Parkes Phoenix Editor

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

Mock Crash 2022 Actors Ready For Action

August 19, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

The four lead actors for this year’s Mock Crash performance have been announced following a lot of interest in the auditions.

The four actors for the NOT A STATISTIC! Youth Driver Education Program are Kaitlyn Stevenson from Parkes, Shaylee Edwards and Amelia Barwick from Peak Hill and Zak Chatman from Parkes who returns for another round.

“We had a lot of interest in the recent auditions. Casting was very difficult as everyone was very talented,” said Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor. “Whilst there are only four roles available for the mock crash scenario, we offered the others roles in the establishing scenes.”

The program is aimed at Year 10 students and more than 5,000 from across the Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Council areas have participated in it since its inception 12 years ago.

“The program aims to show young drivers what can and does happen far too often on our local roads. It challenges them to think about their attitudes and behaviour as not only drivers but also as passengers.

“Over the last 12 years we have recorded a 27% decrease in crashes on local roads involving a young driver (17 – 25 years old),” Melanie said.

Following two years of COVID disruption, this year’s mock crash is going to be developed into a training package.

The crash scenario will be recorded and the video will replace the live mock crash demonstration for this year.

The video will become a resource so the program can be implemented in other areas and will be used as a back-up option for future years’ live demonstrations.

The video will premiere early October before being rolled out in local schools during term four.

The usual live demonstration will return in 2023.

Be Seen

August 19, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Jayden Maloney and Brock Payne were seen out and about in Forbes.

Holy Family students Boundy Johnston and Ali Al-Maliky doing an activity at Eco Day on Wednesday.

Lilly Gharib, Jasmin Stonham and Rylea Bell at Isabel’s Place in Forbes.

Year 5 students Aliza Roberts, Adrian Sasmoyo, Jazmin Lucas and Addison Wild from Middleton Public School enjoyed Eco Day in Parkes on Wednesday.

Snippets..

August 19, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Scaffolding has gone up at the De Havilland Jet at Lake Forbes to give the iconic plane a structural makeover after being in all kinds of weather for 50 years.

Farm Financial Skills Workshop: On Thursday, 1st September farmers can attend a free workshop in Forbes from 8:30am to 3:30pm on the financial skills essential to managing an agricultural operation. The practical Financial Skills Workshops is offered by Rabobank’s Client Council, and will provide practical, hands-on advice for understanding financial statements and banking requirements, and explore topics such as taxation versus management accounting, essential business management ratios and understanding key components of a business’s financial profile. Make sure complete your registration to ensure a spot at https://rabobankaunz.eventsair.com/financial-skills-workshops/registration/Site/Register

Trash Into Treasure: Households are encouraged to step up their recycling efforts to help contribute to a cleaner environment and transition to a circular economy in NSW. Minister for Environment James Griffin said: “Two thirds of all waste in NSW is already being recycled, and we want to do even better to boost the circular economy.” Use the Recycle Mate app to tell you exactly what can and can’t be recycled in your local government area. Sixty-four per cent of all waste generated in NSW is recycled, being remade into new items such as building materials, packaging, and new food and drink containers.

Spring Bee Swarming: New measures have been put in place as part of the Varroa mite emergency response to help deal with an expected increase in bee activity as the weather heats up. “Bees typically swarm during warmer months as a way of establishing new colonies, so we’re reminding people to be aware that these swarms can become feral or unmanaged,” said NSW Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders. “Reporting these swarms and colonies is really important so we’re asking members of the public to exercise caution and contact the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), so they can take targeted action to remove them. If you come across a feral bee colony, contact DPI’s Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881 (9am to 5pm, seven days a week). For more information on the Varroa mite emergency response, visit www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/varroa

Reading Day: The annual PAINT THE TOWN REaD day in Parkes is back next Friday, 26th August and this year’s theme is Paint Parkes REaD, Rhymingly. The theme is focusing on traditional nursery rhymes, contemporary rhymes, ditties and made-up rhymes – basically all things rhyming. Primary school students and pre-school kids can look forward to a fantastic day filled with many different shows and activities, including a graffiti wall, photo booth and lots more, from 9:30am in Cooke Park and the CBD.

Have you got your entries ready for the Parkes Show? The closing date is 26th August and enter at https://showday.online/show/6Rw9LV7 The Parkes Show Office is open every day for tickets and entries too. If you cannot enter or buy tickets online, visit the show office at 61 Welcome Street.

Amazing Group Preserves Family History

August 12, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Forbes Family History Group members Kim Smith, Cheryl and Max Barton at the new sign to help people find rooms at the back of the library. (Photo: Forbes Shire Council)

The Forbes Family History Group is worth a visit where you will find a fascinating sanctuary of amazing records and gems capturing the history of Forbes. The rooms are open to the public every Wednesday from 10am to noon and Saturday from 11am to 3pm. The rooms are at the rear of the library, and are easy to find with the help of a new sign at Victoria Park, on the corner of Harold Street and Victoria Lane. The group is run by volunteers who deserve a big thank you for collecting and storing our Amazing history!

Exciting Restoration Project

August 12, 2022 by Brett Sale

Forbes Men’s Shed members Matt Little, Norm Haley, Dan Hurbet and Henry Mattiske were working on the park benches this week.

The Forbes Men’s Shed is excited to be working with Council in restoring the park benches from Victoria Park.

Five of the beautiful, historic custom-made benches will get a complete restoration over the next few months. Work has begun on replacing the wooden slats with a new wood able to withstand weather all year round and new nuts and bolts. Once the benches have been restored, it is hoped work will commence on the lamp posts, another feature of Victoria Park, which was originally the town reserve in 1874.

Forbes Men’s Shed President Norm Haley said they were so pleased to be working on this and they were looking forward to see the end result.

“We are always calling out for new members to join and some extra hands to assist with this restoration process would be a big help to us all, and to be part of a special community project,” said Norm.

By Brett Sale

Undiagnosed Vision Problems With Children

August 12, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Last week was education week, with this year’s theme being “creating futures”.

Did you know that a staggering one in five children in Australia have an undiagnosed vision problem? The widespread effect of this on education can’t be understated, since vision is the preeminent sense when it comes to how a child learns. As parents, we need to be aware that not all vision problems will present as we might expect with complaints of blurred vision, sore eyes or headaches. Rather, it can often be much more subtle such as loss of concentration or a lack of motivation to read or do schoolwork. There is more to vision than simply seeing something clearly. Focusing, tracking, eye coordination and visual perception are important vision skills that also impact reading and learning.

To catch these undiagnosed vision problems that are slipping through the cracks we must ensure that we get our children’s eyes tested by an optometrist, once before starting school and then ideally every year thereafter.

To find out more, come in and talk to one of our eyecare professionals at Hansen Eyecare Plus in Parkes. #localscaringforlocals

https://www.hansenoptom.com.au/

What are your plans for this summer?

August 12, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Samantha and Morgan Martin: We are keen to get out and about with our son and looking forward to the new water park opening.

Jessica Bell: I am excited to get back to the Gold Coast for a beach summer and a shopping spree.

Luke Elsley: I am looking forward to those long summer days with friends and family.

Mayoral Notes

August 12, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Another year and another win for Forbes Shire Council! We were a winner again at the Local Government Awards announced last week. Council won the prestigious Leo Kelly OAM Arts and Cultural Award – Division A (population less than 30,000). The award is for the partnership between community, industry and Local Government for the Sculpture Down the Lachlan project.

It is an honour to be a part of this partnership fostering an inclusive, creative and culturally rich community. This just goes to show how much partnerships between the community, industry and Local Government can achieve. This world class permanent art trail is almost complete and the next major achievement will be the Forbes Cultural Centre Development.

With more rain predicted this week, I want to reassure the community we are working very closely with State Water and monitoring the Bureau of Meteorology to stay informed about the Wyangala Dam releases.

It is very wet here at the moment and we are acutely aware of the impacts of these releases and will keep the community informed.

Talking about staying in touch, I pride myself on being accessible to the whole community. I am often at the office and happy to talk over the phone but please know, I will not respond to the public on social media. Council has very specific civic and procedural obligations on how we report to enquiries and information requests. So, if you want to talk to me, pick up the phone or email me anytime to make an appointment. My door is always open!

Education Week at Forbes Public School – Creating Bright Futures and a Love for Learning

August 12, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Both students and staff were eager to celebrate Education Week this year by promoting a love for learning and having some fun along the way.

“Inspiring students today to shine tomorrow” was the theme for primary students on Wednesday. In line with this year’s Education Week theme, Creating Brighter Futures, students had the pleasure of working with the team from Bright Future STEM Program from AREEA (Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association) in conjunction with CMOC Northparkes Mines and Howden Australia to explore the wonders of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and career opportunities. The students were inspired and their love for learning was ignited as they engaged in plenty of hands-on activities, including the use of virtual goggles and puzzle solving that encouraged plenty of critical thinking, teamwork, imagination, and FUN!

The week started with the Forbes Public School Book Fair which encouraged many of our students from the most avid readers to those who simply enjoy listening to and/or reading along with others to purchase books for their home libraries. We were excited to welcome our community along to share in our love for books. The day proved a huge success raising over $7,000. These proceeds will go back into providing resources and activities for our students to both benefit from and engage in.

We are thrilled to know that our students have added to home libraries, their imaginations and time with loved ones at home sharing a story or two having purchased books.

The highlight of Education Week is always, the Book Character parade, where book characters are brought to life by both staff and students who proudly showed off their costumes by parading to music in front of the school community on Friday. The parade is always a welcomed opportunity to connect with our families over plenty of fun and laughter. The parade was followed by a family picnic and open classrooms where teachers, students and their families were able to share in student learning experiences and opportunities that have occurred so far this year.

It was wonderful to have our wider school community on site, joining in the fun of the book fair, the parade, picnic, and classroom activities. We are grateful during these current times to be able to come together as a whole school to not only celebrate a love for learning, but also the fun and community spirit that comes with being a part of the FPS community.

Snippets…

August 12, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Excitement is building for the first Parkes Show in two years from 29th to 31st August. Three days of fun and competitions with Junior Judging on Wednesday, 31 August! More information on the show to follow next week.

Trishaw Open Day: The Parkes Trishaw Committee is inviting the community to come for a ride on the trishaw at Lions Park on Saturday, 17th September from 10am. This is a great day for those who have not yet given it a try to spend time in the fresh air and to feel the wind in your hair. Trained riders pilot the electrically assisted trishaw to give passengers a 20-minute ride. Go to the Cycling Without Age Parkes facebook page to find out more about this great initiative to get people who are less mobile outside in the sunshine. Bring down your parents, friends or children for a ride. For more information call 0448 166 016.

Elvis Photo Comp: Did you snap a great photo at the Parkes Elvis Festival? Entries are open for the Elvis Photography Competition and Exhibition. Categories include: best smartphone image (all ages); best digital camera image (all ages); overall champion and overall highly commended. Entries close at 5pm on 2nd September 2022. Online entries at https://bit.ly/23photo

New RFS Helicopter For Central West: A new multi-purpose NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) helicopter was launched at Dubbo recently at the Royal Flying Doctor Service base. The $6 million helicopter is the first one for the RFS to be permanently based at Dubbo, which will significantly boost emergency response capabilities across the Central West.

Job Opportunities For Biosecurity Detector Dog Handlers: The biosecurity detector dog program is recruiting new dog handlers for Australia’s world class detector dog program at airports, seaports and mail pathways. Being a detector dog handler and working with dogs daily is a fun job that also plays an important role in Australia’s biosecurity system. Candidates need to be engaging, resilient and results driven. The new recruitment round is open to the general public and anyone interested is encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will receive biosecurity foundation training as well as detector dog handler training. For more information visit agriculture.gov.au/detector-dogs

The pergolas have been installed in the Forbes CBD and is set to transform the look of Forbes once it’s covered in greenery. The two pergolas, situated on opposite corners in Templar Street near the roundabout, are part of the CBD masterplan and funded by the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund.

Parkes Phoenix Editor

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