WITH more than a quarter of a million residents, the northern beaches is the fourth most populous local government area in NSW, behind Canterbury-Bankstown, Blacktown and the Central Coast. Yet, most of the time, it still manages to feel like a caring community village.
When the Review covered the Belrose COVID outbreak, when the whole suburb seemed to be in isolation (remember isolation?!) and overloaded supermarket deliveries were cancelled, this little village within a big village went into overdrive.
Local businesses donated produce, residents not isolating offered contactless deliveries. Glen Street Library upped book deliveries, a local cafe made countless B&E rolls for dispatch, a Glenrose Village baker with all his staff in isolation worked through night baking bread for the community, the church launched a food stall.
Residents presented themselves for tests in record numbers, the highest in the state.
Locals helped locals again when hospitality went into hibernation - the Review's list of takeaways and home deliveries to support the area was devoured, and tearful cafe owners were blown away by the support.
I'm constantly struck by the huge number of volunteers in our area, all trying really hard to make a difference. Every day, the Review gets at least one message asking for help to spread the word in so many important areas - domestic violence, the environment and equality, homelessness, a ginormous number of volunteer health services - heaps of cancers, motor neurone disease, sick kids, mental health, respite care.
This community doesn't just give back, it feeds back. We are engaged in local affairs. Back in 2016, of the 44,919 submissions lodged to the Boundaries Commission about the many various local government merger proposals statewide, 29,189 were from northern beaches residents. Ergo, submissions about the Beaches proposals made up 65 per cent of all submissions. At the time, then - and final - Manly mayor Jean Hay said the stats showed how strongly northern beaches people felt about their neighbourhood. "Everyone is passionate about the area and we came out and let the powers-that-be know," she said.
We know all about this passion: from the very first issue of the Review, you filled our inboxes with praise, feedback, ideas.
And humour and joie de vivre. You're known for it. As the Avalon Christmas 2020 COVID cluster emerged, one partygoer at the Bowlo spreader event told a journo how excited the room had been to get back out. "I was doing handstands," he said. "I licked the floor at some point and now I'm not sure that was a good idea!"
Telling the stories of the northern beaches for the last almost two years has been a thrill. Every day, it has been a question of what to leave out as there is so much to cover. For the on our 50 most inspiring locals, there were dozens more we couldn't squeeze in.
We are a community of overachievers.
Perhaps it's the natural beauty that surrounds us - even in this wild weather - how lucky we are to have such stunning walk tracks, beaches, parks, plus easy access to public transport and the CBD.
Of course, there's an underbelly. We covered a police shooting, kids beating up kids at bus stops, drunk drivers with kids in the car, eshay gangs terrorising streets, home invasions and more. But we were grateful to see that our detailed and plentiful coverage of the youth mental health crisis in the northern beaches - young suicides and drug addiction, a complete lack of hospital beds for adolescents with mental health issues - may have helped the LGA secure more funding in the recent budget.
As a community, we still have more to do.