Rodney Stevens

The Yamba Community Action Network continues to gain momentum and a double booking with a Line Dancing class didn’t stop their progress as they continue to forge a new voice for the town.

“It was the first time in my professional career I have been bumped by Abba and a Line Dancing group,” Yamba CAN chair James Lamerton joked.

A fresh injection of ideas and opinions greeted the stalwarts of Yamba CAN when they met at Wooli Street Hall on Wednesday, September 28.

“We had about 50 people there which was fantastic and the majority of them were new people,” Mr Lamerton said.

“Twenty-two people joined Yamba CAN on the night.

“We had a really good mix of people there, a lot of new people and young people.

“Ten of the regular people who turn up to meetings were there so there were about 40 people who were new, which was great.

“We got the constitution ratified and we had a board elected all within about 30 minutes.

“Then a woman turned up with all this sound equipment and said, ‘wait a minute, I do Line Dancing here every Wednesday, what are you doing here?’.”

After achieving several goals, Mr Lamerton said the meeting came to an unexpected halt, but it highlighted just how much the Wooli Street Hall is used by the public.

“We just started to get onto the meat of the meeting, talking about the sale of the Wooli Street Hall site, which is one of our key focus areas,” he said.

“What it does is indicate, contrary to what some people are saying, that the Wooli Street Hall is very well used.

“All in all, it a was a great productive meeting, people were energised and everyone saw the humour in the double-booking.”

Mr Lamerton said he and the elected Yamba CAN board of Lynnie Deacon, Lynne Cairns, Col Shephard, Alex De-Vantier, Ian Warlters, Patricia Concannon met on Saturday, October 2, to elect the committee.

The committee of Lynne Cairns – Secretary; Patricia Cancannon – Minutes Secretary; James Lamerton – Chair; Alex Devantier – Deputy-Chair; Col Shepard – Treasurer; Ian Warlters – Committee Member; Lynnie Deacon – Committee Member, was elected.

With the state election looming in March 2023, the Yamba CAN board has identified several issues and actions they will pursue. 

“Once all candidates are preselected Yamba CAN will be holding a candidates forum for Yamba specifically,” Mr Lamerton said.

“We don’t want to hear about national and state politics, we just want to hear about issues around Yamba, so we’ll be inviting all endorsed candidates to that.

“Another focus is an absolute campaign that there will be no sale of the library and the Wooli Street Hall site, plus all of development in West Yamba.

“We will be telling the council in no uncertain terms that we are absolutely opposed to any potential sale of the Wooli Street Hall area, and that we have serious concerns about the Park Avenue development, and we strongly suggest council review that.

“We want Yamba to be a better place for our grandchildren than what it is for us now, and we can’t see that happening at the moment.”