Parkes Phoenix Editor

More than $1,500 worth of prizes were won at the annual Find it in Forbes Christmas Festival. The festival had lots to offer for everyone from the Forbes Farmers Markets to kids rides and entertainment, and performances by Kristin’s Dance Studio and the Red Bend Marching Band. The three $500 Why Leave Town cards were won by Maddi Noble, Matthew Little and Robyn Kenny respectively. The names drawn for the two $100 cards were Wendy
Burke and Shan Pearce.

The major prize pool of $15,000 will be drawn on Thursday, 22nd December at 6pm. There will be three prizes, plus a bonus card prize. Everyone making a purchase in participating stores will receive entries.

The Jemalong Residential Village (JRV) will hold its first ever Market Day on Tuesday, 6th December. The market will run from 10 am to 2pm and offer a variety of stalls with crafts made by residents over the past 12 months, plants, Christmas toys, homemade cakes and jams and some commercial products offered by businesses from town. There will also be a bbq and a raffle for a king size quilt.

According to Gwen Barnard of JRV the residents initiated the idea for a market day, after the annual fete had to be cancelled because of the floods. “We hope to get a good attendance. We have 91 residents and they all have family who would come, but the whole community is welcome,” said Gwen. The money raised from the event will
be used to buy one or more special chairs with wheels residents can use when eating.

“It is much easier to push them in on these chairs and is a much safer option for both the residents and the staff,” explained Gwen. She said one chair cost between $700 to $800. “We have already raised about $700 with the raffle, so we might be able to buy two chairs.” The JVR hope to make it an annual event.

Six students from the Forbes High school will be part of the Schools Spectacular Guiness World Records attempt in Sydney this weekend. The Department of Education will attempt to set a new Guiness World Record today from 11am to 2pm for the Largest Amateur Theatre Cast. The record attempt is part of a campaign by Schools Spectacular to celebrate the biggest year ever in the event’s 33 year history with over 5,500 students performing at the Qudos Bank Arena.

With the theme Dream Big, the new venue at Sydney’s Olympic Park has enabled more student performers than ever to be part of the show. The students from Forbes are able to dream big thanks to the generosity of local community organisations in town and fundraising efforts by students and staff. The Forbes students will be taking part in the D’Arts Ensemble dance item. The D’Arts Dance Ensemble is a vital part of the show, which includes students with special needs. They have been working hard at their dance routine since July this year and rehearsed choreography via videos uploaded online three times a week. They left earlier this week for Sydney to attend two days of rehearsals in preparation for the two matinee and two evening performances today and tomorrow.

Principal of Forbes High School, Charles Dwyer said: “It is important to us as a school to ensure that all of our students have access to a quality education and opportunities. We have a fantastic group of staff in our support unit who have worked extremely hard to support the students to attend the Schools Spectacular this year. The support from the Forbes Services Club, Forbes Lions Club and Forbes Shire Council has really helped our students to be able to experience a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

More than 30 schools from western NSW form part of more than 500 schools taking part in the Schools Spectacular. The annual show is unparalleled in the world in terms of numbers taking part. It engages and showcases students of different ages, cultures, skills and socio-economic backgrounds from metropolitan, rural and remote regions of NSW.

The show will be broadcast on Channel Seven.