A sold-out gala in Lismore has raised more than $200,000 for Women Up North (WUN) and its Bugalma Bihyn Aboriginal Women’s Refuge, which can accommodate up to five families.

The Small SHIFT: I Will Survive event where seven women, spanning seven decades, tell their story in seven minutes, is back for the fourth year running on Thursday, 5 November.

Haven’s story starts with a supermarket. The venue at 102 Jonson Street occupies the former Woolworths building, a site presented as a temporary home for music and community, before the building is eventually redeveloped. Instead of hiding that impermanence, the team made it the point. The space was built entirely from salvaged materials, turning a commercial site into a cultural one which is reminiscent of a futuristic Pan-Asian set from Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell.

Friends of the Libraries, Byron Shire are looking for some fresh, new, younger faces to join the group and help keep it moving forward.

Environmental protections and tighter housing controls are proposed for a disputed Hastings Point development site, following a court decision allowing its subdivision.