With requests for music by Bizet, Paganini, Puccini, and Nat King Cole singing Irving Gordon’s Unforgettable, and poems by Banjo Patterson, Joyce Kilmer and Clare Harner, Kate Smorty had everything in place, for the time when she was not.

We need to value and learn from the stories of older women. This week sees International Women’s Day and Seniors’ Week intersect. I reflected on the themes for both, with Seniors’ being ‘Time to Shine’ and IWD being ‘Accelerate Action – to collectively forge a more inclusive world for women’.

The spearhead in the fight to save Feros Village, and five days shy of her 97th birthday, Byron Bay resident Kate Smorty passed away last week at George's Cottages.

Today the residents of Feros Village in Byron Bay and their families and supporters have finally heard the news they have been waiting 10 months for – the NSW Government has opened an expression of interest (EOI) process for potential operators to provide aged care accommodation at the site under a long-term lease.

This Wednesday, July 19, residents at Byron Feros are expected to vacate their rooms for the last time – they feel they are being kicked out of home

Organised and MC’d by Mandy Nolan and daughter of a resident, Maree Eddings, those gathered in the sweltering heat to make sure their numbers were counted.