Parkes Phoenix Editor

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

Our Gal

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Paige Ellison

How long have you lived in Forbes and what do you like about living here?
I have lived in Forbes my whole life so 17 years. My favourite thing is the Forbes Lake as it can be very beautiful, especially in the morning and evening watching the sun rise or go down.

Where do you work and what do you enjoy most about your work?
I am currently a full-time student in year 12 at Forbes High School. I really love the people that I have met throughout my schooling years.

What do you do to unwind after school and on weekends?
I always play music, any instrument, any song, just always playing music to unwind.

What are you really good at?
I am good at singing. I also like to think that I am secretly a good cake baker!

If you could have a super power, what would it be?
My super power would definitely be invisibility – that would be pretty cool just to be able to hide from responsibilities!

What is your pet hate?
My pet hate is when people send the thumbs up emoji …

Tell us about your best holiday ever.
The best holiday I ever had was when we travelled around outback Queensland for two weeks. We just went exploring and fishing everywhere, we got flooded in a town called Windora, but I didn’t mind because they had the most stunning red sand hills which we watched the sun set over. It was simply great!

Question of the Week

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Do you have a special Easter tradition?

Keira Whatman: I just like to eat a lot of chocolate – even for breakfast! The bunny rabbits are the best.

Marg Stirling: We do all the usual traditions, but a special one is my nephew who has been coming to our house for more than 15 years on Good Friday to eat my salmon rissoles.

Jessica Priest: Sometimes we go camping and other times we spend time with family, but the one thing we always do is eat chocolate! I love the Darrell Lea chocolates.

Prestigious Lions Event Held In Forbes

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Ava Del Tufo won the state final of the Lions Youth of The Year Quest hosted by the Forbes and District Lions Club at the Forbes Services Memorial Club on Saturday.

The 17-year-old from Ulladulla High School, was sponsored by the Pambula Merimbula Lions Club. She was an accomplished speaker with a resumé that would do credit to any 50-year-old, and stood out in every category. Ava will next compete in the national final in Hobart on the 8th May.

Ava was one of five contestants for this year’s award: Ragavi Jeyakumar from Pres- byterian Ladies College Armidale; Phoebe McIlwraith from Morisset High School; Charles O’Neill from All Saints College, Bathurst; and Jade Lin from Presbyterian Ladies College Sydney.

The judges were Phyllis Miller, Charles Pecenka from Parkes, Aidan Clarke from Forbes, Stephen King from Red Bend Catholic College and Rochelle Bright, formerly from Canberra and a recent resident of Forbes. The stand-by judge was Will Lawrance, last year’s state winner.

The more than 100 people from around NSW attending were impressed with Forbes. Many commented on how lovely the town looks with our beautiful historic buildings and the well-manicured lawns and walkways around our lake.

By Peter Bright

Westpac Celebrates 200th With Customers

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Westpac, Australia’s first and oldest bank, celebrated its 200th anniversary last week.

Westpac opened its doors as the very first bank in Forbes 146 ago. Customers were invited to help celebrate last Thursday with Forbes Bank Manager, Shannon Crowley telling customers their patronage were valued. He also thanked his team for all the hard work they put in.

He asked Judith (Jude) Taylor, one of his favourite customers to help cut the cake. “Jude always comes in and have a conversation. It is so much more than just about banking. I enjoy talking to customers,” said Shannon.

One customer asked about the history of the building at 90 Lachlan Street and Shannon brought a framed collection of photographs of the bank’s buildings over the years. He said they were in the process of planning a revamp on the outside, as Wespac was housed in one of the beautiful build- ings in Forbes.

Westpac was established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales.

Opera Singers Raise The Roof And Thousands For Ava

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

An audience of almost 300 people were treated to a unique and entertaining afternoon of opera in Forbes last Saturday and raising more than $14,000 for the Garland family.

The Opera for Ava fundraiser saw principal soloist for Opera Australia, Dominica Mat- thews as well as Diego Torre from Mexico and Kathleen Moore from Canada come together for an afternoon of top class singing.

It was a huge success! In glorious weather guests enjoyed background music provided by the Four Strings quartet, while enjoying canapés prepared by the Red Bend hospitality unit.

Sipping Millthorpe’s Angullong champagne and wine, and boutique beers from Orange’s Badlands Brewery, the 270 patrons from near and far enjoyed every minute in the lead up to the performance.

Diego, Dominica and Kathleen were absolutely captivating with their incredible voices, with arias from many classic operas such as La traviata, La boheme and Lakme.

After a short interval they switched to more contemporary tunes from shows including Carousel, Sweet Charity and Porgy and Bess. The singers then lifted the roof with their encore, Nessum dorma from the opera Turandot, no doubt a highlight for many. Accompanist Barbara Bruce was exceptional, remaining consistent throughout the whole performance.

MC Adrian Matthews (Dominica’s brother) kept the ball rolling with a touch of hu- mour and his debatable Italian, as well as bringing several to tears as he described the Garlands journey so far and reminded everyone of the reason for the event.

It was fantastic to see plenty of locals turn out to support this family, but the calibre of the artists also attracted people from as far away as Dubbo, Cassilis, Griffith and Sydney! It was truly an afternoon to remember!

By Kylie Matthews

New Honey Bee Research Centre To Create A Buzz

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

A new Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) led by The University of Western Australia (UWA) will provide a much-needed boost to Australia’s valuable, but largely untapped honey bee products, by bringing together both industry and academic expertise from across Australia.

Dr Liz Barbour, from UWA’s Office of Research Enterprise, said the CRC for Honey Bee Products would resolve current industry problems that limited the value and expansion of the industry. Products include honey, beeswax, pollen, royal jelly, venom and honey bee export.

“At present, honey bee product value is estimated at $125 million,” Dr Barbour said. “What is often overlooked is that 44 of our food crops wholly or in part rely on honey bee pollination which adds an additional farm gate value of $6.5 billion. With the new Australian focus of fine food export, healthy bees are an essential ingredient for success.”

“Australia, especially Western Australia, has one of the healthiest honey bee populations in the world so no antibiotics or chemicals from bee husbandry contaminate the products. Whilst Australia is surrounded by bee diseases, through our quarantine ef- forts, the worst (including the sucking mite, Varroa) have not yet reached our shores.”

Bee disease is a big threat to Australia’s agricultural production.

Be Seen

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Rex Bowker, Garry Abel and Ron Kaay enjoy their weekly catch up over a coffee and “solving the world’s problems” at A Classy Touch.

Scott Johnston with daughter Abriella enjoyed the beautiful autumn weather.

Aria, Isaac and Eve Bernardi are having fun at the park on a glorious Forbes Saturday morning.

Mayoral Notes

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Forbes hosted the NSW Lions Youth of the Year state final on Saturday night at the Forbes Services Memorial Club. A Mayoral reception was held at the Town Hall before the event and it was my pleasure to wel- come all the state finalists of the five districts of Lions and their families to Forbes. The contestants presented very well and the winner was Ava Del Tufo, who was sponsored by the Pambula Merimbula Lions Club.

Youth Week was such a fantastic event last week and it was great to see so many young people involved in the activities. Students from Forbes High School and Red Bend Catholic College had a great time during their Colour Runs. At YouthFest on Friday night there was spectacular talent on display.

Over the weekend, Council staff promoted the draft Our Forbes Shire Community Strategic Plan and attended the Rotary Ipomoea Markets and the Bedgerabong Country Fair. Yesterday we had two public meetings in the Forbes Town Hall. We are still encouraging residents to make sure they have their say. The plan is on public exhibition until 5pm next Thursday and can be viewed at www.forbes.nsw.gov.au or our Council administration offices.

This is going to be another great weekend in Forbes with the Good Friday Camel Races and the Easter Bowls competition. On behalf of Council, I wish everyone a lovely Easter break and please drive safely.

Mayor Graeme Miller

Rugby Lunch Goodwill Spreads To Community

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Six community groups and individuals were on the receiving end of funds raised at the sixth President’s lunch of the Forbes Rugby Club.

Chris Sweeney, organiser of the lunch, said it was great to be able to support the community. “The lunch is not all about rugby. It is great for over 800 people to come together and have fun, but it is just as wonderful to be able to support our community.”

Over the past six years we have been able to give $100,000 back to the community, while the club boosted its funds by the same amount. Chris said anyone wanting to attend next year’s lunch should keep 17th March 2018 open.

This year the beneficiaries were the Forbes Badminton Club, Forbes Running and Triathlon Club, Forbes Toy Library, Forbes Public School Special Unit and the Garland family all receiving $1,800. The Forbes Town and District Band received $300 for performing at the lunch. The Forbes Public School assisted on the day with rubbish collection.

Forbes Basketball Winners Receive Awards

April 12, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

The Forbes Basketball Association held its awards night last week. On the left are the Knights, winners of the junior compe- tition. The runner-up was the Esme’s Coffee Shop team. The Knights are (L-R) Josh Withers, Joe Morrison, Henry Hodges, Harry Scott, and Blake Bray. On the right are the winners of the senior division, C & D Floor. They played Knights Blue in the final. They are (L-R) at the back Dan Walker, Tom Maguire, Courtney Russel, Izac Bell and Cooper Lincolin. In front are Jess Priest, Rosie Ward and Megan Gibson.

The Forbes Basketball Association will be taking registrations for its Winter com- petition at the Forbes Services Memorial Club from 6:30 to 7:30pm on 24th April and 1st May. The cost is $75 ($60 for registra- tion with Basketball NSW and $15 fee for Forbes Basketball Competition). For any queries contact Gavin on 0418 986 553 or Pip on 0405 714 914.

Parkes Phoenix Editor

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