day one hundred and seventy-three - winter solstice
In a little under half an hour, Albury’s Winter Solstice event will go online. It’s usually a gathering of the local community brought together by the group Survivors of Suicide and Friends. This year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the event will be held online.
I urge each and every one of you to login to their facebook page and watch the stream. This is the programme;
The Northern Folk - Pre-event music
6:00pm start
David Astle - Host
Scots School Pipe Band - Musicians
Darren Wighton - Welcome to Country
Father Peter Mcleod-Miller - Prayer
Professor Patrick McGorry AO - Speaker
Angie McMahon - Musician
Shaun Tan - Artist
Jonny Benjamin MBE - Speaker
Liv Cartledge - Musician
MP Helen Haines - Poem Reading – Bruce Dawes, ‘Presences’
Lauren Jackson AO - Speaker
The Northern Folk - Musicians
Shane Fitzsimmons - Speaker
Jess Hitchcock - Musician – Closing Song
“Communities like this lead the world in their awareness around mental health problems but, more importantly, in their willingness to come out in these kind of conditions and be together…It’s not so easy to come together in adversity”
Professor Ian Hickie at Winter Solstice 2016
Here’s a little background on the event.
The Winter Solstice was started in 2013 by the founders of Survivors of Suicide and Friends, Annette and Stuart Baker. Survivors of Suicide and Friends is an Albury based organisation whose aim is to bring the subject of suicide and mental illness into the public forum to be addressed without shame or stigma. The Winter Solstice is an opportunity for communities to gather on the longest (and often coldest) night of the year to be entertained, enlightened and supported.
Over 1000 people attended the first event in Albury where it has been embraced by the local community. The event has gone on to achieve recognition and support beyond the region attracting guest speakers such as 2010 Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry (AO), inaugural CEO of beyondblue Professor Ian Hickie (AM), prominent Indigenous journalist Stan Grant, 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, cancer campaigner Samuel Johnson (OAM) and Walkley Award-winning MeToo campaigner Tracey Spicer (AM).
At all times, but especially at times like these, it’s imperative that we come together, for we are all affected by the ravages of mental illness and suicide, be that with someone we know and love, or even within ourselves. Whilst we are unable to share a physical space, and hug the person hurting beside us, we are so very lucky to be in a community that cares. May this movement grow in other communities, so we can develop the support networks and culture that makes mental illness and suicide a thing of the past.
Kilt of the day - Ross Modern Hunting Tartan
Soundtrack of the day provided by the many musicians performing at the event tonight
Link of the day - Winter Solstice Facebook Page (where the event will be live streamed)
https://www.facebook.com/alburywodongawintersolstice/
Winter Solstice Home Page
http://www.wintersolstice.org.au/
