MANILLA misses out on a lot.
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Ask anyone in the town and they’ll be able to rattle-off a litany of missing services or facilities they reckon would put the two-and-a-half-thousand-strong community in better stead.
As the town launches an ambitious bid to host Triple J’s One Night Stand concert in 2018, its younger leaders say the fleeting opportunity could permanently restore something seriously lacking in Manilla.
Pride.
Manilla Central high school captain Cody Hooper told The Leader there’s negative associations for some living in the town.
He said hosting the concert, which is vied-for on national level, could reverse those attitudes.
“Even though it’s a one-night thing, I just feel like that would boost community pride and that’s one thing kids in our area really lack, because ‘it’s Manilla, it’s a hole, it’s this and that’,” he said.
“We’re here because our parents want to live here and there’s such negative things associated with it, I just feel like it would bring a sense of community and a sense of pride, which we haven’t seen in a while.”
Manilla has no bowling alley or movie theatre and the skate-park leaves a bit to be desired, Cody and his high school cohorts say.
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Weekends kicks might be had doing laps of the main streets, there’s a youth group, but “that’s a church-y thing”.
It’s only a half-hour drive from the country music capital, Tamworth, but entertainment is thin on the ground for the Manilla kids.
Student Tiarn Northey, 17, has never been to a concert, a story shared by seven of the nine students The Leader spoke to.
“We’ve tried hosting colour-runs for the whole community and tried to make it bigger, but nothing’s ended-up working,” she said.
For some, the only show the kids get to is the annual Manilla Show.
“Tamworth, they’ve got the country music festival and we have nothing,” Stephen Howlett said.
“The main event we have here is the Manilla Show.”
Mandy Skewes, who applied for the gig on the town’s behalf, has lived in Manilla for most of her life and said the town deserves it as much as any other, if not, more.
“Growing up in Manilla, there was very little for us to do as kids,” she said.
“As time went on and I had my own family and moved back to Manilla, there was still that same thing.
“I saw one bad comment on the original post and it was like ‘Manilla, what the f?’”
After looking at it, Ms Skewes thought “why don’t we deserve it”.
“I think we deserve a little bit more because we have to work so hard to get anything we have out here,” she said.
High school principal says it’s a ‘service poor area’
IT’D be more than a big party, Manilla Central principal Michael Windred says, it’ll highlight how “service poor” the area is.
“When you’re talking about family services, mental health, medical, speech pathologists, OTs, the works, they’re in Tamworth,” he said.
“Many times I invite them all out here and say I can set them up in a room, so it’s an outreach centre out of here, we’re happy for them to do it and it seems to be 30 minutes up the road is a little bit too far.
“Which is quite unreal.
“It’s obviously closer for people from Manilla to go in for the services.”
Chance to prove anything is possible
MANILLA hairdresser Rachel Harry says the drive to host One Night Stand would prove what could be achieved by small communities.
Ms Harry previously lived in Sydney and while Manilla could provide more arts’ opportunities, securing the event could prove a postcode is no barrier.
“Just for youth, to show them what can happen when the town comes together and we can get a big event like that to happen,” she said.
“They will have a great time down there and they’ll remember it forever.”
Priestley says gig could be ‘religious experience’
ARTIST Liz Priestley has a studio on Manilla’s main drag and said securing One Night Stand would be a chance for the town to prove it could create opportunities for itself and not miss out on traditionally city-based experiences.
“It provides an eye-opening moment for kids around here,” Ms Priestley said.
“It’s like, you could do this too, if you really want and there are ways to access it and to be able to experience it.
“A live gig is something to experience, for a teenager, it’s like a religious experience.