Residents enjoyed a fantastic night of food, fun and laughter at a free community event at the Condobolin Sports Club recently.

Creative Community Concepts travelled to Condobolin to stage the event on Tuesday, 21 May.

During the evening, important messages around mental health and getting help, were discussed.

Bob Sheridan from the Black Dog Institute shared his life experiences and the importance on checking on your mates. The Black Dog Institute is about science, compassion, and action. They are the only medical research institute in Australia to investigate mental health across the lifespan, and they aim to create a mentally healthier world for everyone.

“We do this through ‘translational’ research. Integrating our research studies, education programs, digital tools and apps, clinical services, and public resources to discover new solutions, foster connections and create real-world change,” www.blackdoginsititute.org.au says.

“Our partnerships with people with lived experience, federal, state and local governments, communities, schools, corporate Australia and others in the mental health sector enables us to drive evidence-informed change in mental health where it’s needed most.”

The Black Dog website says one in five people will experience symptoms of mental illness in any given year. “In Australia that’s around five million people. And roughly 60 per cent of these people won’t seek help,” www.blackdoginsititute.org.au says.

Former rugby league stars Ronny ‘Rambo’ Gibbs and Ashton Sims told the audience about their careers and what they are doing now.

Ronny’s nickname is “Rambo” and he was known as one of the hardest men to take to the rugby league field. He played 188 first grade matches between 1983-1991 for Eastern Suburbs, Manly, Castleford, Gold Coast and Western Suburbs. Gibbs represented NSW Country on three occasions.

Gibbs played in Manly’s 1987 NSWRL Grand Final victory over Canberra at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Gibbs final match for Manly was the club’s 8-2 loss against Wigan in the World Club Challenge in which Gibbs was sent off.

Ronny was born in Brewarrina and raised in Bourke. For over 25 years, Gibbs has been uniting school students from the state’s far north-west to compete in the Ronny Gibbs Sevens, where students from Baradine to Cobar travel to Bourke to compete in the rugby league and netball tournament.

Ashton, made his NRL debut with the St George Illawarra Dragons in 2003 aged 18, before playing with the Brisbane Broncos, North Queensland Cowboys, Warrington Wolves and Toronto Wolfpack.

The Gerringong Lions junior made 368 appearances between Australia, the UK and Canada, and represented Fiji on 12 occasions.

Aston was known for his rugged style and the ability to inspire those around him. He is now committed to giving back to communities and the game that give him countless opportunities.

Those in attendance were provided with dinner plus entertainment from Pooka the Clown and the live music from Mark Dabin.

There was also sports trivia with prizes and giveaways.

The event was a chance to come together and build resilience and keep the community strong.

Kyle Myers from Creative Community Concepts auctioned a framed indigenous Rabbitohs jersey with Latrell Mitchell and Greg Ingles signatures on it. A donation of $270 from the auction was donated to Condobolin Junior Rugby League.

Creative Community Concepts is an incorporated association and are a Not For Profit (NFP) organisation. They are active in the Community Development Space and strive to deliver programs that create a difference and fulfil our main business objective of “Connecting and Empowering Communities”.

“Creative Community Concepts supports individuals, families, and communities to take control of the general wellbeing of their community. Our work centres on a multi-layered Community Development Strategy that encompasses a variety of initiatives to energise and motivate communities to improve the Physical and Mental Wellbeing of community members,” The Creative Community Concepts website says.

“This strategy has individual programs that focus on the various stages of an individual’s life journey from childhood to adulthood and allows for a diverse range of initiatives to be employed to bring about the development of the whole of the community.”