MANDY NOLAN’S
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It’s a space for gathering when that gathering can’t take place at your home. Halls are for people who don’t have grand homes. They’re for us, the ordinary folk who don’t have the money to whack up a marquee in their backyard, who can’t have more than ten people for dinner because we just don’t have the chairs, or the room – or the cups. Country halls are spaces that belong to everyone. Like a community garden, but for events. I love being given the key to a hall. Opening it and standing in the empty space. Knowing that in a few hours I will create something remarkable, there will be laughter and conversation and applause and people, then at 11pm when I stack the last chair, it’s gone. The place is empty again, ready for the next user to make it their own. Every time I use a hall I feel like a hermit crab, finding an uninhabited shell, scrambling inside, then abandoning it in the night. It’s so transitory. Halls are the definition of ‘liminal’. They are all about the space in between. They stand quietly, wondering what will happen next.
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Wooden floors get swept clean. Chairs are stacked. Kitchens wiped over. Toilet bins emptied. Over 35 years as a comedian, I’ve performed thousands of gigs and nothing quite measures up to the country hall. And nothing is quite as humbling. Recently I wanted to do some fundraisers for floodaffected communities. I rang the number for the Corndale Hall and was told ‘it got washed off its stumps love. It’s down the bottom of the paddock now.’ I felt for the community who have gathered there. Who have got drunk and danced and had angry meetings and well-attended sausage sizzles. I performed some of my favourite comedy sets at the Corndale Hall. It’s like losing your heart. Every community needs its hall. During the floods it was our halls – our empty spaces – that became places of sanctuary. Halls are about community. But they are also about rules. They have rules written in biro blue tacked to the fridge. They’re usually in the sloping cursive of a Committee President who has since retired; a woman with a severe expression but a generous heart. Her photo is in black and white under the Lifetime Members sign. Her name is Edna and she loved rules. They made her feel peaceful. The rules are everything in this Spartan shared space. The hall must be returned how it is found. That is how we get to enjoy the shared resource of a community space. Edna’s dead now, but the rules live on. And because of that, the hall continues. Doors open. Magic Happens. Doors Shut. It’s left ready for next time. In a world powered by the capitalist ethos, where it’s all about flashy bars, giant venues and events centres there’s an unpretentious sensibility that you can only get in a country hall where everyone is welcome. Just make sure you wash your cups.
HE’S A GOD AND HE’S THUNDEROUS With ten screenings daily, Palace Cinema Byron Bay are making sure everyone has the chance to see the latest instalment from the Marvel Studio universe, Thor: Love and Thunder. A sequel to 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, this episode in the life of the God of Thunder, finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) as he attempts to find inner peace, but, he must return to action and recruit Valkyrie, Korg, and Natalie Portman reprising her role as Jane Foster, to stop Gorr the God Butcher from eliminating all gods.
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Cryptic Clues
Quick Clues
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1. Reckless, stubborn – the Minotaur! (4-6) 7. Toss off the money (4) 9. Create balls for a renovation (4-4) 10. Right fury for park officer (6) 11. University grounds affected America (6) 13. Stressed, but won service around little money (8) 14. Announcements: we’re not batting any more! (12) 17. Powerful current conservative to look inside strong alternative in the work area (7,5) 20. Maybe tiny and negative, but choose Clarke! (8) 21. Fight to overturn table – about time! (6) 22. Dwell about the team (6) 23. State is vulgar and improper (3,5) 25. Thin list (4) 26. Hangers for underwear (10)
1. Obstinate; uncompromising! (4-6) 7. Resist; oppose (4) 9. Beauty treatment (4-4) 10. Warden (6) 11. Land and buildings of an institution (6) 13. Emphasised (8) 14. Assertions (12) 17. Where you will find the workers! (7,5) 20. Sub-atomic particle (8) 21. Struggle against (6) 22. Live in a place permanently (6) 23. Crude or offensive attitude or display (3,5) 25. Incline (4) 26. Braces; garters (10)
DOWN 2. 3. 4. 5.
Played beaut, and didn’t stop (8) Shelter for Bruce or Stan (3) Fairies – Presleys in Latin {5) Communal bedroom for worker, asleep (7) 6. Guide for dreadful cold Liberal (9) 7. Sweet dessert plan – abstain reluctantly (6,5) 8. Smart – 150 always! (6) 12. Counterfeit coin, fit for Tarantino crime movie (4,7) 15. Instruments for stenographers? (9) 16. Lines in publicity material from Mark Textor, perhaps (8) 18. Public transport is no bum deal (7) 19. Run away with the church? Swindle! (6) 21. Label evil, turned over for example (5) 24. These days, 500 join (3)
Thor: Love and Thunder opens at Palace Byron today.
This week’s Sun/ Mercury alignment in the sensitive sign of Cancer makes it easy to confuse feelings with facts, so be discreet about what you share...
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TO HALL AND BACK These small wooden buildings dot the landscape. They have a frugal modesty and an old fashioned generosity. If they had names they’d be called Thelma or Rose or Alan. They’re a pungent olfactory mix of last week’s wedding enmeshed with yesterday’s committee meeting. Curry and Jatz, tea and beer, tears and laughter. They are the site of weddings and birthdays, of local club meetings. A jam night. Poetry fundraisers for some kid’s school camp. A cabaret spectacular for a local lady with breast cancer; and the place her friends came to mourn her with quiet conversations over tea and cake. It’s where people meet for cards. Or a cooking class. Or yoga. Or a pregnancy support group. A men’s shed get-together, or AA.
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There is something magical about a country hall.
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DOWN 2. With undiminished force (8) 3. The side that is away from the wind (3) 4. Pixies (5) 5. Inactive (7) 6. Index (9) 7. Fruit and ice-cream dessert (6,5) 8. Talented (6) 12. Cheaply printed action stories (4,7) 15. Minute takers (9) 16. Someone who canvases public opinion (8) 18. An anthology of all of an author’s works (7) 19. Sheep’s coat (6) 21. Emblem (5) 24. Tally (3) Last week’s solution N445 S O U N D W C N E R E D O U B U U T B E L I E V A R P E T R I R E U I N S O M N M O R E L A X O E I S T A N D U E V E S T E P W
A V E S E P C M C I T E L E C T R R N O E R S T E N S O R S U N W A R M L U I A C S U S N O T S D I C T A T O E K T L P P R I C I T I O N H I T E N O I
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ARIES: While your planetary driver moving into methodical mode has you tackling the to-do list with determination, if you’re not getting the necessary RDA of TLC, Mars in astrology’s most body-based sign recommends physical self-care rituals like aromatherapy massage, Qigong, or soaking in a hot spa...
CANCER: While Mercury teaming up with the Sun in your sign ensures you’re even more deliciously witty than usual, write a quick note-to-self to avoid energy drainers, time wasters and procrastinators. Follow the love. Call a friend or relative you’ve lost touch with. This is your time of year for togetherness.
LIBRA: As Venus your planetary muse flits through flirty Gemini, July’s emotional highs and lows are balanced by cosy moments at home in delightfully domestic mode. With general energy on the slightly illogical and inconsistent side, your role as social spokesperson, peacekeeper and general vibe-lightener will be called on
CAPRICORN: Partnerships are high priority for you this month, which steers you towards folk who can lighten your load. Cosmic energetics in Cancer, your opposite sign, suggest looking for complementary personality types rather than similar ones, so try opening up to a wider range of humanity than your usual select few.
TAURUS: Go-ahead motivator Mars in your sign loads you with so much to do this month you’ll need to relegate and delegate. When the red planet rendezvous with Uranus in Taurus these two volatile luminaries can rachet up stress levels, so remember simple pleasures; calm yourself with art, and nurture with nature.
LEO: This week’s astral emphasis in the final phase of your annual cycle recommends a serious clean-up before Leo season begins. As in – toss everything that can be tossed and don’t race to replace. A minimalist approach creates space for new creative energy to flow in when birthday time rolls around.
SCORPIO: This week’s downside? Combative Mars in a headstrong fixed sign like your own can lead to charged discussions where no-one wants to back down. In which case stay classy: don’t stoop to snide jibes. The upside? Coincidences, chance meetings and changes of plan are all likely to be blessings in disguise..
AQUARIUS: With moody, moon-ruled July rejigging opinions, plans and viewpoints, forget retro and focus on what’s current. Think of it as emotional yoga. If you never change your mind, why have one, right? As Saturn continues its in-depth rejig of your entire persona, relationships continue to be tested, with some strengthening, some fading away.
VIRGO: Been expending a lot of mental energy lately? The combination of winter chill plus your mentor planet Mercury withdrawing, for the major part of July, into the sign of privacy means spending a whole lot more regen time at base camp relaxing and rewarding yourself with restorative home treats.
SAGITTARIUS: During this introspective month, ardent Archers may actually be content to quit the main stage and get stuck into some personal work behind the scenes. So what area of life are you totally tired of and absolutely dying to bless with an extreme makeover? The astral force is currently supporting you.
PISCES: ‘We’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got, We’ve got each other and that’s a lot...’ Pisces, Jon Bon Jovi, is the appropriate soundtrack to this astrologically auspicious week for spending time with the fam, glamming up the casa, making home base a receptive, cosy place to host reunions and get-togethers.
GEMINI: As Mercury skydives from your heady sign into Cancer’s emotional oceans, discretion and empathetic understanding are necessary modes of communication. Gemini are naturals at skimming worlds of diverse information to select the necessary gems. But reason and rationality are less effective than a sensitive approach this week, so tread gently.
`ƖōƷ ǭǽ ǩǧǩǩ The Byron Shire Echo 31