4 August , Byron Shire EchoLocal NewsOUR FREE GIFT A day to celebrate fatherhood TO DADFREERec. RetailLimit rst customers each store. Trade supplies, gas fuel excludedEARLY BIRD SPECIALSpend or more on Dad before August and get a FREE piece Screwdriver Set with presentation of this ad. Exclusive toMitre Byron Bay James Hardware Mitre Mullumbimby MITRE CATALOGUE OUT NOWThe Fatherhood Festival is for men, women and children, for fathers, mothers and grandparents says The
fatherhood project
team who are hosting Australias first Fatherhood Festival. But why a festival on Fathers Day, Sunday September 5 After the launch of the Fatherhood album in Byron Bay last year there have been numerous conversations from young fathers, from women wanting to talk about their dads, funny stories, sad stories about the impact fathers have in our lives, explained Colin George, producer of the Fatherhood CD. This spurred the formation of a not-for-profit group called The Fatherhood Project. The Fatherhood Project also wants to celebrate men and fathers and look at what they bring to their families and communities. The three day event takes a serious look at fatherhood and also has a lot of play planned into a packed program. Highlights of the festival include At the Head of the Table Talking with Dad, a Friday night dinner with Andrew Denton and Adrienne Burgess with music by Rob Hirst and Colin George. Saturday night features a Fa-Andrew Denton will be one of the special guests at the Fatherhood Festival.these sessions. For youth there is the forum, Can Your Dad SMS While an indigenous mens healing circle will be present throughout the festival. Bring your dad, bring your kids to the A I Hall and showgrounds for a fun filled Fathers Day, ending with a fireworks display on Sunday evening, everything is free except specific ticket events which are available from Jan on . Program booklets are available at cafes, newsagents and hardware stores. Find out more at com.au. The Thanks Dad National Photo Competition closes on August and is a great chance to honour the special bond between father and child. Now in its fifth year the competition winners are announced on Fathers Day and compete for ten prizes of in different categories. For details on how to enter check the website at Mensline, the locally based voluntary phone counselling service for men, needs more male volunteers to meet the ever increasing requests for help and advice it receives from men in the Lismore region. Celebrating its th anniversary this month, Mensline currently mans the phones every night of the week between 7pm and pm, fielding calls from men all over the northern rivers who simply need someone to talk to. To continue to meet this need, Mensline will commence an extensive skills based training course for new volunteers on Wednesday August . Anyone interested in becoming a Mensline volunteer can call the mens resource centre
on or contact Mensline on its counselling number . Experienced Mensline counsellors conduct the classes, with guest lectures by members of the community.therhood Concert with Jimmy Little and guests while on Sunday there is a forum with Andrew Denton called Tracks of Fatherhood. Steven Snow from Fins Restaurant will be making breakfast in the morning with Dads in the Kitchen. All childrens events are for free including fire engine rides, games, a giant sandcastle and Dads on Drums. There will be Conversation Circles throughout the afternoon looking at many father issues such as Dealing with Loss, Daughters talking about their Fathers and Step Parenting. The Mens Resource Centre is hostingTutors wantedAre you interested in becoming a volunteer Adult English languageLiteracy tutor You will need to do a short free training course run by TAFE to train people who would like to assist another adult improve hisher English language skills or reading and writing. The course will take hours of your time over ten weeks in Lismore. As a course graduate, you will receive a TAFE statement of attainment.The course is free. Contact Sandra Kessler, on or s.kessler det.nsw.edu.au.in brief
