Parkes Phoenix Editor

Mayor Phyllis Miller and Forbes Shire Council councillors hosted afternoon tea at the November Council meeting to personally thank the women who were this year named as Hidden Treasures for their contributions to the community.

This year 106 women were recognised with 7 of those women residing in Forbes. Heather Mann, Julie Herridge, Maree Yapp, Narelle Shaw, Nikki Patten, Peg Clifton and Sue Uphill are all worthy of these accolades and have already received official certificates and a limited edition booklet from local member Andrew Gee.

The 2015 Hidden Treasures were announced on the 10th October this year by the NSW Department of Primary Industries Rural Women’s network. Since it was first launched in 2010, 700 rural women have been named on the honour roll. The Hidden Treasures is not an award but an opportunity to pay tribute to the rural women who donate their time and energy to help others. It is important to celebrate and recognise the valuable volunteer work
women do in NSW rural, regional and remote communities.

Nominating rural women is a great way to celebrate those ladies who give so much of their time to improve communities and neighbourhoods. You can nominate a friend, family member, colleague, community worker – any rural woman who you believe makes your community a better place to live.

To nominate a Hidden Treasures volunteer you simply need to complete the nomination form with a short story about why your nominee is worthy. All women nominated will be included in the Honour Roll. Nominations for the 2016 Honour Roll will open 9 May.

Lions Youth of the Year is designed to encourage, foster and develop leadership in conjunction with other citizenship qualities in our youth, at the age when they are about to enter the fields of employment or higher education. It provides students with the incentive to pay greater attention to the general qualities, so vital in developing our
youths into first class citizens. The qualities sought, apart from academic attainment are those of leadership, personality, sportsmanship, public speaking and good citizenship.

Six students applied for the awards for their chance to be the overall Lions Youth of the Year or the Public Speaking Award, scrutinised by a panel of distinguished judges including Amy Shine (Forbes PreSchool Director), Mrs Helen Pitt(retired teacher) and Ken Walton(National Bank representative). Students firstly, had to submit an application,
similar to what they would if applying for a job or university, which was assessed by the judges. Successful applicants were then interviewed by the judging panel and given a score for both the written application and interview which made up 80% of their overall total.

Participants were given the opportunity to prepare a 5 minute speech to be presented at the awards presentation on a topic of their choice and the final element of the awards was two impromptu questions which they were allocated 2 minutes to answer. Forbes High School, Parkes High School and Red Bend Catholic College each had two students representing and all contestants performed exceptionally well. Students were supported by family, friends and their teachers who were all very proud of their efforts. The competition was extremely tight and a delighted Kelly Yoon
from Parkes High School was announced the winner of both the Public Speaking and Overall Youth of the Year Award at the conclusion of the judging.

Forbes’ Carols By Candlelight will be quite different to previous years, with a change in the format of how the carols will be presented to make the public more involved. An MC will announce carol items from the beginning of the night at 7pm. Forbes Shire Council will provide bunting to divide Victoria Park into sections. This will allow families to sit together in front of the Rotunda and stage using their own fold-up chairs and picnic rugs. The inflatable
movie screen will also be there so the crowd can sing along to the lyrics.

Carols start at 7pm and the park lights up with glow candles at 8pm, with carolling continuing until 9pm. Santa, accompanied by his elves, will be seated in a special Santa nook where people can bring their own camera for a photo
and the Lions Club will provide a BBQ. Carols By Candlelight is a community event organised by the Forbes Town and District Band, and is supported by a number of community groups as well as Forbes Shire Council.

Come along to Victoria Park from 7pm on Sunday 6 December and enjoy the new format with a festive feel.