Parkes Phoenix Editor

Maggi Barnard has been with the Forbes Phoenix since 2021 and loves writing about her community.

Forbes Netball

June 20, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

The Forbes Netball Association U17 representative team competed with success at the HART Senior State Titles on the June long weekend.

The Forbes U17 team includes Fiona Howarth (C), Iesha Sinclair (VC), Elsa Cusack, Aurella White, Lauren Bate, Georgia Warren, Lilly Mitchell, Mia Marjoram, Ella Higgins, Amy Cusack. Coach Robyn Kenny, Manager Deb Bate and Primary Carer Bec Howarth.

The team finished third on the point score ladder, just three points behind winners West Wyalong, and one point behind second placed Narrandera.

The Forbes representatives played at the Camden Netball Association courts on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, in the U17 division.

The team has been training together for four months, coming together every week in Forbes, and also attending all the regional training carnivals for vital match practice.

The team received many compliments from the umpires who were officiating their games. The girls were often congratulated for their sportsmanship, and fair play, and their high standard, and skill level.

The team played six games each day, over the three days of competition.

Day one saw the Forbes girls easily defeating Goulburn, Narrabri, Glen Innes, Cessnock and a tight game against Narrandera winning by three goals, with a loss to West Wyalong.

Day two also saw good wins against Ulladulla, Scone and an exciting come back to draw against Kurri Kurri after being down by six goals at the half time break.

Day three supporters again saw exciting netball played by the Forbes team, with four wins, and finishing the championships strongly by defeating Scone by a goal and then Kurri Kurri by seven goals.

The Forbes community should be very proud of the netballers who represented our town, who all displayed outstanding sportsmanship, team work and also played at a high level of skilled netball.

Open Studio At Serendipity Ceramics

June 20, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

Scones, cream, clay and creativity all featured at the Serendipity Ceramic Studio of Coralie Crouch on Sunday 16th June 2019.

The open studio was part of the River Arts Festival as an initiative to promote local artists and their work.

On Sunday, despite the cold weather the Serendipity Ceramic Studio was visited by a variety of enthusiastic and creative groups. The visitors were treated to a tour of the studio to gain insight into what is involved in the ceramic processes.

All visitors were then encouraged by Coralie to take part in a hands-on activity to experience the use of the medium of clay.

Morning and afternoon tea featured a generous supply of scones produced by the light hands of Margaret Adams for the occasion.

The visitors to the studio were of all ages and gender. Participants expressed excitement over the use of the clay for their creative production of a ceramic flower which will be fired and returned to each artist.

There were numerous enquiries about the possibilities for future classes so that this clay experience could be explored in greater depth. Stay tuned for further details!

Rally For Parkes Babies In Parkes

June 20, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

The Forbes and Parkes community is called on to rise up today for a rally at the Parkes Hospital at 12:30pm to stop the downgrading of maternity services. The Parkes Hospital has been in the news all week after a decision to temporarily close the maternity service due to an alleged shortage of medical proceduralists.

Residents can also sign a petition of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Union at the rally and at local businesses to get to 10,000 signatures to present it to Parliament.

Parkes Shire Mayor, Councillor Ken Keith OAM also expressed alarm and frustration over the decision and said: “It is exasperating that the situation has reached a crisis point. This dilemma has long been foreseen, as our long serving proceduralist neared retirement and should have been proactively planned and managed by Western NSW Local Health District.”

Member for Orange Phil Donato reacted to ‘the genuine concern brewing in Parkes and Forbes’ on his Facebook page saying: “I want to reassure the communities of Forbes and Parkes that I will be working feverishly to get to the bottom of this.” On Tuesday he delivered a notice of motion in the Legislative Assembly that he would move the house to demand that the Government immediately restore maternity services and maintain level 3 birthing at the Parkes Hospital, and he would call on the Government to urgently source and locate obstetric and anaesthetic services to Parkes Hospital, and implement contingency and succession planning for future resignations or retirement of medical practitioners.

The Western NSW Local Health District released a statement saying there is a shortage of medical practitioners to support maternity services at both Parkes and Forbes. “The WNSWLHD is working hard to find ways to attract doctors to our communities. It is the intention to continue to provide birthing services at both Parkes and Forbes.

To maintain safe maternity services the right medical, nursing and midwifery staff need to be available; there must be sufficient numbers of births to maintain skills and experience.”

By Maggi Barnard and Beth Thomas

Croquet Results

June 20, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

Week Ending 15th June 2019

There was a big turnout for Tuesday’s Golf Croquet with lots of cheery conversations happening in spite of the morning chill.

Congratulations to a large group of players who won their three games. They were John Job, Elvy Quirk, Bill Scott, Neville Spry and Lorraine Todd. Lorraine Todd has been winning two games on a regular basis so it was nice to see her making a success and winning all of her games. Welcome back to John Allegri who has just returned from a holiday in Europe, visiting family and grappling with the wet weather over there.

As always there were some close and challenging games.

Saturday’s Aussie Croquet

Sandy Hepburn had his first game of Aussie croquet and we hope he enjoyed the game. It will take a few games to get used to the format after playing Tuesday’s Golf croquet. The best game was a very close contest between Cherylin Cole and her partner Ray Burridge 14, who defeated Kathleen Broderick and Joan Littlejohn 13.

It was down to the wire, the closest game of the day. The winners of three games were John Browne, Bob Murray and Jill Rubie.

We will be starting our games at 9.30am over the winter months beginning on Tuesday 18th June.

Footy Tipping Results – Round 14

June 17, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

Our Gal -Jolene Jones

June 13, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

How long have you lived in or around Forbes and what is the best thing about living here? I have lived in Forbes all my life. The best thing about living in Forbes is being able to bring up our children in such a great community with so many of our family and great friends.

Where do you work or what do you do currently and what do you enjoy about it? I work for the Forbes Shire Council as the Events Officer. I love my job, being a member of the Community & Tourism team allows me to be involved in attracting people to our great town to showcase all our shire has to offer and helping community organisations hold successful events is very rewarding.

What is your favourite thing to do when you have free time? I love spending time with my husband and our four amazing children. Travelling and watching the kids play their sports and catching up with our closest friends and their families.

What makes you proud? My children – We have great schools and sporting organisations in Forbes and I take great pride in my children doing well, either at school or in their chosen sports and activities.

What are you really good at? Planning – I love making schedules for all my family and making sure everyone knows where they need to be and when!

Tell us about your best holiday ever? Sounds boring – but a family holiday to Lake Conjola. We had a lovely cabin on the lake with native birds and kangaroos at our doorstep. The kids loved it and it was very relaxing.

What makes your day? Getting home from work and my 3 year old son rushing to give me a cuddle is a great feeling.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself? I have Dutch heritage – my Father was born in the Netherlands and moved to Australia as a child and we still have family there.

Jemalong Wool Weekly Market Update

June 13, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

21,787 bales were on offer this week, the lowest weekly quantity in 12 months. The small offering may have had a negative impact, as some exporters may not have been confident about being able to fill orders. The limited number of good style wools with favourable additional measurements were highly sought after, these wools recorded minimal change for the series. Lesser style lots and those carrying poor additional measurements lost 30- 50 cents, pushing the MPGs down by 20-40 cents.

The NRI lost 26 cents, closing the week at 1,883. The crossbred sector also tracked downward but not as steeply as the merinos, prices generally fell by 5-10 cents. 30.0 micron however managed a small increase for the week, the only quoted MPG to record positive movement for the series.

The cardings also lost further ground this week and are now 571 cents, from the record high set in September last year.

Next week will see 29,989 bales put before the trade, with Fremantle back-in after a week’s recess.

Source: AWEX

Mayor Highly Commended At Minister’s Award For Women In Local Government

June 13, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

Last week in the NSW Parliament the role women have played and play each day in local government was celebrated.

“A special congratulations must go to Cr. Phyllis Miller OAM, Mayor of Forbes, for receiving the Highly Commended Award for Elected Representative for Rural/Regional NSW,” said Phil Donato, Member for Orange.

Now in its 12th year The Ministers’ Awards for Women in Local Government celebrate the contribution of women to local government in NSW. In addition to recognising the significant contribution of award winners, the awards aim to encourage more women to take on leadership roles in local government in NSW. The awards also highlight the significant contribution these women make in their local communities.

“I was pleased to see so many of our councillors from the Orange electorate (Orange, Cabonne, Parkes and Forbes) along with senior managerial staff, nominated for these awards make the trip to Sydney,” continued Phil Donato, Member for Orange.

There were five categories of awards:

• Elected Representative.
• General Manager/Senior Staff Member – general manager or senior staff positions as defined by councils in the Local Government Directory
• Non-Senior Staff Member – aimed at women who may not have worked in local government for long, or at a senior level, but who have demonstrated significant achievement and leadership
• Women in a Non-Traditional Role – a role that is traditionally held by men where the nominee is the first to enter into that role at their council or is breaking down gender stereotype barriers and conventions to perform the functions of any given role
• Women in Traineeships or Apprenticeships – the traineeships/apprentices category recognises the achievements of outstanding individuals who have undertaken traineeships in the local government sector.

One Library One Book

June 13, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

Felicity McLean’s book The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone has been chosen for an innovative program in the Central West that takes the traditional book club concept to the next level. Named One Library One Book, the program aims to have everyone in the region read and discuss the same book.

Central West Libraries will distribute 200 copies of The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone across the Central West Libraries footprint – Blayney, Cabonne, Cowra, Forbes and Orange. These copies have been added to the catalogues of the Library’s branches with the rest distributed throughout regional towns for the community to take, read and pass on.

Author Felicity McLean will be a guest speaker at the Orange Readers and Writers Festival on Saturday 3rd August at the Hotel Canobolas to talk about her book.

Felicity will also be attending local libraries to meet with readers in the first week of August to discuss the book with audiences.

“I’m thrilled The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone has been chosen for the One Library, One Book initiative,” Felicity said.

“It’s a fantastic program, in a special part of the world, and I’m grateful to everyone involved for encouraging reading throughout the community,” she said.

Central West Libraries Manager Jan Richards encouraged residents to read The Van Apfel Girls are Gone and pass it on to a friend or colleague.

“The One Library, One Book program takes the idea of a book club and expands it to cover an entire region,” Jan said.

“The book is blackly comic, sharply observed and wonderfully endearing. We think it will resonate with the community and reflect connections our library service has with local organisations,” continued Jan.

“We are thrilled to bring this book to readers of the Central West. It is also available via ebook and audiobook through Central West Libraries,” she said.

It is hoped One Library One Book will be widely embraced on social media with readers of The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone posting discussions about the book and photos of themselves with the book on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CentralWestLibraries and #onelibraryonebook.

Dry Season Makes For Tough Times

June 13, 2019 by Maggi Barnard

Tough is the word Lake Cargelligo grain grower Andrew McFadyen is using to describe the current seasonal conditions across much of New South Wales’ grain growing regions. He said reasonable rain was needed in the next three to four weeks to give winter crops a fighting chance after a dry summer and autumn.

“Grain growers are a resilient group, but the current situation is testing everyone in the agricultural sector, including regional communities,” Mr McFadyen said.

“In seasons like this, it is really important to remember we are all in this together and it’s always rained. It will turn around this time too.”

“In the Lake Cargelligo region, the past 18 months have been incredibly dry, and we are now at a point where we need rain in the next three to four weeks to give winter crops a chance, or in some cases to get winter crops in the ground.”

At Forbes, GRDC Northern Panel member Tony Hamilton said the season had been “very patchy” with reduced canola plantings, very little chickpea planted and some irrigation water available to carry over. “Irrigators are definitely disillusioned. But the planting decision window could extend from mid-June to July if the price outlook is good and we get some rain,” Mr Hamilton said.

At Wyalong, grower and GRDC Northern Panel member Roger Bolte said it was a similar situation despite 70mm in late March giving growers hope for a great autumn start to the season.

“We had another 50mm in early May and that helped set up some growers across this area, but the conditions vary significantly through this region,” he said.

“Wheat and barley are the main crops this season at the expense of canola and legumes. Canola could be back as much as 90% this year across this district. A small area of chickpeas and lupins will really round out what’s in the ground here.”

Parkes Phoenix Editor

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