Friends of the OBH Community Cultural Centre
Newsletter October 2025
The OBH Regional Community Cultural Centre is a place where we celebrate our past, nurture our community and dream about our future.
3 Corkhill Place, Bega NSW 2550 – message Secretary Kay Dowman on 0437 101 625 - www.obh.org.au
Working Bees
- The Gardening Buddies are meeting Saturday 25 October (last Saturday of the month); main jobs will be preparing beds, lawns, cubby house etc for Spring into Summer Fair. Eric has made wooden name plaques for the shrubs and trees already planted. Wood recycled from burnt OBH – circularity in practice! Wait until you see them – so natural and beautiful to blend in with the landscaping plantings. Thank you so much Eric. Time 9am to 10 or 10:30; morning tea provided.
- We will be having a Friends/Tenants working bee on Saturday 1 November to prepare and set up the precinct for the Fair the next day. Friends Committee members will be at the precinct by 8am so if you have a spare couple of hours your help will be appreciated. No special skills needed – just a belief in the value of community working together to get things done.
- On Fair Day, 2 November, Friends will be at the precinct by 7am, setting up ready to welcome our community and any visitors in the area. Please help promote your Fair. Your help will be appreciated.
Preparations for our Spring into Summer Fair
Preparations are on track to ensure a fun filled day for all on Sunday November 2, 10am to 4pm. Entry is free and it is, overall, a cash only Fair. Bring along a rug, cushion, chair so, after doing the rounds of all the fair is offering while listening to our very own Bega Brass Band, Baad Band and Buskers. You can relax from 2pm and enjoy the music of the Figmentz.
Now is the time to think about your Cake with a Story (entry form) and Spring Flower Arrangement (entry form) entries. As well get your Spring Outfit (don’t forget the hat) dusted off ready for the big day. Encourage the kids to enter both competitions. There are some good prizes donated – but more important is the fact the fun is actually in ‘having a go.’
Cakes can be delivered between 9am and 10am (cut off 10am) to the Men’s Ward (has been changed from the Women’s Ward.) Judging will begin at 11am. There will be a special award in memory of Claire Lupton, the “Claire Lupton Award for best Story of a Cake”, and Becky, Claire’s daughter, has agreed to come and help choose the best story and present the award. Winners will be announced around 1pm.
Flower Show arrangements can be delivered to the Women’s Ward by 10am. Make sure your arrangement is in a vase-like container – something you would use in your home. And no ‘florist foam’ as it is not biodegradable. Judges, would like details of the flowers/blooms used and you can include where they are from, if you wish.
Plants, craft, clothing, coffee, snow cones, NFPs market stalls are booked in and the phone is still ringing. While the Friends Sausage Sizzle, Morning Teas, Lunches and Treats offerings will tease your tastebuds. And the Cake Stall will ensure you can have your cake and eat it too! Donations of cakes, slices, etc.etc. and time welcome. Cake donations (for Cake Stall) deliver any time after 8am to the Women’s Ward.
Something new to our Fair. Pickleball is growing as a new sport in the area. You will be able to learn how it works and have a go under the watchful eye of our very own Sapphire Coast Pickleball Association, which operates three venues across the Sapphire Coast in Pambula, Bega and Bermagui. Also check out the lawned areas for our new games of skill. No instruction needed. But will test the grey matter!
The Cubby House will be tidied up and opened up, but may not be painted (that job in the pipeline – any painters out there with some spare time?) Some people in the community will remember playing in the Cubby House when you attended Bega Daycare! You will be 30 something now.
The OBH Long Term Landscaping Plan will be on display for your interest and comments. As the work needed to achieve the plantings etc. is being done by volunteer labour the key words are ‘long term’. But it’s a labour of love and how wonderful to look back in 20 years and be able to say ‘I planted that tree.’
We are looking to borrow a couple of portable smallish gazebos to provide some shade. If you have one and are happy to lend to Friends please let Kay Dowman know.
- Radio Station Edge FM will have an Open Studio from 10am, along with their famous vinyl record sale. Edge FM will be broadcasting music from the verandah of the NQS from 10am to 2pm, pulling sound down as required.
- Bega Valley Spinners and Weavers, fibre artists extraordinaire, will have their studio open and members demonstrating many different fibre skills. Selling handcrafted creations.
- Men’s Shed will be set up and open for their Big Garage Sale of all things ‘handy.’
- Bega Valley Beekeepers. Learn how to establish your own healthy hives. Take home some of our tasty Bega Valley honey.
- Bega Valley Potters Studio will be open and ready to demonstrate and advise. Selling handcrafted pots and other clay creations.
- LandCare will display, information on local environmental sustainability. May have some local environmentally suitable plants for sale. Food for our birds, insects and small animals.
- Lou Oakes’ Art Studio. Our newest tenant, artist Lou, will have her studio open with a display of work. Paintings for sale and artists books on display.
Reserve Land Manager news
Crown Lands has commenced the recruitment process for additional board members.
Please consider offering your time. We do need people to put their hands up. The roof is on, so that means management of the precinct is the main job. More info. Applications close on 1 November.
Val Little
on behalf of the Friends Committee of the OBH Regional Community Cultural Centre
October 23, 2025.
