As one of the world’s greatest flat-land hang gliding locations, Forbes saw almost 80 international hang gliders converge on the town this month. Current world number one, Jonny Durand of Australia reclaimed the championship title, with Gerolf Heinrichs of Austria second
and Andre Wolf of Brazil in third place. A total of 76 pilots took part in the 11th Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding Championships from 30th December, with 69 pilots competing in the open class and seven in the sports class.

The top-class field of pilots included good international representation from 16 nations including Russia, Germany, Hungary, Japan, China, America, Italy, UK and Australia. There were two local competitors from the Central West, Len Paton of Forbes and Guy Hubbard of Cowra. Bill Moyes, an Australian hang gliding icon, told the Phoenix that Forbes and surrounds were so favourable because local weather conditions provided perfect air thermals.

Bill’s career commenced in 1967 by setting the first world altitude record by flying his glider to 1,045ft over Lake Tuggerah, NSW. Bill competed until 1974 when he retired from the competition circuit, to focus on glider design and development. He still flies recreationally. “The Championship was held over eight days, and although the first two days were too wet to fly, during the rest of the competition the conditions were excellent,” said Organiser, Vicki Cain.

Many of the pilots travelled 1,200 km during the competition, which is exceptional as that is approximately 30 hours of flying time and many pilots only average 50 hours of flying time per year. Each day of the competition the pilots had set tasks to complete. For example, on
Day 2 the task was to fly 163.1 km from Forbes airport via Toogong, to Tomingly and then to a goal near Alectown where their support vehicle picked them up to bring them back to Forbes.

By Dianne Collie

The Red Bend HSC class of 2016 has much to celebrate as they achieved the best results in the recent history of the College. The College Dux is Nicholas Rhodes with an exceptional ATAR of 99.80, and 23 students being recognised as distinguished achievers with 55 band 6s across 19 separate courses. A band 6 is equivalent to a mark above 90.

Brendan King, Nicholas Rhodes and Matthew Todd have been recognised as all rounders. They achieved Band 6s in at least 10 units. Brendan King and Jessica Zieltjies have been recognised as top achievers being placed among the highest places in the state for an individual subject with a 17th place for Modern History and 10th for Agriculture respectively. A further 58 students achieved band 5s across 26 courses. In total, the cohort received 164 band 5s, which is equivalent to a mark between 80 and 89.

Cameron Harvey’s excellent Design and Technology HSC Major work was nominated for Shape, which showcases the top individual major projects from Design and Technology, Industrial Technology and Textiles and Design. Cameron’s project comprised a set of drum-inspired outdoor furniture, including chairs and a table that incorporated a series of high quality metal, timber, textile and perspex skills. The 2016 class also had significant success with early entry offers to university. Nicholas Rhodes not only received early entry to the University of Sydney but is also the recipient of a Dean’s Entry Scholarship to the Faculty of Science.

Bailey Crocker has received early entry to the Australian National University to study a double degree in Engineering/Advanced Mathematics, and he received the university’s Spirit of Excellence Award for credit towards leadership, sport and other notable achievements. Early Entry applications to the University of Wollongong and others range from Engineering to International Studies.
Charles Sturt University offered 23 students early entry into 34 courses. The courses range from a Bachelor of Communication (Advertising), Bachelor of Business (Marketing), to a Bachelor of Speech and Language Pathology. Some courses such as teaching are pending and will be based on the student’s ATARs. This is a result of the initiative to increase the entry results of teaching to elevate the expectations of this professional area.

Red Bend Catholic College is proud and ecstatic with the strong academic performance across all levels of achievement for the HSC class of 2016. “The students’ results are a reflection of their conscientious attitude and enthusiastic approach. It is also a reward for intense effort and study. They have worked well with their teachers by engaging with the curriculum and responding to ongoing feedback. “Congratulations and best wishes for the future to this graduation class. We are confident that they will prove to be good christians and good citizens, the goal of Marist Education.”

The Forbes High School HSC class of 2016 is able to celebrate another successful year with many students achieving great results. For many, reaching this major milestone in their lives by attaining their HSC, provides a feeling of great satisfaction and joy. The Forbes High School community is extremely proud of the achievements their Year 12 students have demonstrated in their HSC.

Principal of Forbes High School, Charles Dwyer said: “All students should be proud of their efforts. It is particularly pleasing to see our students attain their HSC and complete their secondary schooling so successfully.” Individual success has been achieved by students at Forbes High School in a variety of subjects, which is extremely pleasing for staff to see. Students worked extremely hard throughout their senior schooling years to complete their HSC and today students at Forbes High School can be proud of their achievement.

There are also a number of students who will further their studies next year at university. “We have had a number of students who have gained early entry into universities, which is extremely pleasing to see,” said the principal. “Our students have worked hard throughout the year and it’s fantastic to see them being rewarded. I would like to thank the staff at Forbes High School who have been instrumental in supporting our students throughout their HSC journey and help them achieve these wonderful results.” The Forbes High School community wishes all Year 12 students the very best in their future endeavors.

Editor’s note: The HSC results could unfortunately not be published today due to a delay in the release of the results that did not make our cut off time for printing. The full results will be published in next week’s issue on 23rd December.

The Grinch could never have stolen the Christmas cheer from the Christmas Tree Festival and Carols by Candlelight last weekend. Hundreds of people flocked to the Town Hall to see the 90 Christmas trees and nativity scenes made by Forbes families, businesses, and school, church and community groups on display, while more than 800 people enjoyed a beautiful evening of carol singing and entertainment in Victoria Park on Sunday night.

According to Sue-Anne Nixon, President of the Forbes Rotary Ipomea who organised the Christmas Tree Festival, a lot of thought and planning had gone into the entries, which impressed the youngest to the most mature visitors. “Our Rotary Club holds this festival to give children a Christmas experience,” said Sue-Anne and “the joyful chatter of school children who visited on Friday afternoon to see the trees they made was worth a million dollars”.

There were some clever play on words with entries called ‘PoeTree’, ‘Pan-Tree’ (Pantry) and no one could miss the DentisTree with lolly teeth hung with dental floss. There was a nativity scene made with tractors complete with the ‘angel on high’. The Bruen family tree was a standout made with recycled products including chicken wire, baling twine and decorated with kookaburra feathers. Ben Crowley from Forbes Public School explained his class made their tree ornaments by decorating plastic cups then melting them. Susie and Amelia Kerr from the Forbes Playgroup painted homemade salt dough cookies, whilst Jemalong Village residents commenced work in May to ensure their tree was decorated in style.

The weekend’s Christmas cheer took on a tone of peace and joy at the annual Carols by Candlelight event, which saw a marked increase in people from last year. “It was a really good evening with a good crowd,” said Robyn Kenny.
Mayor Graeme Miller welcomed everyone, while Santa’s lap was never empty as kids could not wait to meet him with their best smiles on display. The evening saw a good line-up of entertainment with the crowd taking part in carol singing with the Forbes Town Band and Generosity Church Band. James Whalan’s Cantata Choir performed, as well as Leonie Burton and Maddi Collits among others. Judy Prior, dressed as an Elf, lead the events as compere for the night. The inflatable big screen once again proved to be useful for displaying carol words, and a slide show. The Forbes Lions Club ensured no one went hungry or thirsty.

By the end of the weekend many of us would agree with the Grinch: “Maybe, Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe, Christmas perhaps is a little bit more.” If you didn’t get a chance to see the Christmas Tree Festival or attend the Carols, make sure to put it on your bucket list for December next year.

By Dianne Collie

The Forbes family business of H E Silos was named the 2016 Business of the Year by the state’s peak business organisation, the NSW Business Chamber. There were more than 150 finalists competing for the top award. CEO Steven Morrison was also called up as winner of the Excellence in Innovation category at a black tie gala dinner attended by more than 1,000 guests in Sydney at the end of last week.

“It is just amazing, we are still in shock,” said Steven and his daughter Stevie Morrison earlier this week. They were still on a high after attending a function of the CEO Club at the Sydney Opera House on Monday night. “I have never had such an experience to meet so many CEO’s who allhave a passion for running an excellent business,” said Stevie.

H E Silos has been getting a lot of media exposure, “which is great for Forbes after all the negative media after the floods”, said Stevie. But she felt the biggest compliment came from the judge Joe Spencer. “She said our entry was very well presented. After reading it she completely understood the product and felt she was part of the business.”

The prestigious award recognises overall business excellence in the areas of growth, innovation, export, sustainability, employment practices and ethics. NSW Business Chamber Chief Executive Officer Stephen Cartwright said he was delighted a regionally based business received the top accolade. “Regional NSW is home to so many wonderful businesses with incredible stories and it was fitting that, as we celebrated the 190th anniversary of the NSW Business Chamber, H E Silos was announced as the winner,” the CEO said.

Steven’s parents commenced operations in 1969 as Hillston Engineering, located in Hillston NSW. It was originally an engineering company, but evolved into the agricultural industry and in 1972 started the construction of grain silos. In 1984 the company moved to Forbes. Today they are not only passionate about grain storage, but to ensure food security in Australia and the world. They have developed the Thermal Insect Control System (TICS) to address an efficient and effective way of grain storage by fumigating silos from the ground level. This innovative approach reduces safety risks as well as losses due to insect infestation, contamination and degradation.

According to Steven, Australia is the world leader in grain storage techniques. “There is a lot we can show the world to ensure food security for the future.” H E Silos mainly focus their business on the east coast of Australia, but have been dealing with international clients in New Zealand, Fiji, Japan and New Caledonia. “There is plenty more to come,” said Steven looking to the future. They dedicated their success to the team of 43 full time employees.

“This award is a result of the hard work, dedication, commitment and loyalty of our team.”

By Maggi Barnard

The four large format supermarkets of the Bernardi Group will exit the IGA brand and transition to the new Bernardi’s Live Well For Less brand over the next six months. Joseph Bernardi, CEO of Bernardi’s Supermarket said the move would enable the business to deliver increased promotions on a wider range of goods. “Customers can still expect to find all the products they know and love,” said Joseph. “The change will also generate more exciting specials, particularly across the fresh produce, meat, deli and bakery departments.”

The group will expand their footprint of fresh food in each store to offer customers the same variety on offer in major metropolitan centres. The company’s Pick Local campaign aims to support local producers. All supermarkets stock bread from Earlyrise Baking Company in Dubbo, dips and sauces form Orange’s Fresh Fodder, milk from Little Big
Dairy in Dubbo, as well as four from Manildra, to name a few.

The newly rebranded Forbes store was launched on Saturday. “When you spend locally, those funds are directly channeled back into the community. This cycle supports jobs in the community, helps the environment and ensures the long-term survival of our town,” said Joseph. The store was packed with people to take advantage of the specials and prizes, wine tasting and other activities. Bernardi’s in Forbes and Blayney have been rebranded, while the transition in West Wyalong and Bathurst will take place early in the new year.

John Davis Motors won the grand prize at the red carpet event of the year for the Forbes business community last Friday night. More than 230 people attended the Forbes Boscars at the Forbes Inn. With Carrie Olson, the event co-ordinator in charge, the James Bond theme saw finalists, friends and colleagues all dressing up for the occasion.

The Business of the Year winner was selected from the winners of all the categories and is awarded to the most outstanding business, which has demonstrated excellence across all areas of operation. John Davis, Dealer Principal of the John Davis Group thanked everybody for their support in establishing the business in Forbes. “Everyone was very sceptical when we first said that we were moving to Forbes, and Mazda in particular wanted us to just remain in Orange. Now with a state of the art showroom, and some great staff in place, I am very proud of our team and showroom and the fact that we generate 30% of our revenue from this dealership. It is fantastic and proves that it was the right decision to move here many years ago,” said John.

The glamorous evening was hosted by Chris Baker, while Adam Enslow provided light entertainment throughout the
program. President of the Chamber of Commerce, Chris Roylance, welcomed everybody. Guest speaker, John Walkom, identified some facts and figures on the state of the economy in his speech.

Another 11 award winners were called to the stage during the course of the evening. See a full list of award winners on page 7.

By Cheryl Newsom

The fourth Somewhere down the Lachlan Sculpture competition received 23 entries with the $20,000 acquisition prize going to The Hunter by Damian Vick, and the $4,000 open prize won by by Brett Garling for The Mark Maker.
“What you have achieved here is quite fantastic,” said Clive Calder, the guest judge from Sydney at the announcement of the winners. “I commend you for your efforts. There are not many towns with a space like this.”

Clive said the composition of the bronze sculpture The Mark Maker was fantastic. “I like the way he sculpted the hands.” In the acquisition category three pieces stood out for Clive: The Hunter, A Farmers Draught and Balance. The Hunter will become the property of the Forbes Arts Society and will remain in Albion Park until the sculptures will be moved out around Lake Forbes and eventually all the way to Condobolin.

Damian told The Forbes Phoenix from Melbourne he was surprised and honoured to have won. “While it is a thrill to
be recognised at a competition of this calibre, the award is particularly significant because I feel The Hunter represents a key milestone in my career. I have been making sculptures for almost 10 years and this work is possibly the first sculpture that accurately displays the kind of dynamism and energy I have long sought to achieve. “I am truly grateful to the organisers and the people of Forbes, who have under trying circumstances made this event happen.

I am truly honoured that a work of mine will become part of your community.” Wayne Richards, President of the Forbes Services Memorial Club who established the annual competition, said entries came from all over Australia, even as far as Broome. Brett is from Wongarbon near Dubbo, while John Den, who sculpted Lachland Tower, is from Eugowra.

President of the Forbes Arts Society, Keith Mullete, said the Somewhere down the Lachlan trail had become a substantial project with the recent funding announcement for the first part of the trail to expand the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre. With the Lachlan Council’s input the Utes in the Paddock will be moved to the end of the Lachland Valley at the end of the trail. “I hope the community gets behind the project and that you love it,” said Keith.

Ten sculptures are on exhibition in Albion Park, while a further 13 sculptures are on display in shop windows until the end of October.