Parkes Phoenix Editor

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

Close Victory in Two-Person Ambrose

February 25, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

On Saturday 20 Feb the Mens competition was a 2-Person Ambrose.
The Winners were Andrew Dukes and Daniel Bayley, who combined well to shoot 4-under for each 9-holes. They pulsed well as Andrew had most of the drives on the front-9 while Daniel had the drives on the back-9.

The Runners-up contest needed a count back to resolve the deadlock. Peter Dawson and Terry Sharpe finished 5-under par to be a smidgeon behind the Parkes pairing of Peachy Dixon and Cranky Kelly on 66, but the Dawson/Sharpe handicap got the win.

Sunday was the regular Stableford Medley. The sunny and hot conditions presented a challenge, but a few looked upon this as sheer bliss. There were even visiting players from Parkes who came to watch the Pennants and play a round after it. Ray Taylor recaptured some of his touch on the green, rolling in a few bombs to help him to a winning score of 35, on countback.

The ever steady Bruce Carpenter also had 35 points, but was less tidy on the back-9. And here is the news:
Last Sunday had mixed fortunes for the Pennants teams. Div 2 and Div 4 played, with a win to the Div 2 and a loss to the Div 4. The heroes for Forbes this week were Kim Herbert and Dave Mylecharane (demolishing
their opponents in Div 2), and Richard Smith and Jim McLuckie – battling
to the very end without due reward. All divisions play at Parkes this Sunday.

We are pleased to see Barry Parker back on the golf course. He may be a bit slower at present, but on the course he can still drive true and be heard by everyone playing. And Ron Morris is doing well after his operation. And perhaps a final word about milestone birthdays. Happy birthday to Scott Kirkman for tomorrow, when he celebrates 60 years.

Swing easy and let it all flow.

Contributed by Short Putt

Just a Short Drive to…Temora

February 25, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

For those interested in taking a weekend trip, a day trip, or even an extended trip to somewhere that offers something different and unique, Temora is the town to visit.

The Riverina town, best-known for it’s impressive aviation museum, lies 164km south of Forbes and takes approximately 1:45 hours to reach via the Newell Highway. The population of Temora is about 6,000.

Temora is packed with museums, sporting and recreational facilities, boasts a boutique cinema, and a thriving town centre, all surrounded by natural beauty. A visit this time of year would see a drier outlook, but temperatures into the 30s provide warm and sunny conditions for all purposes to visit Temora.

Temperatures in Autumn and Spring are very comfortable, sitting around the mid-20s, and the colours around town normally stay green with local agricultural growth, and even yellow when canola growing peaks. Colourful seasonal trees and plants are on show in Autumn as leaves start to fall.

Winter sees temperatures drop into the teens, but with so many museums and
shops to visit, it is still well worth the trip. Do yourself a favour and plan your next weekend visit to Temora, with so much beauty and the friendly faces of the town it’s well worth the visit.

Temora Aviation Museum Arguably Temora’s top attraction is the Temora
Aviation Museum, and this comes from the town’s rich aviation history.
It hosted Australia’s largest Royal Australian Air Force aviation school during World War II, with more than 10,000 personnel on site and 2,400 pilots trained. At it’s peak, the facility held 97 of the famous Tiger Moth aircraft, and ceased operation in 1946.

Aviation activities such as gliding, parachuting, aerobatics, ultra-light aircraft operations and model aircraft displays are still held in town. The museum is located next door to the airport on Tom Moon Avenue, north of the town centre off Airport Street.

It has a number of permanent exhibits including ‘Unsung Heroes’, ‘The History of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation’, ‘The Magic of Flight’, ‘The RAAF in Korea’, and ‘CAC Sabre’. The museum offers guided tours with
volunteers, audio-visual presentations, a theatre, engineer viewing, a gift shop,
playground, garden and picnic areas, and the ‘Aircraft Showcase’. The museum is open daily between 10am and 4pm.

Temora Rural Museum Another one of Temora’s popular tourist attractions is the Temora Rural Museum and Temora Ambulance Museum. The museum’s major annual exhibition is the second Saturday of March each year, with this year’s 43rd annual exhibition coming up very soon on March 12. It will feature a grand parade of vintage and veteran motor vehicles, tractors and machinery, a millinery exhibition from the Temora Rural Museum and Robbins’ Collections, bush poetry and short talks on textiles, a fire fighting demonstration, and the startup of the Max Fairweather Lister Stationary Engine Collection.

The museum is located at 29 Junee Road, and is open daily 9.30am-5pm.

2016 Colin Parish Memorial Trophy Temora’s Lake Centenary will be lit up
when the V8 Superboats sail into town for the 2016 Colin Parish Memorial Trophy on Saturday March 5. The event is run by the Australian Formula
Jet Sprint Association, and will feature boats in three classes- the 350 class, 400 class, and unlimited class.

The V8 Group A 400 and 350 classes of jet-sprinting have engines that are mildly restricted to ensure a reasonably equitable playing field for all competitors. The V8 unlimited class features top class superboats of racing in jet-sprinting with the boats being unrestricted except for a minimum engine size and controlled methanol fuel. V8 Superboat Engines are unrestricted
and vary depending on the design concept behind them. The event kicks off at 10:30am. ‘New Fashion’ Ladies Clothes and Accessories. Call in and see our new winter range arriving weekly. We have Threads, Sportswave, Corfu, Elliman shirts, Black Pepper, Yvonne Black, Equus, and Jendi. A range of scarves and hats for winter are available as well as bags by Sassy Duck.

Arriving soon will be Anna Nova’s wallets, purses and shoulder pouches. ‘Journie’ range in new colours will be arriving soon. We’re at 234 Hoskins Street. Please call in for a visit or phone 6977 2221 and ask for Pam.

‘Living and Giving’ Café Temora From the outside you could be forgiven for thinking Living & Giving is a chic giftware & homeware shop, but the curb-side tables and chairs hint at what awaits inside. The enticing aroma of freshly ground coffee, followed by the chatty buzz of the many regulars scattered among the product laden shelves adds to the experience. An extensive lunch menu provides a selection of wraps and salads, a tempting array of cakes and pastries; the perfect complement to barista made coffee or loose leaf tea.

Rick Firman’s Menswear Rick Firman’s Menswear gives the wider community access to stylish and wearable gentlemens fashion for all ages, and can also mail out orders. The moment you walk through the doors you will be greeted with a warm smile and given good, old fashioned customer service with whatever attire you require. The store sells everything for men for all
occasions, including denim jeans, dress shirts, casual wear, socks, jackets, suits, and sports wear. Please call in to the store at 230 Hoskins Street, or visit their website www.rickfirmansmenswear.com.au.

Six and Not Out

February 25, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

Talis Hurfurd made history recently when
he hit the first 6 for a cricketer of his age.
Talis plays in the U/12’s division in the local
cricket competition as well as representing
Forbes in the Lachlan Representative
team. Talis’ big hit is the first 6 achieved in
his age group for both competitions. Troy
and Hayley Hurford along with brothers
Corey and Toby were excited with Talis’
achievement and were the first ones to
congratulate him.
Cricketing talent obviously runs in the
Hurford family with older brother Toby also
making a name for himself in local and representative
cricket circles. Toby plays in the
U/14’s age division and is part of the Forbes
side that will take on Parkes in the Grand
Final this weekend. Last week the undefeated
U/14’s took on Dubbo in the Lachlan
Cricket Council Competition and drew with
these worthy opponents. The ladder board
position secured them the place in the final
game of the competition.
Toby, along with Darcy Leadbitter, represented
the region well on the 14th of February
when they defeated Mitchell, a team
consisting of players from Orange, Bathurst
and surrounding areas in the Grand
Final of the Western Country Zone Junior
Competiton.

Forbes Sheep Market Reports

February 24, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

Forbes Sheep Sale

Conducted 23/02/2016

Yarded 34698 including 26822 lambs . Lamb quality was again very good with all weights well supplied in a larger offering. There were also 4000 merino lambs penned. All the usual NSW and interstate processors were represented and the market in places was $3 to $5 dearer for the heavy lambs and firm to $2 better for trade weights and light lambs early in the sale. However there were irregularities through the sale and the market in some areas was unchanged compared to last week’s sale.

Trade weight lambs (18-22kg)
$105.00 to $131.00

Heavy lambs (23-26kg)
$132.00 to $152.00

Extra Heavy Lambs (over 26kg)
$149.00 to $186.00

Store Lambs
$76.00 to $109.00

Heavy merino lambs
to $139.00

Trade weight Merino Lambs
$96.00 to $126.00

Hoggets
$80.00 to $115.00

There were 7876 grown sheep yarded and prices held firm compared to last week’s dearer market.

Merino Wethers
$73.00 to $120.00

Merino Ewes
$79.00 to $109.00

Shorn merino ewes

XB Ewes
$86.00 to $108.00

Light Sheep
$21.00 to $69.00

Merino Rams
$68.00 to $90.00

Bedgerabong Turns Out to Honour Fallen Son

February 18, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

Bedgerabong Picnic Races vice president Russell Constable hailed last Saturday’s race meet a huge success, with around 2500 people turning out in support of the late Stuart Brown.

Mr Brown lost his battle with cancer last November. He was a Bedgerabong local, and was the tallest jockey in Australian racing history, and worked tirelessly to keep his weight in the 60 kilo range.

He was a successful jockey in his 20-year career, bagging more than 200 race wins, including three at his home Bedgerabong Cup. His first home win came in 2004. This year’s Bedgerabong Cup was renamed ‘The Stuart Brown Memorial Bedgerabong Picnic Race Club Cup’ in Mr Brown’s honour, and was solely sponsored by the Picnic Race Club instead of being offered to an independent sponsor, as it had been in the past.

A delegate of Mr Brown’s family was present in a marquee on the day to represent the late local. Mr Constable said the day was emotional, but one to remember with tight results in most of the six races. “The Bedgerabong Cup was Stuart’s favourite race, being a Bedgerabong boy, so it was for the committee and his family for him not to be there,” he said. “It was quite emotional at the Cup, but we expected it to be.”

“But each race went well. We had great horse numbers, the races were good, the track was fantastic, and the fields were good. We can only race a maximum of 10 horses per race, and we had a couple with the full ten and others with eight.”

“These numbers were very good for a little Cup meeting.” This year’s Cup winner was third favourite Financial Gain, ridden by Billy Owen and trained by Kelly Milliner. The nine-year old bay gelding came in just 0.8 seconds ahead of runner-up Two Naughty, and won it’s second successive Bedgerabong Cup.

It was also its second win in consecutive weekends, after winning in Gilgandra with previous weekend. Mr Constable said the tight racing on the day made for a great spectacle for all 2500 people at the ground, and thanked them all for braving the hot weather. “The patrons braved the heat and they stayed there. It was up by a little bit on last year’s crowd which is great. We had a lot of
people in the fashions on the field as well,” he said.

Long serving committee member Bill Brown also received a life membership to the club.

Hogs for the Homeless Roll into Forbes

February 18, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

The people of Forbes turned out in great numbers on Tuesday, as the Hogs for the Homeless tour cruised through town. National Rugby League legends Brad Fittler, Nathan Hindmarsh, Steve Roach, Steve Menzies, Matt Cooper, Josh Perry and Brian Fletcher arrived in town in a convoy of Harley Davidson motorbikes.

The Hogs for the Homeless campaign was first organised by Brad Fittler in 2012, after he found out there was 50,000 people in NSW alone living on the streets. The campaign runs for two weeks and raises funds and awareness for Father Chris Riley’s “Youth off the Streets” foundation, which aims to put homeless people back in homes.

The former rugby league players were kept busy in Forbes, running a charity
sheep sale at the livestock exchange in the morning, before running a coaching clinic at Spooner Oval in the afternoon, and finally attending a fundraising dinner function at the Services Club in the evening. Each event was a huge success, with the sheep sale alone raising $11,560. With sheep buyers having the option of donating the sheep back to the sale yards, some sheep were sold multiple times, with one in particular selling a massive 56 times.

Hogs for the Homeless founder Brad Fittler, who played for the Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters, Australian Kangaroos and NSW State of Origin sides in his playing days, said the goal of the campaign was to make people aware that not everyone in NSW is fortunate enough to have a roof over their head. “There’s some real issues, and homelessness is one of them,” he said.

“Over 50,000 teenagers in the state are homeless, which is ludicrous,”
“This is about former footballers using their identities and getting out into the bush [so people in rural communities can meet them], and there’s the other side for Chris Riley and what he’s trying to accomplish.” Former Australian, NSW and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles player Josh Perry said it was great to have been able to raise so much money, in particular the result at the
sheep sale.

“It’s amazing. We keep coming out to places like this and everyone says the
country is struggling a little bit, but it seems to be thriving, and the great people out here are digging into their pockets every time we see them,” he said.
Mr Perry, who was one of the organisers for this year’s tour, said it was enlightening for him and the other NRL legends to spend time with budding junior footballers, who do not normally get the chance to meet them, in rural communities.

“That’s one of the reasons why we come out. We get to meet the kids, and we get a lot out of that too. We’re lucky to be able to do what we do and we’re doing it every year now.”

Mr Fittler said he hoped more former players would keep joining the tour in the years to come.

Snippets…

February 18, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

McCormack appointed Assistant Defence Minister – Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has said he is honoured to continue to serve in the Ministry of the new Turnbull Government unveiled last Saturday in Canberra. Mr McCormack, whose electorate will see the introduction of the Forbes Shire to it at the end of the month, has been appointed Assistant Minister for Defence. He previously served as the Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss, who last week announced his retirement from Parliament after decades of service.

Research shows you don’t have to be a nerd to benefit from The Brain – It’s backto-school-time, and amidst the challenges of new classes and making friends, beyondblue is encouraging young people and their parents to get to know its ‘The Brain’ character. New data reveals that more than half of the young Australians who saw The Brain during a beyondblue campaign last
year are more likely to talk to a friend when struggling with problems. The Brain was a pesky character in an eight month campaign last year that caused anxiety and depression in animated ads and images. The campaign encouraged teenagers to take action against such symptoms.

Seasonal workers expanding to greener pastures – Member for Calare John Cobb has announced the expansion of the Seasonal Worker Programme from primarily horticulture to the broader agricultural sector. This will see an increase in the types of low and unskilled jobs included in the programme. The expansion will also contribute to the economic development of Pacific Island nations and Timor-Leste. Mr Cobb said these changes mean more agricultural
businesses will benefit during peak periods when labour can be in short supply.

Safer Streets round two deadline extended – The Federal Government has extended the deadline for round two of the Safer Streets Programme to March 2. The programme gives local councils, neighbourhood watch groups, and local sporting groups the chance to apply for funding. Funds can be applied for to improve or install security infrastructure such as CCTV,
extra lighting, and the establishment of crime prevention projects. The deadline has been extended to ensure all eligible organisations have the chance to apply.

Family Friendly Forbes Rodeo

February 18, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

The Forbes Rodeo Committee are hard at work preparing for the Forbes Rodeo to be held at the Forbes Showground on Saturday 9th April 2016. In direct response to public feedback the program has been amended to be more family friendly with the Main Event, featuring some of the top riders in Australia, commencing at 3pm instead of the usual 6pm of the previous years.

Gates will open at 10am on the day with events to start at 11am with Junior and Timed Events such as Barrel Racing, Steer Wrestling, Café Roping, Team Roping, Breakaway Roping and Steer Un-decorating. Last year more than 300 entries were received for the day and Shaun Read, of the Forbes Rodeo Committee, is confident that they will reach this number or have increased
numbers this year.

The Main Event part of the program, including the Local Poddy Calf Ride, the
Saddle Bronc Ride, Bareback Bronc Ride and Bull Ride, will feature both Novice and Open divisions and there will be no shortage of top class competitors and entertainment for the whole family. The Forbes Rodeo is a sanctioned event with the Australian Bushmens Campdraft & Rodeo Association (ABCRA) and riders will be doing their best to earn points to improve their National standing. The ABCRA season starts at the beginning of December each year and runs through until the end of November with the cowboy and cowgirl with the most points claiming the National Title.

Not only will the top horse men and women be on display but Australian Saddle Bronc of the Year – Moves Like Jagger, Australian Bareback Bronc of the Year – Little Egypt and Australian Bucking Bull of the Year – Eye Candy will also be trying to maintain their claims to fame challenging the skills of the riders at all times.

Our Bloke – Nick Field

February 18, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

Nick Field

How long have you lived in or around Forbes?
I’ve lived here on and off for 30 years.

What do you do for work?
I’m self employed at Hazell & Field Accountants and Advisors in Forbes.

What do you do in your spare time?
I chase my 3 kids around, am involved in the triathlon and run a small farm.

What makes your day?
I love coming home at the end of a tough day to a happy and smiling family. Nothing beats that.

Where would your dream holiday be to?
A van tour of the US with the family!

Magpies Old Boys ready to support the club this season

February 18, 2016 by Maggi Barnard

The Forbes Magpies Rugby League Club, Magpies Old Boys (MOB) is all set to get behind their clubs teams this year in the Country Rugby League Group 11 competition. The MOB is a group that takes memberships from former Magpies players, their friends and family, or anyone else who is keen to support the club, and membership fees go towards the rugby league club to
support it.

The aim of the group is for people to get social at Forbes Magpies home games during the rugby league season, and from time to time the group also organizes bus trips to away fixtures as well. It will be travelling by bus to West Wyalong on February 26 for the Magpies’ first preseason hit out at the West Wyalong knock-out round robin tournament.

MOB secretary Andrew Rousell said the group was about getting supporters of the club together who were not necessarily interested in being involved with the organizational structure of the club. “It was created by some of us that go to the footy every week but really weren’t involved in the committee or didn’t want to get on it, but still wanted to help out,” he said.

“We offer the league’s club some financial assistance as well.” Rousell said while his group plays its part in helping out the rugby league club, it also
encouraged locals to get out to Magpies home games and support their local team. “It’s a social thing. It encourages people to go to the footy,” he said.

The Forbes Magpies kick off their Group 11 campaign in April.

Parkes Phoenix Editor

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