelopment was designed by Convic Design Pty Ltd, following extensive consultation with the skating community and stakeholder groups. 

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Congratulations to the Ballina Quay West Under-11s, who won the Group One Junior Rugby League grand final30-12 against Lennox Head.

The match was played in very hot conditions at Casino, with Ballina very dominant from the start against a determined Lennox team with the ‘Bruise Brothers,’ captain Bhilly Sines and Jack Tyndall, showing the way.

Leading by example Bhilly Sines opened the scoring, throwing more dummies than in a baby shop to score under the posts, then  hooker Christopher Pilley scored a clever try, running the blindside from dummy-half to score from 15 meters out for 12-0.

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Australian Seabird Rescue co-founder Marny Bonner has been recognised for her outstanding contribution to wildlife rescue by being awarded a prestigious International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Action Award.

The award is also dedicated to her late partner and ASR co-founder Lance Ferris, who passed away in October 2007.

IFAW Asia Pacific Director Erica Martin presented the award today at the Ballina headquarters of ASR as part of Animal Action Week.

Marny said she was ‘very honoured and humbled’ to receive such an award.

Reflecting on when she and Lance Ferris set up ASR, Marny said: “We had many detractors who thought we were stark raving mad, but IFAW supported us.”

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Local eligible organisations wishing to apply for 2008/09 Capital Assistance Program (CAP) grants for sporting and recreational facilities must submit their applications prior to the close of business, 14th November 2008, Member for Ballina, Don Page, said today.

“Capital Assistance Grants help local sporting organisations and local governments to construct new facilities, improve existing facilities and undertake projects to improve sporting access for under-represented groups,” Mr Page said.

“The entire community benefits from improved access to sport and recreation facilities, and many worthwhile projects have been built in the Ballina electorate from funding through CAP grants in the past.”

Mr Page said assistance up to a maximum of $30,000 and not exceeding 50 per cent of the net project cost is available under the scheme.

“These grants are matched dollar for dollar by the individual sporting groups who demonstrate their ability to financially contribute to their proposed project,” Mr Page said.

Guidance Notes and Application Forms for the 2008-09 Capital Assistance Program are available from Don Page’s Office at Shop 1, 7 Moon St, Ballina, phone 6686 7522 or on the internet at www.dsr.nsw.gov.au

Ballina Arts and Craft Centre Inc.(BACCI) will be celebrating their 10th birthday with a cake and an Art and Craft Exhibition at the Ballina R.S.L Club. The opening night of the Exhibition is Friday 24th at 6.30pm. Cost $10.00 Light refreshments will be served. R.S.V.P for opening night.

Free entry on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th.
Opening times Saturday 10.am -pm. Sunday 10am.-4pm.

George Pardon a well known local artist donated a painting and framed free of charge from B Framed for a raffle which will be sold during the Exhibition and drawn Sunday afternoon . Proceeds from the raffle will be supporting the Ballina Hospital.

Contact numbers:
Denise Newport 66866480
Sue Lowe 66863418

Everything old is new again at the Gallery in October!

In Gallery 1, Susie Scammell presents Archaistic: contemporizing the art of the Ancient Greeks. This is a fascinating exhibition of mixed media on plaster, with subjects ranging from an Ancient Greek Goddess to Icarus and Equus.

In Gallery 2, Trio Deco returns this year with another new theme: Masquerade: disquises and transformations. Trish Bazar presents glorious silkworks, Lyn Cochrane presents gorgeous jewellery, decoupage and small sculptures and Vivienne Sigley presents her haunting pastels and popular quirky drawings.

Gallery 3, following the success of September’s Animal House, now re-emerges as The Bird Cage, with individual artists such as Katherine Castle exhibiting beautiful depictions of a variety of birds.

The Hills are alive in Gallery 4, with 4 women artists from the hills around Kyogle and Nimbin exhibiting their wonderful and varied artworks. Carol Fickling, Johanna Kempff, Natalie Nottle and Julie St.Aubyn are the artists and they present a variety of topics from portraiture to botanical works and in a variety of media, including sculpture.

Once again the Gallery shop is filled with unique, quality works from our Northern Rivers artisans.

View the Ballina Events page for details on the Gallery.

Operation ‘Free the Dolphins’ has succeeded, with a mother dolphin and her calf which were trapped in East Ballina’s Prospect Lake freed today.

Members of the Ballina-based Australian Seabird Rescue, Southern Cross University’s Whale Research Centre, National Parks and Sea World Animal Release Team trapped the pair during a three-hour operation today.

The dolphins were trucked to the nearby Richmond River where they were released.

Although slightly worse the wear for the ordeal and showing signs of dehydration, the dolphins appeared in reasonably healthy condition.

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