The Five Star Cinemas team behind the restoration and reopening of Tower Cinemas in Newcastle has been giving loyal movie-lovers a sneak peek into the renovation project.
With plans to reopen in December this year, the team has been dropping snippets of information and photos from inside the building as new carpets and seating are installed.
The cinema is owned and operated by the Sourris brothers, Stephen and Peter.
Peter spoke with the Newcastle Herald this month and confirmed the project was edging closer to completion.
He said once the site was "safe and cleaned up", there were plans to hold community open days in November.
The pair are not new to the game, having previously refurbished the derelict New Farm Cinemas in 2013 and The Elizabeth Picture Theatre in 2017.
It has been almost seven years since Tower Cinemas closed its doors. The final movies shown were Bohemian Rhapsody, Lean on Pete and Die Hard.
Former owners Event attempted to lease the building in 2019, however, the property was sold in December 2021 to Beresfield-based construction firm RTC for $2.9 million.
It was then reported in March 2023 the site would become home to a recreational facility that aimed to complement the expansion of the east end. That plan did not come to fruition and the site was listed for sale again in October 2024 with an asking price of $3.95 million.
Families, couples and many single-person households are ditching the supermarkets and buying fresh produce straight from the farm. This is where Lake Macquarie's Stacey Rohan steps in. The busy mother of seven runs a successful side hustle with Box Divvy.
"We connect local families directly with farmers and producers through our hubs, giving people access to affordable, high-quality, seasonal produce," Ms Rohan said.
"It's not just about food - it's about building a sense of community and reshaping the way we shop."
Ms Rohan opened her second hub recently, due to demand, and collectively she services about 70 households that order regularly.
Orders are placed online and then on hub day the entire family gets involved packing and sorting the produce ready for distribution.
"For us, it was about alignment," she said.
"We're a homeschooling, homesteading family with seven kids, and we've built our lives around intentional, low-tox, and low-waste living. Running a hub fits perfectly into that."
The Lake Macquarie region is now Box Divvy's fastest-growing area in the state. The hubs in Toronto, Bolton Point, Buttaba and Rathmines are at capacity. Ms Rohan's Tuesday hub is one of the few with space left.
Hub organisers, like the Rohan family, earn a share of sales, with no sign-up fees or upfront costs.
"For us, running hubs isn't only about business," she said.
"It's about showing our kids a different way of life. They get to see firsthand how food gets from the farm to the table, how to work together as a family and how to create something that serves others. It's a legacy we're proud to be building."
Independent Newcastle West record store Rudderless Records is on the move. Ben Leece launched the store in 2020 at The Edwards. When it closed, Rudderless Records sublet space at Newcastle Live's Beresford Street headquarters in Newcastle West. Then, in May, Newcastle Live restructured and left the building. Leece was left considering his options.
Now, Rudderless Records is joining forces with another independent record store, Hiss & Crackle at 18 Council Street, Wallsend, owned by Mitchel Eaton.
"It means more buying power to source more and better records, CDs and music collectables, more in-stores, longer trading hours, more markets, more merch, more label releases," Leece said on social media. "It's gonna be an absolute bloody ripper."
Rudderless Records' last day of trading at Beresford Street will be Sunday, September 28.
When Graeme Scaife first launched a hot-air balloon in the 1980s, he never imagined that it could become a successful family-run business.
Nor did he envision offering wheelchair-accessible flights.
Fast forward four decades, though, and Balloon Aloft is celebrating its 45th year and recently took its 700,000th passenger into the sky. And, it's also the only operator in the state offering accessible balloon flights for people with limited mobility, including wheelchair users.
Graeme's son Matt Scaife has followed in his footsteps, and his 12-year-old grandson, Hugo, is keen to follow their lead.
"I earned my licence in 1986 when the hot-air ballooning industry was still relatively new in Australia, before founding Hunter Valley Ballooning in 2000, then taking ownership of Balloon Aloft in 2007 and expanding our Hunter Valley operations into Mudgee, Camden Valley, Byron Bay and Burketown," Graeme said.
"We get to share what is one of the most exciting days of people's lives with them. Our passengers are often celebrating birthday milestones, engagements, weekends away - some are even tying the knot during the flight. Many are ticking off a lifelong dream.
"We want everyone to be able to experience hot-air ballooning, which is why we launched accessible flights for passengers living with a disability, and now we're the only operator in NSW - and only the second in the country - to have a purpose-built, accessible basket suitable for wheelchair users."
Balloon Aloft is, Graeme said, also the first ballooning company to partner with an Indigenous tourism operator. Yagurli Tours is "bringing visitors to the spectacular salt pans of the Gulf of Carpentaria to fly on board Australia's first Indigenous-owned hot air balloon".
Matt grew up watching his father in the sky, and at the age of eight went on his first flight.
"And the rest is history," the three-time Australian ballooning champion said.
"I am lucky to travel the world competing in hot-air balloon championships that see pilots complete in a series of precision flying tasks where accuracy, navigation and wind-reading skills are key, and the main objective is to drop a marker, like a small bean bag, as close as possible to a target on the ground.
"Watching my son Hugo take interest in it now feels like things have come full circle."
Balloon Aloft was named Adventure and Accessible Tourism Operator of the Year at last year's 2024 NSW and Australian Tourism Awards.
David Lebroque, an adventurer who spent years travelling Australia on his motorbike until an accident in the Hunter Valley meant he could never walk again, was the first person to take flight in Balloon Aloft's wheelchair-accessible hot-air balloon.