PAINT IT RED: Forbes businesses and people alike came together last week for Ronald McDonald House at the Forbes Bowling Club.

The communities of Forbes and Parkes have come out with overwhelming support for Wear Red Day to support Ronald Mc-Donald House Charities in Orange.

Last Thursday, schools, businesses and individuals donned their red clothing and donated in the knowledge all the funds raised will remain in Orange to directly support families from the area.

Since Ronald McDonald House Charities Orange opened almost five years ago, 241 families from Parkes (159 families), Forbes (80 families), and Bedgerabong (2), have stayed free of charge for a total of 1,510 nights.

“On behalf of everyone associated with RMHC Orange I would like to say thank you so much for the fantastic response to Wear Red Day 2021,” said RMHC Orange executive officer Rebecca Walsh.

“With all funds raised remaining in Orange to help us continue to support families from the central and far west, it is a classic case of country people helping each other out during stressful times in their lives,” said Rebecca.

Both Forbes and Parkes council employees supported the day by wearing red to work.

“Representatives from the Orange house including myself were thrilled to be part of the fundraiser held in Forbes last Thursday where Melissa Smith who attended with her husband Anthony and beautiful baby boy George, had the opportunity to tell every-one about her family’s experience staying at the house in Orange,” Ms Walsh said.

Mayor of Forbes, Cr Phyllis Miller, spoke of the importance of supporting RMHC Orange.

“By being able to stay in Orange instead of having to travel to Sydney it is less stressful for families and involves less travel – it is important we do our bit to support the Orange house,” she told the crowd.

RMHC Orange provide accommodation at no cost for as long as is required, emergency meals, complimentary breakfasts, pantry items for self-catering and complimentary toiletries are provided for families staying at the Orange house.

GRATEFUL: Melissa and Anthony Smith of Forbes with their baby boy George who stayed at Ronald McDonald House Orange for the three weeks leading up to the birth. She was in Orange as it was a high risk pregnancy.

Mens Shed Flag Ceremony: Shooters Party NSW MP Phil Donato, Governor Margaret Beazley and Forbes Men’s Shed President Norm Haley.

It may have been a whirlwind visit and the first to the region since COVID struck, but NSW Governor, Her Excellency, Margaret Beazley AC QC more than made up for it with numerous stopovers on her tour.

“Dennis and I are pleased to be back on the road and delighted to be in the Central West,” the Governor said.

“This is our first multi-day regional visit after a long pause because of COVID and we were interested to hear how the past months have impacted on the diverse economy of the region and the day to day lives of local people.”

In Forbes, the Governor and Mr Wilson met with members of the Men’s Shed to discuss the latest developments after successful grants applications enabled the group to expand. This was followed by an intimate and enjoyable Community Lunch in Wheogo Park put on by Isabel’s Place, a visit to the Platypus Gallery, and tour of the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre in what was a real highlight of the day. The Aussie Biscuit Factory rounded off the day for the Governor with a behind the scenes look at the organisation.

The Governor was accompanied by partner Dennis Wilson and Shooters Party State MP Phil Donato also attended. Governor Beazley also met other key community stakeholders as well as recipients from the recent Australia Day awards ceremony.

Mr. Wilson spoke fondly of the Central West having spent time during his youth in Dubbo, often playing sport against teams from Forbes.

“I have been fortunate enough to spend a good portion of my life in the Central West and I am always extremely impressed by the people and the hospitality every time I come here,” he said.

“Forbes is a wonderful, progressive and beautiful town and you should all be extremely proud,” said Mr. Wilson, echoing the words of Her Excellency.

“People out here are resilient, resourceful and incredible. Living in rural Australia isn’t easy but places like Forbes despite their remote location, are thriving and are a great advertisement for country living,” he said.

The Vice-Regal couple also visited Parkes and Condobolin during their quick tour chatting with local businesses, schools and finishing off with a day out at the Condobolin Picnic Races on Saturday, 20 February before returning to Government House in Sydney to resume normal duties on behalf of the state.

“We have had a tremendous time with fond memories and we can’t wait to return,” Her Excellency said.

Heather Mackinnon, Andy Allen, Mark Labrooy, Robyn Miller and Karen Wright with crew member and producer filming.

In early November 2020, Forbes CWA Evening Branch members received an unexpected invitation to be involved in the filming of a new cooking and lifestyle program.

The invitation asked for members to provide samples of family favourite lamb dishes and their well-used recipe books which contained go-to recipes. CWA branches were targeted because of their traditional reputations as being good cooks. Intrigued by this, and always looking for opportunities to be involved in community events, four Forbes members, Karen Wright, Heather Mackinnon, Robyn Miller and Sue Cunningham joined a small group of CWA members from Parkes and Forbes Day Branches at Trundle.

Andy Allen, youngest Masterchef winner and Junior Masterchef judge, Mark Labrooy, Masterchef guest judge and international chef, and Darren Robertson from Masterchef, Iron Chef and My Kitchen Rules hosted the ladies’. All three Chefs and owners of the Three Blue Ducks restaurants located in Sydney, Byron Bay and Brisbane, were looking for authentic, good old fashioned, ‘rustic’ country cooking to taste and possibly incorporate the recipes into their menus at these venues. “We want to maintain our commitment to supporting small farmers and producers,” said Darren. “It’s really about working with what’s available, minimising waste and sourcing produce that’s as organic as possible.”

There was a variety of different lamb dishes brought along by CWA members including a sweet lamb curry, a jumbuck stew, and a lamb hotpot, all cooked by Forbes members, which impressed the celebrity chefs.

Filming was very fluid with the cameras shooting most of the time while the group discussed a variety of topics, taste-tested the dishes and perused the old and much-loved cookbooks. The film crew and sound man roved around the ladies’ filming with the mic just above their heads. However, it didn’t take long for the ladies to relax and forget about the cameras and crew as it was interesting for them to look at the historic cookbooks while chatting about how country cooks cook.

Taste testing of the lamb dishes.

Apart from taste testing, the filming for this episode included an open and frank discussion surrounding the issues important to rural, regional and remote communities, what the CWA is all about and its role in the community, and how local branches have changed and adapted to support women, families and the community in an ever-changing world.

The three chefs spent time delving into some very old and much-loved recipe books brought along by members. The focus was on the waste reduction approach that farmers have historically taken when providing food for their families. “Reducing waste and sustainability is very important to us,” commented Mark.

“We are visiting places where we source our foods that we cook and serve,” stated Andy. “We wanted to find out about the local areas and the communities from where the food originates and from the Trundle area where we source much of the lamb we serve.” Different episodes will focus on where they source their seafood, beef, and other produce.

What was intended to be ninety minutes of filming turned into several hours. “It was all good fun and something different,” stated Robyn Miller, President of Forbes CWA Evening Branch.

The first episode of the program, Three Blue Ducks, will be aired on Channel 10 on Saturday night, 13 February at 7.00pm. The second episode will be aired on Network 10 on Saturday, 20th February at 7.00 pm.

This episode takes the three chefs to western NSW and a Trundle family property to explore the use of lamb in their cooking. Forbes and Parkes CWA branches were involved in the filming of this episode of the 6 part series.

If you missed the first episode you can view it, as well as all the upcoming episodes on 10 Play.

Dancers from Kristen’s Dance Studio will perform a traditional Chinese Dance at Grazing Down the Lachlan.

Create NSW and Arts OutWest have announced the eight successful local projects in the 2021 round of the Country Arts Support Program (CASP).

Eight groups across the Central West will share $23,812 in funding for small arts pro-jects, with two Forbes groups amongst the recipients.

The Forbes funding will go towards a Schools Eco Day and workshop for students in Parkes and Forbes Shires, and a traditional Chinese dance to be learned and performed at Grazing Down the Lachlan by Kristen’s Dance Studio.

CASP is a long-running small grants program of the NSW Government. It is a key regional arts funding program for NSW which provides support to employ artists in locally initiated arts and cultural projects. The aim is to provide access to arts activities for regional communities, to encourage communities to work together on cultural projects, to foster cultural diversity in the region and to ensure that regional and rural areas have an artistic voice.

“These eight projects offer exciting opportunities to communities, arts makers and audiences in the region. They also provide employment opportunities to local artists and arts workers,” Arts OutWest Executive Director Tracey Callinan said.

These funded projects will employ around 20 professional arts practitioners and utilise hundreds of volunteer hours. Much of the funds will be spent locally and the projects will also make use of in-kind goods and services from local councils, businesses, and community groups.

Amy Shine, Director of Forbes Preschool, and Councillor Steve Karaitiana, who were each instrumental in implementing vital social infrastructure in North Forbes.

The new Goldridge Estate is set to help manage the growing population in Forbes. However, the estate will have no social housing properties included in it despite there being a major need for it. Forbes Shire Councillor Steve Karaitiana is pushing for more social housing in Forbes however, has so far come up against resistance within Council. Steve has been trying to include social housing development on Goldridge Estate, amongst the nearly 400 new houses that will be built, suggesting pepper-potting, an urban housing strategy where social housing is sprinkled amongst different residential areas across town. However, the land was given to Council under the proviso that there will be no social housing build on the land, which was donated to Forbes Shire Council by the Forbes Jemalong Aged People’s Association (FJAPA) after the group disbanded in 2019.

“We disbanded. All the money that was from the sale of the old village, we bought that paddock initially to put up the new retirement village with, which is there now. Independent living units was another bit of land that we gave to Catholic Healthcare, and the land that was left we decided, because it was community money that bought the land, what better community organization is there than Forbes Shire Council,” said Alister Lockhart, former Chairman of the Forbes Jemalong Aged People’s Association. It was included by the FJAPA as the association felt the inclusion of social housing would affect the sale value of the land. “It’s quite a big area, and it was thought that it would be quite a long time before residential could get established. And it was thought there might be some social housing that might pull in there with caravans. And that’s what the thinking was, and it was to stop that from happening because it would make the rest not sell well if there were caravans,” stated Alistair.

According to the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), as of June 2020 Forbes had 206 social housing dwellings, down from 213 in 2015. The latest statistics available on waiting times from the DCJ website indicate that as of 30 June 2019, there were 20 applicants waiting for social housing within Forbes, with less than five of those on the priority list. Expected waiting times for social housing within Forbes at that time ranged between up to two years, and five years. As of July 2020, CatholicCare Wilcannia-Forbes were dealing with approximately 45 cases of homelessness in Forbes, and throughout the year had helped 120 people at risk of living with homelessness. Specialist Homelessness Service Team Leader for CatholicCare Wilcannia-Forbes, Andrew Bament, said homelessness is a serious ongoing issue in Forbes and believes there is a need for additional social housing. Full article available online https://katherineeverest.com/2021/01/27/councillor-pushing-for-more-social-housing-in-forbes/