Great news this week in the Bundjalung Bay. The Byron Community Centre is proud to announce that Ella Vivian-Kay has been named the 2025 Northern Rivers Young Volunteer of the Year at the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards, held on 9 October at Tweed Heads.

Now in their 19th year, the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards are one of Australia’s largest celebrations of volunteering. Run annually by The Centre for Volunteering, the awards recognise the outstanding work of volunteers and volunteer leaders across seven categories: Young, Adult, Senior, Emergency, Volunteer Team, Volunteer Leader and Not-for-Profit Governance.

Ella Vivian-Kay gives her time each week at Fletcher Street Cottage, where she helps prepare, cook and serve breakfast to people in need or without a home. Her efforts not only provide a nutritious start to the day but also help create a sense of dignity and belonging for community members doing it tough.

Ella is my first guest on the show this morning. I can’t wait to welcome her in, I’m sure you’ll join me in congratulating her for all the amazing work she does in the community!

My second guest is Jan Rae, an Australian artist who lives in Byron. She likes to paint about the environment around her: the hinterland, the beautiful coastline and the majestic headlands.

In 1984 Jan Rae was one of three artists to paint a colourful mural on the outside of the then Byron Community Centre and now Jan returns to Byron Community Centre with a New Spring Exhibition titled “Byron Hinterland Paintings”

It’s open now - until 15 December 2025 at Byron Spaces Gallery.

The exhibition is part of the Byron Community Centre’s 130 Years of Community Spirit celebrations in 2025, highlighting our community gathering together for creativity and connection, all the way back to the Byron Bay School of Arts in 1895.

Entry is free, giving the community the chance to experience Jan’s luminous vision of the Byron hinterland.

Jan herself describes the exhibition as ‘a celebration of place’ and in this new body of work she shifts the focus from people and society to the natural world. Her canvases are free of buildings or man-made features, instead highlighting the vast skies, rolling hills and distant ocean horizons that define the region. Doesn’t the mere sound of it just put you in a good mood?!