Parkes Phoenix Editor

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the NSW Small Winemakers Wine Show in Forbes taking place from 22nd to 24th August at the Forbes Youth and Community Centre. A total of 559 entries have been received.

Mike de Luliis, owner and winemaker at de Luliis Wines in the Hunter Valley, continues as the Chairman of Judges. The other judges are Andrew Thomas (Hunter Valley), Lester Jesberg (Canberra), David Morris (Rutherglen VIC), Simon Killen (Rutherglen VIC), Jeff Byrne (Hunter Valley), Deb Pearce (Bowral), Lester Yang (Mudgee), Lucy Maddox (Orange), Jeremy Nascimben (Griffith) and Anthony D’Onise (Cowra).

A public tasting will be held on Friday, 26th August from 6.30 to 8.30pm. Tickets are $25 and include tasting of the wines entered and finger food. The Presentation Dinner is on Saturday, 17th September at the Forbes Town Hall with catering by The Dish Café. Tickets are $125 per person and include a five-course dinner complemented with ten trophy winning wines.

The show started 25 years ago as the Golden West WineFest with John Saleh, proprietor of Sand Hills Vineyard, organising the event the with help of members of the Rotary Club of Forbes. After three years the show became known as the NSW Small Winemakers Wine Show and introduced a Presentation Dinner to showcase the trophy winning wines.

To find out more about the NSW Small Winemakers Wine Show visit www.nswwineshow.com.au or the Facebook page.

There are only four weeks left until the 141st Forbes Show on 9th and 10th September. If you would like to become a member, print a form from the website at www.forbesshow.com before the $5 price rise on 19th August. Annual membership is $35, which covers your entry plus one guest and school-aged children on both days of the show. Single membership is $25 and covers one adult and 3 school-aged children.

If you are a ride fan, get in early with the ride tickets offer of $25 per sheet for $30 worth of rides. You can also pick up entry cards for pavilion entries if you are competing in any sections at the Show Office from 9.30am to 3.30pm weekdays, or from the Glass Menagerie on Templar Street. This will help you avoid the Thursday morning rush on the day before the Show!

The Forbes Show Ball is on Saturday, 3rd September. It promises to be a fabulous night out with a wonderful mix of people from the community who come together to support the Forbes Show and the Showgirl competition! Tickets are $70, which includes dinner at Eat your Greens and live music entertainment by New Normal from Parkes. The event is BYO. Tickets are
available on Trybooking.com.

Check out the Forbes Show Facebook page for more updates, or call Julie Hurkett at the Show Office on 6852 1311.

The Forbes Central Butchery is extending its delivery service to the villages of Trundle, Tullamore and Tottenham. The plan is to visit all three villages once per week on the same day. Shannon Bermingham said any item from the butchery could be ordered by phone for delivery. He said the best would be to look on Facebook for weekly specials, award winning sausages and the $50 meat pack, which changes every week. Call the Forbes Central Butchery on 6851 6745.

The media launch of the Forbes Business Awards, BOSCARS, last week created a lot of interest not only from past winners, and participants in the regional awards, but also from many local business owners. The event was hosted by Chairman of the Forbes Business Chamber, Chris Roylance, and launched by Vicki Seccombe of the NSW Business Chamber Orana Region.

Vicki encouraged all businesses to enter and to take time over each entry, not leaving it until the last minute. She recommended that any businesses entering should review the questions related to the category they wanted to enter before deciding if it was the correct category for their business. She also said that when allowing time to go through your entry, ensure that you check and re-read your answers, and to make sure you are selling what your business does and is successful in doing.

There are nine different categories to choose from, and if you need assistance please call anybody on the Chamber committee or Vicki at the NSW Business Chamber office in Orange on 6311 2203. The closing date for entries is 29th August. There is not a lot of time left to start preparing your entry. A panel of independent and respected business leaders from outside the region will judge submissions.

Finalists will be announced on 30th September. Winners will be announced at a James Bond themed Gala Dinner on Friday, 28th October. Start planning to treat your staff to an exciting night out.

Australia won the first ever gold medal awarded in women’s rugby sevens after beating New Zealand 24-17 at the Rio Games this week. Two of the players, Alicia Quirk and Sharni Williams, are from the Riverina. Federal Member for Riverina, Michael McCormack, congratulated the team and the two local players on their gold medal success.

He said he was delighted to know both girls personally. “Alicia and Sharni are very inspiring people and fantastic role models for young athletes in the Riverina and elsewhere,” Michael said. Alicia was Kildare Catholic College’s school caption in 2009. “Sharni once beat me in an arm wrestle at a presentation night at her old school – Batlow Technology High – although some would say that is not a difficult feat!”

Michael was pleased to give the two sportswomen their first national media shout-out on Sky News just moments after their success on Tuesday morning. “It’s always great to give the Riverina and its many talented people a plug in the national media,” Michael said.

Hi everyone,
I wanted to draw your attention to the influence the media has over us. Unlike quality publications such as The Forbes Phoenix, some media outlets draw their audience by constantly trying to have us living in fear.

And matters regarding wealth are not immune to this problem. Take for example the headline in the Daily Telegraph recently, ‘Super funds delivering small returns’… Now reading that headline and the first paragraph talking about the lowest returns in 4 years (3% growth on average), you’d possibly be left with a negative sentiment towards super. However, anyone who read the article through until completion would have read that the
median growth fund has delivered average annual returns of 8.8% over the last seven years. Hardly cause for alarm that last financial year only returned 3%!

We can go through life listening to all the ‘noise’ projected our way (read: rubbish), or we can ignore the noise, look between the lines and find quality, independent information that allows us to make informed and confident decisions going forward.

Quite simply, superannuation is just a tax structure. It’s the best legal tax break in town. The fact is that anyone who doesn’t like super just doesn’t understand super.

Those who understand it are using it to build retirement nest eggs in a tax effective way that will enable them to pay themselves a decent income in retirement. You have enormous control over your superannuation…

Therefore, make sure you understand how your super is invested and what fees you’re paying so that you maximise it for the many days you look forward to enjoying being retired.

Cheers, Daniel