Susan Stewart, Sue-anne Nixon and Philip Gilderdale of Forbes Rotary Ipomea were delighted by the marvelous entries in their Christmas Tree Festival over the weekend.

The delightfully diverse range of talent, creativity and skill of the Forbes community was on full display over the weekend at the Rotary Ipomea Christmas Tree Festival. This year marked the ninth year that the festival has been staged at the Forbes Town Hall. Entries from various community groups as well as individuals ranged from the fun and spontaneous to the meticulously planned and intricately detailed. Such variety amongst so many entries meant many voters were hard pressed to choose one favourite, with many voting several times for different entries.

Jemalong Retirement Village took first place in the popular vote with their “12 Days Of Christmas” tree which amazed voters by the sheer size of the tree. The intricate detail and thorough consideration of the design, partnered with brilliant execution, made this entry a real stand out piece.

Uniting Church Nativity took out the second-place popular vote and Rotary Ipomoea members gave prizes to Eugowra Public School for their entry, made entirely of recycled materials. The Forbes District Lions Club also gained an Ipomoea prize for their “Christmas Wish Tree”, an amazing dry stump decorated with messages of hope.

It is apparent that as the festival matures, so does the scope of creative genius, skill and consideration in each entry. However, it is the enthusiastic involvement of the Forbes community, both festival entrants and visitors, that exemplifies the magnanimous Christmas spirit which makes this annual festival so very special.

Jemalong Retirement Village won first place in the popular vote for their entry “12 Days Of Christmas”

The Forbes District Lions club also gained an Ipomoea prize for their “Christmas Wish Tree”.

Come along to the Elvis statue in Cooke Park, Parkes to help celebrate Elvis’ 85th Birthday.

It is often said by visitors to Forbes that the wonderful community is so fortunate to host numerous community events, festivals, celebrations, concerts and more each year. So many that it can be difficult to find the time to see it all.

One event that Forbes Shire Council as well as the Forbes community has become more and more involved with over the years is the Parkes Elvis Festival. With the festival highlights spilling into Forbes it is important that Forbes residents continue to support events and festivals hosted by our neighbours, at this time more than ever before, with drought relief in mind.

Wednesday, 8th January next year will mark Elvis’s 85th Birthday and everyone is invited to celebrate the day in Cooke Park, by the Elvis statue at 10am. This celebration is proudly staged and supported by Elvis Revival Inc., the Parkes Elvis Festival founding committee and a small group of volunteers.

Guests are encouraged to bring chairs, rugs and whatever else will ensure their comfort while they enjoy music and entertainment provided by Barry Green, Parkes’ one and only Elvis tribute artist.

Do you share a birthday with Elvis? Bring along proof on the day to go into a draw to cut the official birthday cake. This celebration is proudly brought to you by the Elvis Revival Incorporated Committee.

Please note that the ARTC Cooke Park main stage and markets will be under construction at this time, so entry to the event will be via the corner of Cooke Park at the intersection of Short Street and Clarinda Street near the Elvis Statue.

Don’t forget to bring your swimmers for the inflatable water slide for the Northside Chapel Carols.

Northside Chapel is holding their annual Night of Carols on Sunday, 8th December commencing at 5pm.

BBQ, drinks and coffee will be available from 6pm for a gold coin donation and the carols will commence at 7pm. The Forbes Town Band will also be there to play.

The bus will do its usual pickup around Forbes North from 4.30pm. Rev Ron Spindler from St Georges Anglican Church Parkes will speak, and everyone is welcome to come for an evening of carol singing and community fellowship as we remember Jesus, the Reason for the Season.

Wiradjuri Cultural Rangers at Forbes taking part in the nation-wide dance for rain last Sunday. (Image: Peter White).

On Sunday at noon the ground shook under the feet of thousands of Indigenous people who united in dance for rain and healing, Australia-wide. In Forbes a crowd of approximately 50 people gathered at the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre by Lake Forbes to support the dance and ceremony. Wiradjuri man Yarangirri Holmes was there to lead local Indigenous children in dance while elder and Director Aileen Allen carried out a private women’s ceremony with local Indigenous women.

Wiradjuri elder Aileen Allen explained how the collective stamping of feet is an ancient and deeply spiritual form of dance. The aim of the dance on Sunday was to “bring back the rains, to please mother Earth and to wake her up by bringing up the dust.” Thankfully mother nature listened, and the skies opened soon after, serving Forbes with 4.8mm of rain overnight.

The First Nations dance was the first coordinated nation-wide dance of its kind. Dance coordinators Gooreng Gooreng and Alwyn Doolan encouraged the live streaming of each ancestral dance online. Alwyn Doolan is known for walking more than 8,000km from Cape York to Canberra with detours through Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales. The purpose of the walk was to carry a message of reconciliation to parliament that he had collected from 50 Indigenous nations.

Bedgerabong Public School students are passionate about sustainability.

Bedgerabong Public School has secured a grant towards building and sustaining a greener future as a recipient in the latest round of Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants.

The school was selected out of nearly 1,000 applicants in the national program, which launched last year and aims to in- spire students with hands-on environmental projects.

The Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants program offers grants of up to $1,000 for Australian primary schools and early learn- ing centres across the country. The local grant will mean Bedgerabong Public School is now able to develop their proposed project, the ‘Waterwise Kitchen Garden’ which aims at creating sustainable food production within the school.

Woolworths Store Manager, Noel Reardon said, “We’re extremely proud of what this program has achieved to date and de- lighted that a local school has been recognised in the latest round of grants.”

Landcare Australia CEO, Dr Shane Norrish said, “Getting hands-on with environmental projects at this early stage in their development will help equip students with the ability, knowledge and resources to take meaningful action to protect our shared local and national biodiversity as they grow up.”

“We’re looking forward to seeing the project proposed by Bedgerabong Public School and interested locals can track their success via an interactive map at landcareaustralia.org.au.”

Building on the success of the program to date, Woolworths will be providing grants to an additional 600 schools, which then empowers 100,000 students nationally to make sustainable changes for their future during this second round of the program. Since June 2018, Woolworths has to date already contributed half a million dollars in Junior Landcare grants, funding projects for over 1,155 schools through the sale of ‘Bag for good’ across the country.

Forbes Town and District Band will be there to provide music to sing along to at the 50 year anniversary of Carols by Candlelight in Victoria Park.

Carol committee volunteers from the Forbes Town and District Band are excited to present a wonderful line-up of guest singers and musicians to perform in their 50 year anniversary of Carols by Candlelight. The fun filled event will be held in Victoria Park on Saturday, 14th December from 6pm, with Carols commencing at 8pm and continuing until late.

With the support of Forbes Shire Council, this year aims to be more inclusive for families by including crafts and activities for children as well as a visit from Santa. The sound system has been improved to ensure that attendees can spread throughout the park without compromising on sound quality and this year will also include the large screen with lyrics.

Glow candles and light up headbands will be available again this year and there will be plenty of fantastic food on offer.

The committee regrets the clash of dates with other community events, it is unfortunate that there are families who won’t be able to make it and the committee understands that it is a busy time of year. However, residents of Forbes are urged to come along and support this night which promises to be bigger and better than ever before. In the case of wet weather, the Carols will be held in the town Hall which has been done successfully before.