Lifestart Eastwood and Hornsby branches will hold a “Ladies Night Out” shopping night at the Eastwood centre on Thursday 27th August between 6.30-9.30pm. Ladies gather your friends, family and neighbours for a night of shopping, wine tasting and relaxation (without the kids!!) Lots of great stalls selling original baby and kids clothing, jewellery, homewares and accessories as well as coffee and gourmet treats to buy. Mums will be treated to mini beauty treatments courtesy of the Rainbow Room and be able to sample a range of wines from the Charity Wine Shop. Come along, enjoy a great night out and support Lifestart. Lifestart Eastwood Branch is located within the Sommerville Park Early Childhood Centre 679 Blaxland Rd Eastwood. Limited parking available onsite, parking in surrounding streets. Access to ATMs or EFTPOS is not available at all stalls so please bring CASH to avoid disappointment!!!!

The annual Lifestart Winter Ball took place at Le Montage on Saturday 15 August. Two hundred guests had “a ball” eating, drinking and dancing the night away to the wonderful Buddy Holly Show. And of course there was also spirited bidding on the silent and live auctions. Compere Shelley Oates-Wilding (pictured) was a superb compere relating several inspiring stories and astounding everybody with her auctioning skills. Shelley also talked about the 2010 Kayak for Kids when she has once again kindly offered her services as ‘Special Ambassador”.

Janelle Burke and her team from Orana Early Intervention (Dubbo) visited the Eastwood branch on Monday 27th July as part of their staff development program. The team were able to observe small groups in action, chat to staff about their roles within Lifestart and meet the families attending preschool and transition to school programs. Janelle commented it was great to visit other early childhood intervention programs to see first hand the similarities between services and get new ideas for running groups and activities. Staff at Lifestart were able to discuss programs Lifestart is running regularly within the centre and across branches e.g. Behaviour and Sleep programs. Lifestart was first stop on a busy schedule of visits for the team, who were also visiting the Spastic Centre, Giant Steps, Pathways and the Shephard Centre during their stay in Sydney.