Shannon Birmingham, from Forbes Central Butchery, was crowned Central West Continental and Australian Lamb Sausage King for 2016 in Bathurst on the weekend. Shannon and his team travelled to Bathurst on the weekend to take part in the Sausage King & Best Butcher’s Burger Competition. The competition was run by the Australian Meat Industry Council, with competitors coming from all over the state to participate. In Shannon’s categories, Continental Sausages and the Australian Lamb category there were at least 50 competitors in each.

Shannon managed to win both sections and they have won the Central West division for the past four years,
over the five years that they have been attending. Shannon will be selling these sausages both in his store and also on his runs out to Parkes and around the Forbes area. He is still experimenting with some new and different
flavours and these include cheesebburger, wild tomato and pepper, hawaiian, lamb curry and many more. The meat that Shannon uses in his sausages is sourced from Breakout Meats, Cowra. It is great to have a win like this particularly when Forbes has been under so much stress with the floods.

Having owned the Shell Forbes for just over 12 months, owner Charanject Singh Bhamra has already made some important changes. New pumps have been installed for all types of petrol, with diesel pumps now being under cover for the first time. These new pumps meet the standards laid down by EPA, as well as being faster, more accurate, and require little maintenance. Should a spill occur, the spill now goes into the sump instead of going into any drain
which will save our environment in case of any major spill.

Singh said: “With this investment, it shows our commitment to Forbes and the community as we strive to provide a better level of service, with all staff who work in the store, being locals. We have maintained our driveway service for all cars who require petrol under the canopy, in addition to carrying a range of new products for our customers.

We also have plans to build up the takeaway side of the business by extending the area of the current shop and we are already underway with this process. With many offers available, including the Bernardi’s offer which entitles any purchaser to receive a 4c a litre discount with the provision of a Bernardi’s docket, and the offer of a 1c a litre off any purchase of 200 litres of any type of fuel, we believe that we offer very competitive rates across the Forbes area.”

Call in and say hello to Singh, Paul, Amanda and the team at the Shell Forbes.

The town of Canowindra is all set for a huge influx of tourists and a massive range of events this weekend, as the town’s biggest ever October long weekend takes place. What originally started as the annual Airing of the Quilts to take place on the October long weekend has grown to also include Charlie McCarron’s auction, tours of Canowindra, markets, exhibitions, barbeques, and live music.

The auction of Charlie McCarron’s vintage car collection is expected to attract thousands of people alone, however with all of the other events taking place across the weekend, even more people are expected to travel to Canowindra.
Fiona Ferguson, a member of local community organisation ‘Canowindra@Home’ who has played a major role in organising Canowindra’s long weekend, said it was an event the entire Canowindra community could look forward to.

“Charlie McCarron’s auction at Canowindra Motors will obviously be the highlight of the weekend.” “The quilt themed window displays, which started on Wednesday, will be a great way to get visitors to see Canowindra as well.
The idea behind that is to get people to walk around the town to view the quilts- almost like a trail.”

Besides Charlie McCarron’s auction, the Airing of the Quilts and the Twilight Markets, there will also be the “Roasted” exhibition at Delice, the “Past and Present” exhibition at the Old Vic Inn, various events at the Canowindra Services Club, a busking competition at Deli Lama, the Moorbel Markets, various community BBQ fundraisers, the Canowindra CWA open day, and “Blind Freddy’s” half day tours of Canowindra.
By Joshua Matic

Forbes High School, along with family and friends said farewell to Year 12 last Friday, wishing them all the best of luck in their HSC and in their future. The morning assembly provided the opportunity for Year 12 students to be recognised for their achievements, with major awards being presented. Major awards on the day were presented
and awarded to the following Year 12 students; Sally Downie- Dux of Year 12, Emily Godden- Blue & Gold Citizenship, Monica Pascoe- P&C Presentation to representative students, Oliver Carlisle -Carmel Hodges
Memorial Humanitarian Award, Madeline Dukes -Reuben F Scarf Award, Jake Ellison- Louise Stephenson Award, Monica Pascoe -Caltex Best All Rounder, Monica Pascoe and Nicole Morrison- Citizenship Awards, Morgan Penman- TVET Animal Studies Award, Grace Quigley- TVET Early Childhood Award, Quintin Hapgood- TVET
Information Technology Award and Jacob Beard- TVET Certificate III Media Studies, VET student of the Year Sally Downie.

Along with Year 12 providing a gift to the school, a special moment was shared with the school community, with a multimedia presentation put together by outgoing School Captain Emily Godden highlighting the amazing journey the 2016 Year 12 cohort have undertaken at Forbes High School, as well as commemorating fellow School Captain Oliver Carlisle and his unforgettable contribution to Forbes High School.

Very early one Sunday morning the calm waters of Lake Forbes were high and shrouded with light fog.

Seven eager members of the Forbes Dragon Boat Club were waiting for a truck to turn the corner… a truck carrying two long awaited, new racing dragon boats.

Past president, Bill Thomas, and past Treasurer, Claire Davis, were among the eager onlookers to witness the Forbes Dragon Boat Club change from its almost three decades old boats to much lighter, sleeker, modern racing boats.

As the truck rumbled into sight, a buzz went through the little group and cameras began clicking. The boats were unloaded with great enthusiasm and carefully set in their new home.

Many delighted phrases rang out like: “Wow! We have foot-rests.”, “They have handles! We can move them so much easier!” and “They’re so much lighter.” The club is ready for the next paddling session and can hardly wait to get them in the water.

“The boats have come about due to the hard work of our previous board and we thank them once again, especially Bill and Claire,” said President Robyn Stephens.

The club is set to go from strength to strength with a very committed new board: Robyn Stephens, president; Tony Fisher, vice-president; Michael Green, treasurer; Kristine Dobell, registrar; Chris Sweeney, publicity officer; Ian Prince, works coordinator; Neil Stephens, board member and Warren Edwards, secretary.

If you would like to join our club or find out more about it come along on Sunday mornings at 8:30 – the water recedes – and 6:30 Thursday evenings in daylight-saving time. You can find us on Facebook. It’s a great sport and a great club. You are most welcome to come along!

By Bill and Beth Thomas

 

Bernardi’s Marketplace in Forbes will undergo exciting changes over a four week period to provide an enhanced shopping experience for customers. “After a great deal of market research and valuable feedback from customers, we have started making some changes to our supermarket,” said Joseph Bernardi, CEO of Supermarkets.

The refurbished store will have a bigger focus on fresh produce, sourced locally from the Central West as much as possible, an enhanced bakery with freshly baked sourdough bread, cakes and pastries, new Grab & Go lunch options and a new range of bulk wholefoods. “We want to give Forbes shoppers more reasons to shop local,” said Joseph.
“In our experience, when locals purchase more of their groceries in town it has a positive knock on effect for a lot of other small businesses.”

A range of new brands of healthy and specialty foods, as well as locally sourced products, will also be entering the store in October. New and interesting products will be added to the Everyday Low Price program. Regular customers would have noticed some changes already with corrugated iron and timber added at the entrance and inside the store. The finished product will give the store a barn feel. As part of the upgrade, the group will also launch a new Community Benefits program with $6,000 awarded to three local community groups. Applications are open until
30th September. The successful recipients will be announced at the launch of the new store in late October. Application forms are available from sarah@bernardigroup.com.au.

Most of the work is being done after hours to minimize disruption to customers as much as possible. “I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused during the fit-out, but we promise any disruption will be well worth the final result,” Joseph said.

Forbes Public School (FPS) students took part in a Mini Olympics event at the school recently organised by Year 6. The 300 students were divided into nine countries and marched in an opening ceremony with the school captains carrying the Olympic torch donated to the school by Robert Lytton OAM, who carried the torch through Forbes in 2000.

The year 6 students ran activities like tug of war, gum boot toss, sack races, egg and spoon obstacle course, hoop throwing, hurdles, relays, soccer dribbling races and target ball throwing. Students have been studying the Olympic Games and loved seeing the joy on the faces of outstanding role models displaying sportsmanship and national pride. They also witnessed athletes who have trained hard, sacrificed a lot and competed with everything they had.

With Australian childhood obesity at a record high, FPS is committed to exposing students to as many opportunities as possible to enable them to find their preferred sport and develop a life-long love of it. As part of this term’s skipping unit, FPS participated in the Jump Rope for Heart Program. In the classroom, students learnt about heart health including nutrition and the dangers of smoking. In sports skills, students learnt tricks using skipping ropes and choreographed routines, and in the community, students fundraised for the Heart Foundation, while the school newsletter featured articles educating parents about healthy eating and keeping children active.

After the Mini Olympics event, students from Kindergarten to year 6 put on an amazing skipping show. The school raised well over $5,000 for the Heart Foundation and the P & C raised more than $600 through the Mini Olympics, Jump Rope for Heart skipping show and celebration lunch.

By Katie Stitt

The Forbes State Emergency Service (SES) has been a hive of activity since Saturday with more than 40,000 sandbags being filled by Tuesday.

Local and visiting volunteers have been preparing for floodwater in Forbes this week. The Lachlan River peaked at 10.35m at the Iron Bridge on Wednesday slightly under the level of 10.55m recorded in the 2012 flood. This level is rated as moderate flooding, but with further rain expected from today this may not be the only flooding that will affect the community in the coming weeks. Wyangla Dam is above capacity at present and water released is being staggered to minimise the severity of flooding and damage.

All residents in low-lying areas were alerted and the Red Bend College was closed on Wednesday. More than forty volunteers have been at the SES depot every day to fill sandbags for delivery to areas expected to be most affected. On Tuesday a massive 55.6 tonnes of sand was bagged into approximately 3,500 bags each weighing 15kg. SES volunteers have come from far and wide to assist Roc Walshaw and his crew. They had only praise for the Forbes community and were amazed by the teamwork and community spirit. Visiting SES volunteers stay for about five days, so anyone with spare time is encouraged to help at the SES depot.

The depot provides regular and accurate information regarding the flooding. Even though the flood levels were lower than 2012, experienced volunteers believe that the density of grasses from the winter season will slow the flow of water causing the water to recede and disappear much slower.

The public are reminded not to drive through any roads signposted as closed, as this could compromise their insurance should they get into trouble.

By Anita Morrison

Mayor Phillis Miller promised a questioner at the Meet the Councillor Candidates evening last week to find out more about the building embargo at the old ambulance station site. She has asked Forbes Shire Council General Manager, Danny Green, to look into the history of the ambulance station. “He is busy to determine what business has taken place to date and will come up with a solution to the owner and advise the public on it,” the Mayor said in the final week of her term before the Local Government Elections tomorrow.

Mayor Miller reminded all residents to vote. “The most important thing about this election is that 17 people had the courage and conviction to put their names forward, and they need to be commended for that.” She said the candidates represented a great gender mix with six women standing, which is 35% representation. “This compares very well considering there is only a 20% representation of women on local councils on average.”

Mayor Miller said the past four years had been trying in some parts, “but we have been able to take Forbes forward in terms of job creation. I have loved every minute of my time on Council and hope I can serve a seventh term as Mayor as I still feel as much passion as I did on my first day.”