A desire to foster a community connection during lockdown and a sterling commitment to the joys of print media has seen the launch of two unique community newsletters in the Upper Blue Mountains.
Residents of North Katoomba are able to pick up a copy of the North Katoomba Neighbourhood Newsletter, tucked into plastic pockets wrapped around electricity poles and trees. The newsletter features articles, artwork, photography, recipes, playlists, notices and more.
The bulletin was created by North Katoomba resident Caroline Gilligan Payne, who acts as editor, printer and distributor all in one.
"I was inspired by a colleague at work who had started a neighbourhood newsletter in Wentworth Falls as a way of reconnecting with neighbours and friends during lockdown," she said. "My family welcomed the opportunity to do the same in North Katoomba."
That colleague is Paddi Vaughan, who started up the Wentworth Falls newsletter Hendo Happenings (for Henderson Road in the town). For Vaughan, it was also the absence of community connection during lockdown that drove her to create the publication.
"I really wanted to know how everyone was going and I felt the need for some sort of connection," she said. "We aren't a super-close 'borrow a cup of sugar' kind of street but the idea of a newsletter came to me and I put it out there to my closest neighbours, and it was really well-received.
"There are now regular contributors who submit articles on local wildlife, their micro-businesses, lockdown fashion, recipes, jokes, letters of thanks, birthday shout-outs, and kindness sightings.
"When I deliver, people are really happy to have the newsletter. The best complement so far has been that they have lived on the street for 30 years and feel that the newsletter has made our street feel like a community - exactly what I was hoping for."
Residents of North Katoomba have responded similarly to the North Katoomba Neighbourhood Newsletter.
"The feedback from our community has been extremely positive and we will continue producing a monthly newsletter as long as the community needs it," said Payne.
