The majority of my teachers from primary school and high school still live locally and I am still inspired and thankful to this day for their contributions in my life and to my world.

Whether it be a wave and a smile in the street from Miss Lowe as she sells raffle tickets for various charities, to seeing Ms Lyons my PD/H/PE teacher running to Merimbula every day and waving when I beep, to seeing Mr Blair picking up rubbish daily along the side of the road, to hearing beautiful stories about Mr Russell, Ms Andren and Mr Langford helping the new teachers find their feet, to watching Mr Fogg toil away mowing and cleaning up community sporting grounds and spaces, to having stimulating discussions on Facebook with Ms Robinson about climate and critical literacy, these teachers are still teaching me long after I've left school.

I didn't want to start naming teachers because the list could go on all day. To all of you out there who don't think you are recognised and that you might not be valued, I value you. I thank you.

And I am so lucky to be part of a community where these teachers still give themselves freely to build a better world and future.

The Australian Museum has announced that when it reopens it will not charge admission fees.

Every South Coast museum should now follow its example and provide free admission to all visitors. After all, the heritage objects they are displaying are not theirs. They are public property held in trust for the local community, reflecting our local history, and the public should not be charged for viewing and appreciating something it already owns.

There are alternative ways of covering the costs of running museums, as the Australian Museum is demonstrating. All of these should be thoroughly investigated by local museums. Admission fees to any of them should now become 'history'.

On behalf of Botany Bay Family History Society, I am writing to show our support of the Bega Valley Genealogical Society, in what appears to be a blatant money grab by council.

The huge increase in the society's rent is outrageous and makes us question the council's commitment to the heritage of the Bega Valley.

Genealogical and historical societies rely heavily on their members to raise money to pay their bills, to promote their societies and to maintain their premises, but a 750 per cent increase in rent, imposed on such a valuable society, is a cause for concern.

The increase suggests council is deliberately forcing BVGS to vacate their premises for an ulterior motive.

I would urge the council to re-consider this increase and offer support to the Bega Valley Genealogical Society.

Without such society, the history of both the people and the area will be lost for future generations and this would be a tragedy.

On behalf of the cast, musicians, writers, producers and crew of Theatre Onset's Bat Soup I'd like to thank the Bega Valley community for their support, and the Bega District News, 2EC and ABC South East NSW for their coverage.

Producing community theatre in a regional area is challenging under the best of circumstances; in these "new normal" times we feared it would be impossible, but were determined to give our local entertainers and craftspeople the chance to do what they do best and love most, within the safest possible environment.

Whether anybody would turn up to see what we'd put together was another matter entirely. We knew that due to restrictions we'd have to halve our potential audience, require bookings only when usually most of our tickets are sold at the door on the night, and seat each group or individual a certain amount of space apart from each other.

But we also knew that it was possible that nobody would risk turning up (and who could blame them?) and that there was the distinct possibility that restrictions would be tightened so that by the time we were ready to put on the show we wouldn't actually be allowed to!

We underestimated the kindness and enthusiasm this community has for the arts and its artists and we couldn't be more appreciative or thankful. Our houses were as full as we were allowed to have them. We hope to see you again very soon.

Interesting isn't it. Once I was made aware of the shutdown of the Bermagui transmission site for SBS, I followed the links and applied for a VAST certificate.

I was then told via email response: "As previously advised, your application to receive commercial VAST television services has been assessed by the local commercial television broadcasters and they have determined that terrestrial commercial television coverage at your location is adequate and good reception is possible using a properly installed antenna and cabling.

"Nearest transmitter Bermagui and Bega.

"On this basis your application to receive commercial VAST channels has been declined. You will however continue to receive ABC and SBS services."