Volunteers the unsung heroes of annual Albury-Wodonga Winter Solstice

They make vast vats of mulled wine, hearty casseroles and coffees to warm starved souls as the cold seeps in on the longest night of the year.

They pin up posters and sell ribbons.

They raise funds and hopes.

They laugh and they cry, they listen, they dance, they sing, they pray and they speak of that which has been unspeakable.

They volunteer for a cause desperately close to this community's heart.

They are the unsung heroes of the Albury-Wodonga Winter Solstice.

And for 10 years they have been the loyal foot soldiers of a campaign to vanquish the stigma, the silence and the anguish of mental illness and suicide.

Vicki Gray remembers attending the first Albury-Wodonga Winter Solstice with her mother and daughter in 2013.

More than 1000 people were at that first event, which included former Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry and acclaimed indigenous musician Archie Roach.

It was created as an opportunity to bring together the community to commemorate all those who have died by suicide, founded by Annette and Stuart Baker, who lost their daughter Mary in 2011.

The longstanding director of Willowbank Events, and wife of popular farmers' market stalwart Byron Gray, says she could never have imagined the event would grow such deep roots and branch out to reach audiences across the world a decade later.

"I remember it was such a beautiful, moving experience," she recalls.

"I think the power of the Winter Solstice is that although it's a physically intimate event, it touches people in a way that is extraordinary ... almost beyond this world."

Vicki, who is now one of the mainstays of the small Survivors of Suicide & Friends committee (SOS&F), says it's almost impossible to describe the event to people who haven't experienced it.

"There's nothing like it anywhere," she says.

"I get such joy watching people arrive with their blankets and chairs, their beanies and duffle coats.

"For the community to come out on the coldest of nights is nothing short of spectacular."

The "magnetic silence" that descends when the speakers tell their stories always makes the hairs stand up on the back of Vicki's neck.

"When I see people who remain standing back in the shadows, I think how wonderful it is that they feel safe to come here," she says.

"That's what the Winter Solstice is about - the people in the shadows, the people who might have fallen through the cracks."

Vicki believes the Winter Solstice has touched lives in a profound way and is influencing the direction being taken with mental health services.

"I feel like we are a kinder, gentler and more cohesive community," she reflects.

It's the community who now owns the annual Winter Solstice event, according to co-founder Stuart Baker.

"Without the volunteers, we wouldn't be able to have it," he states.

"There's an incredible amount of effort put in by so many, who don't want accolades, they want to be part of something worthwhile.

"Our community is truly aware, educated and understanding about the vital need for open conversations and action to address the country's mental health crisis."

The solidarity and togetherness generated even at that first event was not lost on performer Archie Roach, Stuart recalls.

"When he introduced his song, We Won't Cry, he observed, 'This is community spirit in action'," he says.

"It is there in the music, the poems, and the stories ... in the gift the speakers give by being so vulnerable.

"Somehow those feelings, the safety of the space, the darkness and the attentive audience, allows them to say and sing from the heart."

Slowly, but surely, the silence is being broken.

Ordette Mannering was on the way to the funeral of a friend who had taken her life when Annette Baker rang to ask if she'd help out at the 2014 Winter Solstice.

Ordette and her husband Paul came on board the very next year, now staunch members of the SOS&F committee.

The experienced caterers took over food service at the solstice event, dishing up welcome nourishment including the popular gluhwein (warm spiced wine).

There's the soup and stifado (Greek beef stew) faithfully reproduced from Annette Baker's recipes - "It's what the family used to have on camping trips with Mary and the boys," Ordette explains.

Paul now handles the catering, supported by a willing team of helpers, while Ordette helps out with the logistics for an event widely embraced as an important date on the community calendar.

"The atmosphere is very warming ... the feelings can be very raw but it's not always sad," Ordette observes.

"The event has been driven by the vision of Annette and Stuart (Baker); it's their passion.

"But it's amazing when you start talking with people about mental health and suicide, really everyone has a story."

Scott ("Stodge") Stoddart likes to think Albury's a better place for holding the annual Winter Solstice event.

"It's given people touched by suicide or mental illness the space to talk or to be safe with like-minded people," he says.

"There is still so much silence and stigma around these topics - and it speaks volumes!"

The constraints of COVID-19 forced the event to go virtual in 2020, which inadvertently propelled it onto a world stage.

"It raised the size and reach of the audience considerably, with 20,000 people watching it online," says Stodge, who assists with the event's site and production elements.

The Solstice documentary - produced by his partner Helen Newman, of Nomad Films - is a "natural progression" to growing audiences and raising the profile of this unique collaboration.

On Sunday Albury will host a sold-out premiere screening of the feature-length film, which has been four years in the making.

"In the 10 years since Winter Solstice was founded the conversations are different now," Helen reflects.

"There's less of that silence in our community and that's one of the major triumphs of Winter Solstice."

Death can be a place of great separation, Father Peter MacLeod-Miller observes.

Nowhere is this more evident than with suicide, says the leader of St Matthew's Anglican Church, Albury.

"Those divisions live on when people have died - it's brutal in a way," he says.

Past taboos - be they religious, cultural or social - still carry "terrible baggage".

"In the olden days, death by suicide meant you could not be buried on consecrated ground," Father Peter explains.

"It was so badly branded ... pain and punishment followed beyond generations."

The Albury-Wodonga Winter Solstice has given people "permission" to think differently about the stigma of suicide and mental illness, according to Father Peter.

"Ten years ago we were in an unspeakable, unthinkable place," he says.

"I'm surprised by the number of people whose lives have been re-opened.

"We come together in a cold, hostile physical environment around small amounts of light and heat.

"The warmth comes from people standing together in the darkness and acknowledging the agony that was really unspoken."

From this "tragic topic", the Border has benefitted from an influx of internationally renowned speakers who share their stories at the Winter Solstice.

"We realise what a big book this is - there is a huge volume of stories that connect us, not divide us," Father Peter says.

"I have noticed over the years this event has helped build a more listening community; we are less likely to run away from each other because we don't know the answers."

Rather than cast a shadow on the longest night, the Winter Solstice shines a light into our darkest places, Father Peter says.

"It reminds us that when people have the courage to shine that light, something good can happen," he says.

"That's pretty powerful."