General Interest Archives - Page 116 of 317

New Footbridge At Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

A new footbridge with a fishing platform will be erected at the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre as part of the Lake Forbes Activation project. The new footbridge will be higher and wider with improved accessibility, while the fishing platform areas will have balconies to enjoy the ‘serenity’.

Forbes Shire Council posted on its Facebook page that this exciting stage of the activation project would begin in the next few weeks and it was expected to take several weeks to complete.

Neighbours in the vicinity may experience some initial noise while pile driving occurs. Pedestrians will still be able to walk around the lake as the old footbridge will remain in place until the new one is complete. There will be signage to indicate changes to the pathway.

Once the new hardwood decked bridge is commissioned, the old bridge will be dismantled with all materials recycled or reused where possible. The project is part of the Public Spaces Legacy Fund.

If you’ve not taken a walk on that side of town recently, go and have a look. A new toilet block has been added as well as tree and shrub planting.

Local Government Week 2022

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Local Government Week runs from Monday, 1st August to Sunday, 7th August and is designed to showcase the work councils do in their local communities, including the wide variety of services they provide.

The week also includes the annual Local Government Week Awards and this year the Forbes Shire Council has again been shortlisted for a major award. The winners will be announced at the Local Government NSW Gala Awards Night on Thursday.

Forbes Shire Council’s Youth Program is again a finalist in the Local Government Awards. Council’s Youth Program was announced last week as a finalist in the Best Small Council with the Most Outstanding Youth Week Program.

Youth Week was celebrated in April in Forbes and the program consisted of 12 events with 2,908 participants.

The events included a Youth Week Mega Fun Day, inflatable obstacle courses, cultural art sessions, laser tag fun, movies, fishing, tabletop games, clay workshops and learn how to fish sessions.

All Local Government youth finalists and winners are selected by Local Government NSW. Forbes Shire Council has been shortlisted more than seven times for its innovative and enthusiastically supported Youth Week and Youth Programs.

In 2021, Forbes Shire Council won the Best Small Council with the Most Outstanding Youth Week Program and was a finalist in the Most Innovative Youth Week Program, Best Small Council with the Most Outstanding Youth Week Program and Best Local Youth Week Program.

In 2019, Forbes Shire Council was awarded the overall winner in the Best Local Youth Week Program, a finalist in the Best Small Council and the Most Innovative.

Forbes Shire Council was also nominated for the R H Dougherty for its master plan consultations and the Senior’s Festival events, as well as the Leo Kelly OAM Arts and Culture award for the partnership with Forbes Arts Society.

All award winners will be announced at the Gala Awards night on Thursday, 4th August at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney. Forbes Shire Mayor, Phyllis Miller and General Manager, Steve Loane will be in attendance.

Youth Officer Sarah Williams with Forbes Shire Council’s past Youth Awards.

Neighbourhood Central Expands Community Transport Services

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Neighbourhood Central has announced it will be taking over the reins of community transport services in Lake Cargelligo from the 1st of August.

Clients will see the same friendly volunteers and deal with the same familiar staff who worked for Lake Cargelligo Community Transport that provided the service on behalf of Transport for NSW. The services will also be delivered from the same office location at 28 Uabba Street.

Neighbourhood Central will continue to help people access medical appointments, social outings and cultural events to local and regional centres as well as to Sydney via Regional Express Airlines.

Community Transport Services are available to a wide range of people who require transport to recreation and shopping areas, medical and social services. Community transport can be provided for:
• people who are financially disadvantaged, isolated, lack public transport or have a mobility impairment
• older people who are frail aged and their carers
• people with disabilities and their carers.

The Lake Cargelligo Community Transport management committee thanked its many volunteers over the years for their tireless dedication to their community, and the clients for their support and patronage. For any further information contact the Lake Cargelligo office on 6898 2078 or the Parkes office on 6862 2825.

Creating Futures At Forbes North Public School

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Forbes North Public School is committed to ‘creating futures with education changing lives’ as a true reflection on what our school believes while celebrating the theme for Education Week 2022.

Throughout Education Week and across the month of August our school is offering multiple opportunities for wider community including parents, carers, and extended family to visit the school, enjoy meaningful celebrations and acknowledge the importance of public education.

Starting this week by celebrating ‘100 Days of School’, our 30 Kindergarten students dressed as if they were 100 years old to celebrate 100 days of primary school with parents and grandparents coming to school for a picnic in the sun on the common green area with a special cake cutting ceremony.

NAIDOC 2022 was celebrated with a cultural immersion inviting local Aboriginal cultural group ‘River Spirit’ onto our grounds for a full day of authentic cultural activities.

Next week during Education Week on Tuesday 2 August our school is open to our families from 10.00am until 3.30pm as our community comes to school at a time suitable to them to enjoy the playground sports and games, have lunch at the canteen, visit our classrooms and see first-hand what a day in public education really looks like.

Our students will also commence a unique sports program including golf and squash at Forbes Golf Club, lawn bowls at Forbes Bowling Club and cycling around Lake Forbes.

During August our senior students are attending an Eco Day in Parkes, hosting ‘Reading Up North’ previously known as Reading Downtown and Northparkes Mine are installing 20 roosting boxes in our mature trees allowing our students to observe and monitor breeding native birds including the Grass Parrot, Eastern Rosella, Currawong, Honey Eaters, other species and, we are hoping to attract rare birds such as the Swift Parrot to our playground.

Parents and carers will also have the opportunity to attend Mathematics workshops over two evenings as our staff are currently focusing on place value and whole number as an area of interest and improvement across Kindergarten to Year 6 numeracy.

Forbes North is also celebrating Education Week in August with a massive book sale combining the love of reading and the annual book week celebrations around the theme ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’. Education changes lives and every student at Forbes North will have the opportunity to proudly celebrate public education in the coming weeks.

Top Astrophotography Entries On Show At The Dish

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Left: Old Giant in the Fog by Ian Inverarity was named the overall winner of the David Malin Awards. Right: The Photo Editor’s Choice went to Jarrod Andrews for ‘Beams at the Arctic Henge’.

A South Australian photographer was named the overall winner of the prestigious David Malin Awards in astrophotography at the Parkes Radio Telescope on Sunday.

Ian Inverarity entered the Nightscapes category with his image called ‘Old Giant in the Fog’ for which he won the top prize.

The Photo Editor’s Choice Award was won by Jarrod Andrews from Victoria for his image titled ‘Beams at the Arctic Henge’. Jeff Darmanin, a News Corp picture editor, judged the Photo Editor’s Choice awards.

The competition received entries from every state and territory of Australia and as the premier competition of its kind in Australia, a panel of distinguished Australian astrophotographers judged the category entries. Dr David Malin judged the overall winner from the list of these winners, as the best in show. The judging panel included Phil Hart and Alex Cherney, previous winners of the David Malin Awards, and of numerous other national and international astrophotography competitions.

It was not just technical skill that was awarded. The prizes went to pictures that captured the beauty of the sky and the intrinsic interest of astronomy in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Celestron Australia supported the competition with prizes to the value of $10,000.

The finest images will be exhibited in two parallel exhibitions. The first will be on show at the CSIRO Parkes Observatory’s Visitors Centre for the entire year. The second exhibition, organised by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, will tour Australia beginning in October. Last year’s received over 200,000 people Australia-wide making it the largest photographic exhibition in the country.

New Courthouse Café Opens This Weekend

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

The collection of cafes in Forbes is further expanding this weekend with the opening of the new Courthouse Café inside the Vandenberg Hotel. The opening hours will be 8am to 12pm on Saturday and Sunday. See you there!

Check Your Child Restraints

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

The recent free child restraint checking event held in Parkes and Forbes discovered that the majority of seats were incorrectly fitted.

The most common mistakes included shoulder straps needed adjustment, the seatbelt path was wrong, there wasn’t a large enough gap between the back of the front seat and the child restraint and capsule tether straps were used incorrectly.

If you missed this annual event, local fitters can install and check child restraints for a small fee. Find them in Parkes at Col Fletcher Ford and Kia and Parkes Tyrepower, and at Jelbart Dawson in Forbes.

Amy Makes A Century Plus One

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Amy Dunstan, who became a JRV resident in January 2019, turned 101 on 3rd July and celebrated afternoon tea with her sons Kerrie and Ray.

In 1921 Australia defeated England in The Ashes series, the Royal Australian Air Force was established, Edith Cowan became the first female parliamentarian in Australia, and Amy Dunstan was born on the 3rd of July.

This means she turned 101 this year and celebrated the big day at the Jemalong Residential Village (JRV) with her two sons Kerrie and Ray.

Amy shared some wonderful memories of her long life being the second oldest of nine children. “I have six sisters and three brothers. We had lots of fun as we played together,” she said.

“My first job when I left school was doing housework. I then became a dress maker which I really loved. I made soldiers uniforms and blankets in the war years.”

Amy met Davitt and married him on the 3rd of March 1943. We had two wonderful sons Kerrie and Raymond and we have some beautiful grandchildren.”

Amy said they loved socialising with friends, dancing and listening to Bing Crosby. Sadly, Davitt passed away in 1977. “I still miss him.”

Amy has her favourite picture in her room of blue ducks. “I love blue ducks and also have blue wooden ducks. They remind me of my husband as this was the name of his unit in the war.

“I love spending time with my sons and their families. I love to have contact with people.”

U3A Offers Learning Opportunities For Older People

July 29, 2022 by Anne Stewart

U3A Forbes Members enjoying a Taste of Forbes earlier this year.

A busy, fun and informative first half of the year has come to an end for Forbes U3A (University of the Third Age) members with a wide range of activities.

We’ve had some excellent presenters in our “My Brilliant Career” series, a lesson on how to prune roses, a grand tour of local restaurants in our “A Taste of Forbes” series for lunch and “Show and Tell” a fun series where members bring precious, historic or unusual objects to talk about. Our regular activities set to keep the brain working and the body moving are croquet, Tai Chi, Scrabble, and our wonderful choir which continues across the year.

Our members enjoy trips to the theatre in Orange, as well as a two-day trip to Goulburn, Australia’s first Inland city with a host of historical features.

As we are preparing for our next range of activities over the next five months, new members are very welcome and can come along to our next general meeting on Tuesday, 9th August at 1:30pm in the Uniting Church Hall for a presentation on the next half year’s courses and activities. For further information please call Anne Stewart, secretary on 0403 874 855.

By Anne Stewart

Universities of the Third Age, or U3As are voluntary, non-profit organisations which aim to offer older people low-cost educational opportunities which operate in a pleasant, supportive social setting. There are no formal entry requirements, no examinations and no “awards”. U3As are basically self-help groups built on the premise that collectively older people have the skills and knowledge to provide learning opportunities (education) for themselves. After all, “experts” of all kinds in all fields eventually retire! In fact the word “university” in the title is used in its earliest sense – a community of scholars who get together to help each other in a learning/social experience.

Rich Environment And Diverse Experiences At Forbes High

July 29, 2022 by Maggi Barnard

Forbes High School is creating bright futures for all students who enter our gates. Our school environment is rich and filled with diverse experiences that cater for all learners. We are fortunate to have expansive grounds which have recently undergone significant transformation to ensure that our learning environment is inviting and conducive to learning.

High quality educational experiences are what you find at Forbes High School. Highly experienced educators fill our classrooms who differentiate the learning to support all students. This creates an educational experience that shapes the future of the students, whether that be further study at university, TAFE or employment. All our graduating students are successful in the future career pathways and several of the cohort of 2022 have already secured university placements.

Our passion at Forbes High School is providing the complete education experience. High quality teaching and learning is paramount, this occurs in an environment rich in extra curricula opportunities and in a highly supportive and inclusive environment. Forbes High School caters for all students and supports their educational pathway, recognising that individual needs must be supported.

Forbes High School offers public speaking, academic competitions, sporting opportunities and caters to all areas of the Creative and Performing Arts. Recently, we had a very successful Forbes Eisteddfod with our school placed first in the schools point score trophy.

We work closely with our community partners including Forbes Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG), local businesses and our P and C. We have an active parent and community body who work alongside us ensuring that the education received at Forbes High School creates the best possible future for our students.

EDUCATION WEEK

Education Week 2022 takes place next week from 1-5 August. This year’s theme is ‘creating futures – education changes lives’ and celebrates quality education and the opportunities available to everyone in NSW public education.

Education Week is your chance to celebrate the achievements of your school, students or learning community. “This year NSW public education continues to celebrate the journey students and learners take throughout the NSW Education system, focusing on how we are creating futures for our students, staff and families.

“From the first days in child care to post-school pathways, our education system is preparing young people to be agile thinkers and lifelong learners.”

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