It was the first time the forum had been held locally and most of the people who attended said they would like more in the future.

Almost 50 people attended the five-hour forum at the Bomaderry Community Centre.

They heard from guest speakers, including Southern Cross Community Housing, Fair Trading NSW, Shoalhaven Community Transport, mental health service provider Richmond PRA, Heartmoves and Shoalhaven City Council.

Organisers Penni Wildi from Southern Cross Community Housing and Donna Brotherson from the Illawarra Forum thought the day was successful.

“It’s a first for this area and we had a good number of people turn up,” Ms Wildi said.

“It was very positive, and very interactive. People were asking lots of questions. Some of the most popular sessions were with Community Transport and the Fair Trading NSW’s talk on scams,” she said.

West Nowra resident Cheralyn O’Brien was impressed, saying she learnt a lot on the day.

“This is the first forum I have been to and I hope they put on more, although I don’t think they could improve on this one,” she said. 

“I got a lot of information I can pass on to people I know who weren’t here,” she said.

Reg Newsome from Nowra said it was difficult for people to find all the services available to them. He said events like the forum helped bring many of those services together.

“I’ve been a very organised person all my life and it has been hard to find things such as home help,” he said.

“There should be a lot more of this sort of thing as a way to get that information out into the public, particularly when there are changes to services. Things like this can help keep people up to date,” he said.

The organisers are hoping to hold another forum later this year.