The Ronald McDonald House in Orange has proved to be an important place for families in Forbes since it’s opening last year. Ronald McDonald House is a charitable foundation that accommodates the families of seriously ill children when they are forced to leave home and stay in hospital for medical purposes.

The House covers all serious illnesses as well as serious injuries, high-risk pregnancies, and mental illnesses. And since the House opened on April 13 last year, 10 families from Forbes have already used the facility.

One young boy from Forbes stayed there overnight last year after suffering a major injury during a game of football, after being transported to Orange Base Hospital. Other Forbes locals have used the House for pediatric and high-risk pregnancy purposes as well.

Ronald McDonald House has partnered with the Men of League Foundation, and will host a fundraising dinner at the Orange Ex-Services Club on April 9.
Central Western NSW local and dual rugby code international James Grant will be the master of ceremonies, and will be joined by fellow dual international Mike Cleary, as well as rugby league greats Bob
McCarthy, Stuart Raper and John Peard. RMH Orange Executive Officer Rebecca Walsh said that functions are the biggest fundraisers for RMH, and the dinner would be crucial.

“Functions are our biggest fundraiser by a long shot. We have a ball each year and last year we raised $105,000 from it,” she said. “There is a great synergy between the Ronald McDonald House Charity and the Men of League Foundation, particularly here in the Central West, as it is a great rugby league territory.”

RMH Orange has the biggest coverage area of any RMH in the NSW/ACT region, covering a whopping 86% of the state, all the way from Broken Hill across to Orange. The House has already accommodated 77 families from across the state. It has eight units that sleep six people in each, and the cost to run these is about $138 per night.

Ms Walsh said RMH will never expect families to fully cover these expenses,
which is why it fundraises and hires volunteers, but a $43 charge per night can be claimed back through a Federal Government scheme for those who have travelled 100km or more.

A stay for three nights or more will be bulk-billed in full straight back to the Federal Government. Tables of 16 will be set up for the dinner, with a three-course meal provided for $25 per head, along with raffles, auctions, lucky
draws, and other entertainment.

Soaring temperatures over the weekend did not deter our volunteer firefighters from competing to the best of their ability in the 2016 Region South 2 Fire & Rescue NSW Firefighter Championships held in Forbes on the weekend.

Twenty five teams from around the state competed in eleven events during the two day competition with Kelso the eventual winners followed by Nowra and then Bega in third position. The Forbes Brigade entered two teams in the event and finished 8th and 11th which was a fantastic effort.

Each event simulates a real life emergency situation and fire fighters race against the clock to secure the fastest time. Penalties are incurred for infringements of the rules or protocols with all teams taking the competition very seriously. Visiting officials were very impressed with the venue
provided by Forbes and team entries for the weekend were one of the highest for this level of competition.

Forbes Mayor, Phyllis Miller welcomed everyone to Forbes and expressed gratitude for the incredible job our fire fighters do everyday. She reflected on her own personal experience and could not fault the local Forbes Brigade when her home was burnt several years before. FRNSW Chaplin Lyndsay Smith gave the blessing and the Fire & Rescue NSW Commissioner – Greg Mullins AFSM declared the championship officially open.

President FRNSW FCA – Captain Greg Fredericks remembered the last time the event was hosted in Forbes and stated how the Forbes Brigade responded to a house fire during the event.

The Saturday evening function held at the Sport & Recreation Club was a huge
success with approximately 200 attending and organisers of the weekend were
extremely pleased with the weekend overall. Future 2016 Championships are to be held at Grafton in May, Tamworth in August and the State Championships at Wyong in October. The Forbes team are hoping to attend Tamworth and Wyong and improve their position on the ladder.

By Anita Morrison

Forbes teenager Sam Mackay tends to get himself involved in the community a little more often than most other people his age. Besides trying his hand at most sports in town, including rugby league, cricket, and tennis, the 14-year old also involves himself heavily in the livestock industry.

And on April 10, he will be hosting the Forbes Poultry Auction at the Forbes
Showground. While it will not be the first time the teenager will host his own auction, it will be the first time he sells other poultries besides just chickens.

He will also be selling ducks and turkeys on April 10, but the auction will also be the first time a new computer system will be used to assist with the sales.
A Microsoft Excel-like program, it has been developed by his aunty, Trisha Milford, and her husband, and can process sales and store information. Before now, everything was done the old-fashioned way on paper, Mr Mackay said.

He said he loves being able to host poultry auctions, taking some genes from his father Tim Mackay, who works for Forbes Livestock, and said his passion helps him to be so organised for someone as young as him.

“It’s something I’ve always been interested in- the sales and everything,” he said. “I help my dad out with his work during the school holidays, and I seem to really like that.”

“I can’t even remember how it all started to be honest. I think I just had a real build up of chooks one time. I have my own chooks and I couldn’t get rid of them.” “I thought to myself ‘I wish there was a sale around’, and then thought that I would just run one.”

During the April 10 auction Mr Mackay will organize all of the chickens, including recording their pen details, and individual chicken details, while his father Tim does the auctioneering. Sam Mackay has organised four auctions
in the last 12 months, but said from now on he’ll likely limit himself to one per
year.

“It’s something I really enjoy doing,” he said. “I would love to follow my dad’s footsteps and make a career out of it. Probably not with chooks though, but with cattle of sheep.”

“Unfortunately I can’t hold my own cattle and sheep auctions as they already have them going at the moment, but I go to them every Sunday to help prepare for the cattle sale.” “Whenever I can get a Tuesday off I go down to the sheep sales as well.”

Forbes filmmaker Dane Millerd has realised his dream of making the big time in film, with his film about Australia’s worst female criminal to enter Hollywood.

In 2001 Katherine Knight became the first female in Australian history to be locked up “never to be released”. Her crime involved stabbing her partner at the time, John Price, 37 times in a horrific murder.

Ms Knight then beheaded her victim, skinned his body and cooked it. She had planned to serve him up to her own children with vegetables and gravy, before she became comatose from an overdose of pills she had taken. Police arrived on the scene before her meal could be served. She is serving her
sentence at Sydney’s Silverwater Women’s Correctional Facility, and had an
appeal for parole turned down in court a number of years after her sentencing.

Mr Millerd managed to obtain the rights to a book about Katherine Knight’s shocking crime last year, and wrote a script for the film. US-based film company ‘Shoreline Entertainment’ picked up the script, and it was fast to contact Mr Millerd to express interest in making his film. He will take the reigns of producer of the film while Shoreline Entertainment set most of its direction. The film will be titled “Speckled Hen”, which was the nickname of Knight, and Mr Millerd expects filming to start next year. “Katherine Knight is going to be at least a $3 million film,” he told The Forbes Phoenix.

“I’d like to get bigger players involved [than other movies he has worked on], without sounding selfish, but I want to get people involved who have more runs on the board. They’ll attract a better vibe, bigger stars, and more funding to the project.” Mr Millerd’s background comes from newspaper journalism and music video filming, and he has already made a film, which he considers ‘B’ grade, called ‘Something in the Piliga’- a horror set in Australia.

Despite his interest in horror-themed movies, and the grotesque nature of the Katherine Knight story, he said ‘Speckled Hen’ would be a drama, and not a horror. “It’s certainly a very controversial topic. I’ve had both sides of the divide expressing their opinions, but at the end of the day… there’s been films on 9/11, [Ivan] Milat, and you want to engage with the entertainment.

This film will do its job tenfold,” he said. Mr Millerd will also work on another film, to be set in Forbes, called ‘Are You Scared Yet?’, which he has also got funding of $250,000 from US-based filmmakers Dark Water Productions. This will be filmed later this year.

He will travel to the USA this year to plan the filming of ‘Speckled Hen’, while some proceeds from the final product will be donated to domestic violence charities.

Forbes St John Anglican Church Parish Priest Geoffrey McAuliffe was inducted as the National Chaplain-elect in a ceremony at the church last Sunday.

He will officially become the next National Chaplain, under the board of the ‘Order of St Luke’, next year, after spending 12 months under the wing of the current National Chaplain. The board elects a new person to take this position every three years, but with no nominees immediately forthcoming in 2014, Mr McAuliffe decided to nominate himself last year, and was officially inducted as the elect to the position at the weekend.

Bishop of Bathurst Ian Palmer and Reverend Trevor Buttler made the trip to Forbes to induct Mr McAuliffe. He was persuaded to come out of retirement two years ago to take up the Parish Priest role at St Johns. Despite this he said his past experiences working as a chaplain in ‘chapters’ of seven
people meant he was capable of doing the job.

“I’ve worked in the formation of four different chapters over the years [since 1982], sometimes as the prime mover, and other times responding to the encouragement of others,” he said. “I’ve been a convenor (chairperson of a
chapter) a couple of times too.” “The ceremony was the culmination of a big month at St Johns. We had the Festival of Praise, followed by a mission with Defence Force Bishop Ian Lambert, so we’ve had three big weeks.”

In his new role, Mr McAuliffe will lead the ‘healing ministry’, which in Christianity is a spiritual practice of physical, mental, or emotional healing.
“As National Chaplain-elect, I’m under the direction of the National Chaplain, so what I would do is if there is something that requires his presence and he can’t be there, I would go,” he said. “When I become National Chaplain, one
thing I would like to do is try to find a way of interesting more people, and younger people, to be involved in the Order of St Luke…most of the Order at the moment is old, even older than me,” he joked.

While his new role will see him travel to other towns and cities in Australia from time to time, he will remain the Parish Priest at St Johns for the time being. He said he was extremely proud to be inducted as a Forbes local, with people coming to town from all corners of the country to witness the occasion.

While he has come out of retirement, he added he looked forward to what the future holds for him, despite his second retirement being at least another three years away as he works through his term as National Chaplain.

 

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.

The Forbes Medical Centre has welcomed three new registrars to the practice. Dr Maria Rasool, Dr Chen-Yi Lo and Dr Farrah Yasmin are now seeing patients and have joined the team as a part of their two year placement in completing their GP specialist training and bring with them other specialists training including Obstetrics, Women’s and Children’s Health.

The registrars are all fully qualified doctors who have completed six years of medical school and a couple of years as interns in the hospital system. Forbes Medical Centre Principal Dr Neale Somes said this is an excellent opportunity
for the trainee GP’s and said the Forbes Medical Centre has developed its reputation as a centre of excellence for teaching. “Medical Students and Registrars are keen to come to our practice because they know they will receive a well-rounded training experience,” Dr Somes said. “Each registrar is assigned to a senior Doctor as a supervisor and we provide both formal and informal teaching opportunities.”

The Forbes Medical Centre is located across the road from the Forbes Hospital giving registrars the opportunity to offer a better continuity of care by being able to follow through with their patients from diagnosis to treatment and follow up, something registrar’s do not experience working in larger metropolitan centres. “Our registrars will gain experience in General Practice including seeing patients in the clinic, working in the emergency department at the hospital, and doing surgical procedures, “ Dr Somes said.

Dr Maria Rasool studied medicine in Pakistan before moving to Australia and has worked in Sydney hospitals. She has also done her diploma in children’s health as well as certificate in Emergency medicine and is currently completing her certificate in women’s health.

“I look forward to developing a healthy relationship with the community of Forbes as I have moved here with my husband and three young children and I’ve already spotted a few attractions for myself to do socially along with activities for the children,” Dr Rasool said.

Dr Chen-Yi Lo is training to be a GP Obstetrician and will be available to see local pregnant women who can book appointments with her. She has worked and lived in Singapore, Melbourne and Adelaide. “I have experience in many aspects of medicine and will be stepping up from being a hospital medical officer to a GP Registrar.” Dr Lo said.

Dr Farrah Yasmin is also training to be a GP obstetrician and most recently worked in Wagga before moving to Forbes. She will work closely with Dr Hemant and Dr Whittaker to further develop her training in General Practice and Obstetrics.

Isaac Wren, a Year 12 Forbes High School Graduate, will have his HSC video game project included in InTech 2016 and displayed at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. InTech 2016 is the annual exhibition of outstanding Major Design Projects developed by 2015 HSC Industrial Technology students from Friday 24 June to Sunday 26 June 2016 from 10.00am – 4.00pm daily. In 2015, over 2500 students and their teachers from across NSW visited the InTech exhibition in Sydney.

In addition to the normal InTech Exhibition in 2016, there will be a combined display of HSC Technology projects at the Powerhouse Museum. A limited number of projects from industrial Technology, Textiles & Design as well as Design & Technology will be on display from Friday 26 February 2016 to Sunday 8 May 2016 at the Powerhouse
Museum.

Mr Wren’s Year 12 Major Works, a seven level game with coloured cubes to be picked up and placed on corresponding colours, was chosen for display, in a triumph for the teaching staff involved with the classes. He said it felt great to have his work on display at one of Australia’s most recognisable museums.

“It’s pretty cool. I wasn’t really expecting it. I didn’t even know there were exhibitions for projects year 12 students had made,” he said. His area of expertise will be furthered when he starts a three year software engineering degree at the University of Canberra in August.

It’s fair to say that long time Forbes resident Paddy Molly has been around the traps and put in the hard yards for the community. From riding and training horses and competing in rodeos in his younger years, to working as a butcher and at the Forbes Abattoirs, to building Forbes’ first rodeo bucking chutes and helping establish the first Forbes rodeo, Mr Molloy is certainly worthy of honour.

And on Tuesday evening at the Forbes Australia Day Festival at Colin McKenzie Park, he received the honour of being named the Forbes Senior Citizen of the Year. After many accidents including broken bones, losing his late wife Una in 2007 and suffering burns from a farming accident in 2012, the 89-year old was forced to sell his Wandary Lane farm and move to a home in Bathurst Street, where he still spends tire-less hours gardening and renovating his homes.

He regularly brings the bins in for his neighbours who work, and along with musical partner Ray Lassierre, plays country music at the Jemalong Residential Village and the Mater Nursing Home. They have played at both now for 37 years. “I’m grateful for this. It’s like winning the lottery,” Mr Molloy said of his award win.

Mr Molloy said tongue in cheek he did not plan on attending the Australia Day Festival, but was glad he did in winning his award. “I got brought over by my son and his wife, so I’m glad I came,” he said. Sixteen-year old Daniel Ashcroft won the 2016 Forbes Junior Citizen of the Year. He is a volunteer for the Forbes Shire Council Youth Advisory Committee, established Spectacular Screenings at age 12, and donates toys to Havannah House for their annual Christmas lunch.

In setting up and helping to run Spectacular Screening, where a movie for public viewing is put on once per month, he has contributed a massive 230 hours of his time over the last four and a half years. Mr Ashcroft also marches for Forbes High School in the ANZAC Day march, and volunteers as a musician at Jemalong Retirement Village.
He said he is proud of what he does and will continue his work. “It’s good to help out in the community and it’s good to see people’s faces when you’re doing it,” he said.

“I plan on continuing the volunteering. I’m not too sure what I’d like to do after I finish school in a couple years, but I’d like to go to university.” “I’m a black belt in martial arts, so something may come from that too.”

Forbes and Parkes Shire Councils will become a part of the Riverina Federal Electorate, after the announcement of changes to electorate borders by the Australian Electoral Commission.

The number of electorates in New South Wales will be reduced from 48 to 47, and changes will come into effect on February 25- in time for this year’s federal election. Changes in electorate borders have come as the AEC looks to raise the number of voters in each electorate.

The most important electorate changes in Central West NSW have been to those of Calare, Riverina, Parkes and Hume. Forbes and Parkes Shire Councils will transfer from Calare to Riverina, while the Cowra, Weddin (Grenfell), Young, Cootamundra and Harden shires will transfer to Riverina from Hume.

At the same time Riverina will lose Tumut and Tumburumba to Eden-Monaro, Griffith, Leeton, Murrumbidgee, Narrandera and part of Carrathool to Farrer, and the remainder of Carrathool to Parkes. It is expected Riverina will gain around 4000 voters as a result of all changes. Member for Riverina Michael McCormack welcomed the new additions to his electorate, and said that despite them being included just months before the next election, he said he looked forward to representing them.

“It is the people of our electorate who make my job so special and I am constantly inspired by the conversations and
interactions I have with local people every day,” he said. “I look forward to meeting with as many people as I can in these new communities over the coming weeks and months and listening to their ideas and suggestions.”

In contrast member for Calare John Cobb was left scratching his head in losing Forbes and Parkes from his electorate. “To lose Forbes and Parkes, which are also part of those who do things in NSW and Australia, after all these years is a forbidding thought,” he said. “I’ve represented most of it over the years, lived in it and it’s a wonderful place. Forbes and Parkes are extraordinarily lucky they will have Michael McCormack to look after them.”

The Calare electorate is set to gain the local government areas of Wellington, Cabonne (Canowindra), Kandos, Rylstone and Bylong. Forbes Shire Council Mayor Phyllis Miller said the changing of representation would unlikely effect future planning and projects in Forbes, but she said she was concerned about communities of interest.

Cr Miller added the AEC should have considered this in addition to voter numbers before forcing Forbes and Parkes to join Riverina, an area they normally do not directly associate with. “With the methodology they use, there’s
no distance or community interest taken into consideration,” she said. “It’s all about numbers and population. To think that Mr Cobb has to have two thirds of the state just to keep his population is ridiculous.”

“I’ve spoken to Michael McCormack, and I have no doubt that he’ll do the very best job possible.” “But I’m worried about two local government areas getting ‘just plonked’ into there.”