WITH Pope Leo XIV scheduled to visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes as a pilgrim in September this year, it seems fitting to revisit the construction of an identical grotto in the beautiful Convent of Mercy gardens in Gunnedah. The impetus for the project came from then-parish priest Fr Daniel Keane, who had visited the grotto during a trip to the south-west of France in 1935. An Irish priest, Fr Keane served the Gunnedah community for 40 years until his death in 1944. Lourdes, in the French Pyrenees, became famous after 1858 when Bernadette Soubirous, a local peasant […]

REGIONAL mental health services have received a boost with the official opening of a $56m facility in Tamworth. The Tamworth Mental Health Unit, which will service the North West region including Gunnedah and Narrabri shires, includes 25 general adult beds including a high-acuity zone, an eight-bed older persons area, and four adolescent inpatient beds providing specialist services to young people. Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson welcomed the facility’s opening and said it marked the final capstone on a long campaign to improve mental health services in the region. “The Tamworth Mental Health Carers Support Network led by Don and Di […]