Another Awesome Newcastle has come and gone at the Young Street Hotel in Carrington. This week we welcomed spring’s arrival and gathered together to celebrate great ideas in the community.

Our wonderful, generous board included returning guest board member Grant Thomas of Learning Advantage, and first time guest board members Renee Mantle of  NSW Health and Andrew Haynes of Kindred Accounting.

Our finalists this month were Alex Brennan (previously an Awesome Newcastle board member) pitching his Awabakal Sculpture idea, Dave Thomas of New Lambton Football Club pitching his Football for Females ideas and Frances McCafferty with her Seeds of Recovery idea.

Alex went first. When he’s not working at Business Hunter, he’s a stonemason by trade and a sculptor by choice. He’s been in conversations with the CEO of the Awabakal Land Council who have guided him in his dream to create a two-metre high sculpture of a wedge tail eagle, Buraban, along with a yarning circle, tiered seating for spectators and seating for elders. The cost of the project is $50-100K, which he hopes to raise using patrons and supporters sponsorship money. He would use the $1,000 to pay for social media advertising to raise awareness and support for the project in Newcastle East and beyond.

Dave went next. He’s a father of daughters who play sport and the Vice President of the New Lambton Football Club Juniors. The club has over 900 members, nearly 300 of whom are females. The club has a target of 50% of their club being female, and they need funding for more footballs to cater for that. He would use the Awesome Money for more footballs. He explained that Football for Females create role models for young girls to look up to, inspiring the next generation to pursue their passion and aim for excellence.

Frances was our final finalist. She explained that she’s an Autistic peer researcher in mental health and a leadership team mentor at the University of Newcastle. Her Seeds of Recovery idea is a grassroots initiative to support mental health recovery at the acute mental health inpatient service of the Calvary Mater hospital. It is a gardening program led by occupational therapy students in collaboration with mental health professionals and those with lived experience. The Awesome Money will go towards a small shed for storage, gardening tools, and plants. She also brought on her mate James the guerrilla gardener who will assist in the project.

As always the board had a tough task on their hands to determine the winner, but votes must be cast and decisions must be made. We invited our guest board member Renee to the stage to announce the winner, and she passed the $1000 cash to Frances! Congratulations Frances! We can’t wait to see what your garden will grow!

Thanks again to all the generous people involved in Awesome Newcastle! Start brainstorming your next big idea, and we’ll see you next month.