A FRESH coat of paint has brightened a 17-year-old mural at Queens Park whilst continuing to deliver a strong message about mental health.

The mural was painted in 2000 in aid of suicide prevention, and a group of Warwick artists collaborated to make over the piece with a new design depicting the landscape around the Condamine River.

Linda Stewart was the brains behind the design, saying it showed the abundance of creatures in the river whilst demonstrating life should be lived fully every day.

"Life is all around and it's a place where people come to contemplate, it might attract people in that state of mind and I want it to be positive and send a message that we're within a beautiful area and we should celebrate it,” Ms Stewart said.

The before picture of a 17-year-old mural that has been given a new lease on life by a group of Warwick artists.

It took eight artists about eight days to complete the work on the toilet block on Alice St.

Githabul artist Kim Charles provided cultural advice for the work.

Ms Stewart said art was able to express messages words could not.

"Even if the building is not there forever, if it's only there for a couple of years, at least we've been able to use it as a canvas and brighten up the area,” she said.

Artist Sue Keong worked on the original mural, saying she was delighted to be involved.

"I believe murals are something that are a statement of the time, but the thing about suicide prevention is it's still as relevant as it was then,” Ms Keong said.

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MORE than 150 people across the Southern Downs received a second chance in 2017. A second chance at a career, or a second chance at education.

This year, in the pursuit of skilling Queenslanders for work, Southern Downs Industry Education Association will take on 134 keen Southern Downs residents who want to find work or upskill themselves for a better chance at finding their dream career.

Thanks to State Government funding, these studies will be paid for if students meet eligibility requirements.

Program co-ordinator Grace Smith said the hard work was finding local businesses and organisations to come on board.

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THE Physiotherapy Centre won the major award at the Warwick Chamber of Commerce 2017 Heritage Bank Business Excellence Awards on Saturday night.

Early in the night the health and well being award was won by The Physiotherapy Centre.

Awards were presented in eight categories with Southern Downs Industry Education Association (S.D.I.E.A) and Goodstart Learning each being honoured with two awards.

Goodstart Early Learning won the training, education and development section and the community services award while S.D.I.E.A was runner up in the same two categories.

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SDIEA staff Julie-Ann Kawano, Grace Smith, Pam Burley and Janelle Robb at the 2017 Heritage Bank Warwick Business Excellence Awards at the Warwick Town Hall on Saturday, August 26.

THE Youth of the Southern Downs will be treated to a whole heap of interesting and varied events as part of National Youth Week from 4-13 April.
Southern Downs Regional Council, SDIEA (Southern Downs Industry Education Association), and headspace Warwick have once again partnered to present a strong youth week program.
Southern Downs Regional Council Youth Development Officer Hailey Cosh said there would be youth concerts in the region on Saturday 5 April in Stanthorpe and Saturday 12 April in Warwick.
The events will feature young local artists from the Southern Downs EDGE (Encouragement, Development, Growth Experience), Southern Downs Program run by Soular Music Services, Gold Drum Recordings and Events and Southern Downs Regional Council.

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