Deck your letterbox in December for the chance to win a $150 gift voucher to spend in any Forbes store! Decorate your letterbox with tinsel, lights, baubles – whatever you can find! Upload a picture of your decorated mailbox to hashtag #deckyourmail for your chance to win!
Forbes Services Memorial Club hosted a Melbourne Cup luncheon this year with all proceeds from the activity benefitting the Forbes Breast Cancer Support Group. On Monday two of the groups representatives, Dianne Howarth and Denise Jelbart, were presented with a cheque for $1173.15 by event organisers, Raylene Paradowski and Lindy Sherritt. The money was raised through the sale of raffle tickets and a silent auction.
The Breast Cancer Support Group is an informal support group made up of breast cancer patients and survivors. The group meets on the second Saturday of each month at the Vandenburg Hotel for a casual lunch. The group does not hold meetings but provides friendship, support and helpful advice to people diagnosed or recovering from breast cancer and its treatments.
There are no membership fees and everyone is welcome. The group aims to keep people informed and provide practical help to allow cancer sufferers to maintain a sense of normality and make themselves available to listen and provide support. Raylene and Lindy were very pleased with the event and made special mention of Michael and Denise Jelbart who were regular raffle ticket sellers prior and during the event. They also wished to thank Jenny
Currey who was the MC for the afternoon, and even though it was her first time, did an exceptional job.
The Forbes Breast Cancer Support Group were most grateful for the donation of funds which will be used to improve the facilities at the Western Care Lodge giving patients having treatment access to self-care accommodation in Orange.
The volunteers of the Forbes Railway Arts and Visitor Information Centre enjoyed a special afternoon tea at the Forbes Town Hall last week to celebrate the group’s 25 year anniversary.
During the afternoon tea, Mayor Phyllis Miller presented Merle Churchill, Anne Nixon, Dorothy Findlay and Pearl McGuire with gold life membership badges for 25 years of service. Mayor Miller also presented certificates of
appreciation to Judith Taylor, Lyn Simmonds and Maureen Moon for their years of service, hard work and dedication. Mayor Miller said she was honoured to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the volunteers.
“For 25 years the volunteers at the Forbes Railway Arts and Visitor Information Centre have welcomed our visitors to Forbes and personalised their visit, given them a warm country welcome and excellent service,” Mayor Miller said.
“During that time Forbes residents and visitors have also enjoyed the beautiful handcrafts, arts, baking, jams and relishes made by these volunteers.” “The time they have dedicated to our centre is invaluable to the visitor economy of Forbes and all of our volunteers have played a key role in improving the experience our visitors have while in Forbes.”
There are so many great reasons to do your Christmas shopping in Forbes this year! Did you know that spending money in your home town helps to boost the local economy? When you support your local businesses, you are supporting the people and entrepreneurs of Forbes. There are items in Forbes that you likely won’t find anywhere else – quirky, one-off gifts and unique handmade by local crafters.
When you shop locally, you are helping build in your community and keep those small, independent businesses alive and kicking. Shopping locally gives you the chance to help keep the community unique as well as supporting good jobs that hire local people. When you shop locally, you actually reduce your environmental impact and invest in your town. It’s quite likely you’ll get better service because local businesses generally take more time to get to know their customers!
But there is an even better reason to shop locally in Forbes this Christmas. Once again this year the Forbes Business
Chamber will host the Find It In Forbes This Christmas promotion and festival in 2015, and this year is set to be bigger and better than ever before! This year, shoppers can be rewarded for shopping locally in Forbes by making a
purchase from any of the 33 participating businesses. This will put you into the draw to win in a total of over $15,000 worth of prizes! All you have to do is spend $10 to receive your tickets into the draw to win from the prize pool, with the prizes being drawn throughout December.
The first draw of the promotion will take place during this year’s Christmas Festival, which will be held on Saturday 5 December. The Christmas Festival will run from 9am until 2pm and there will be plenty of great activities and amusements for the whole family this year, including live entertainment by Cath Adams, a local singer and previous contestant on The Voice. The fun doesn’t stop there! Enjoy dance performances by local dancers as well as a visit from Santa, fun rides for the kids, plenty of amazing market stalls and of course the traditional wheelbarrow races that are always a crowd favourite. This year, the races are being sponsored by Acheson’s Home Timber and Hardware.
The heats for the wheelbarrow races will kick off at 9:30am. If you need sign up forms, you can find them at Bown’s Sportspower or Anytime Fitness in Forbes. The winner in first place for the wheelbarrow races will win $500 worth of Why Leave Town Gift Cards, with the winner of second place receiving a $100 Bunnings gift card.
The first round of prizes will also be drawn starting at 10:15am. The prizes drawn on the Saturday will include two nights of accommodation at Greentrees Guest House in Orange for two people. This fantastic prize also includes a full buffet breakfast to enjoy, as well as a Woolerina scarf valued at a total of $650! The other prizes to be drawn are two $500 Why Leave Town Gift Cards, which can be used at any of the participating business.
The prize giving doesn’t stop there! More prize draws will take place on Saturday 12 December and Saturday 19 December. On December 12, entrants in the competition could be the lucky winner of a Smeg FAB10 bar fridge valued at $3190 from Greenhomes Australia! Two more $500 Why Leave Town Gift Cards are also up for
grabs.
On the following weekend of December 19, the lucky prize winners could receive a three month membership at Anytime Fitness in Forbes, which is valued at $269. This is also one of the last chances to win one of two $500 Why Leave Town Gift Cards. This year, the 2015 Major Prize Draw will be taking place on Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December. Starting at 2pm, one lucky winner in this draw will be taking home a whopping $10,000 worth of Why Leave Town Gift Cards, and if you aren’t going to be in Forbes at that time, don’t stress because the winner does not have to be present for the draw.
The Find It In Forbes promotion has been running for a number of years and began as a way to encourage shoppers to spend in Forbes. “The cards reward people for coming to Forbes and encourages them to come back,” says Jess Dawes, Admin Marketing and Events Coordinator at Forbes Business Chamber. “The idea is that the money from the
cards enhances businesses because they keep the money in the community.”
The Forbes Business Chamber would like to thank all of the generous sponsors of this year’s promotion, especially their major sponsors who are Greenhomes Australia, John Davis Mazda, The Forbes Phoenix, Forbes Shire Council, Knights Cranes and the Forbes Advocate. When you head out to do your Christmas shopping in the coming weeks, remember to shop locally in Forbes to support our local businesses and to be in the running to win some of these incredible prizes.
Encourage local prosperity, invest in the community, buy local first and Find it in Forbes this Christmas!
Mayor Phyllis Miller and Forbes Shire Council councillors hosted afternoon tea at the November Council meeting to personally thank the women who were this year named as Hidden Treasures for their contributions to the community.
This year 106 women were recognised with 7 of those women residing in Forbes. Heather Mann, Julie Herridge, Maree Yapp, Narelle Shaw, Nikki Patten, Peg Clifton and Sue Uphill are all worthy of these accolades and have already received official certificates and a limited edition booklet from local member Andrew Gee.
The 2015 Hidden Treasures were announced on the 10th October this year by the NSW Department of Primary Industries Rural Women’s network. Since it was first launched in 2010, 700 rural women have been named on the honour roll. The Hidden Treasures is not an award but an opportunity to pay tribute to the rural women who donate their time and energy to help others. It is important to celebrate and recognise the valuable volunteer work
women do in NSW rural, regional and remote communities.
Nominating rural women is a great way to celebrate those ladies who give so much of their time to improve communities and neighbourhoods. You can nominate a friend, family member, colleague, community worker – any rural woman who you believe makes your community a better place to live.
To nominate a Hidden Treasures volunteer you simply need to complete the nomination form with a short story about why your nominee is worthy. All women nominated will be included in the Honour Roll. Nominations for the 2016 Honour Roll will open 9 May.
Lions Youth of the Year is designed to encourage, foster and develop leadership in conjunction with other citizenship qualities in our youth, at the age when they are about to enter the fields of employment or higher education. It provides students with the incentive to pay greater attention to the general qualities, so vital in developing our
youths into first class citizens. The qualities sought, apart from academic attainment are those of leadership, personality, sportsmanship, public speaking and good citizenship.
Six students applied for the awards for their chance to be the overall Lions Youth of the Year or the Public Speaking Award, scrutinised by a panel of distinguished judges including Amy Shine (Forbes PreSchool Director), Mrs Helen Pitt(retired teacher) and Ken Walton(National Bank representative). Students firstly, had to submit an application,
similar to what they would if applying for a job or university, which was assessed by the judges. Successful applicants were then interviewed by the judging panel and given a score for both the written application and interview which made up 80% of their overall total.
Participants were given the opportunity to prepare a 5 minute speech to be presented at the awards presentation on a topic of their choice and the final element of the awards was two impromptu questions which they were allocated 2 minutes to answer. Forbes High School, Parkes High School and Red Bend Catholic College each had two students representing and all contestants performed exceptionally well. Students were supported by family, friends and their teachers who were all very proud of their efforts. The competition was extremely tight and a delighted Kelly Yoon
from Parkes High School was announced the winner of both the Public Speaking and Overall Youth of the Year Award at the conclusion of the judging.
If you love leather and handmade goods, you should check out Norm Whybrow Sales, specialising in all handmade leather goods, including dog collars, pig dog harnesses, stubby holders, ladies handbags and clutches, kids Christmas gifts and heaps more! Norm also deals in ear muffs, scope rings and mounts as well as wallets and leather boxes. He has everything you need to clean and maintain your leather items. Located at 65 William Street in Forbes, you will be blown away by the craftsmanship and beauty of Norm’s pieces. For more information you can call Norm on 6852 3102.
Local sporting clubs are encouraged to apply for the NSW Government’s Local Sport Grant Program to get more locals involved in sport and recreation activities. Member for Orange Andrew Gee said the program aims to increase regular and on-going participation in sport and active recreation.
“The Local Sport Grant Program provides funding for sports clubs in the Central West and across NSW,” Mr Gee said. There are four project types within the program. They are Sport Club Development, Community Sport Events, Sport Access, and Facility Development and Capital Equipment.
Applications are now open until 11 February 2016. To find out more information or to apply, visit www.sportandrecreation.nsw.gov.au
Forbes’ Carols By Candlelight will be quite different to previous years, with a change in the format of how the carols will be presented to make the public more involved. An MC will announce carol items from the beginning of the night at 7pm. Forbes Shire Council will provide bunting to divide Victoria Park into sections. This will allow families to sit together in front of the Rotunda and stage using their own fold-up chairs and picnic rugs. The inflatable
movie screen will also be there so the crowd can sing along to the lyrics.
Carols start at 7pm and the park lights up with glow candles at 8pm, with carolling continuing until 9pm. Santa, accompanied by his elves, will be seated in a special Santa nook where people can bring their own camera for a photo
and the Lions Club will provide a BBQ. Carols By Candlelight is a community event organised by the Forbes Town and District Band, and is supported by a number of community groups as well as Forbes Shire Council.
Come along to Victoria Park from 7pm on Sunday 6 December and enjoy the new format with a festive feel.
Forbes High School held their 50 Year Celebrations over the weekend and many ex students and teachers travelled to Forbes to take part. Forbes High School, originally located in Browne Street, was officially opened at 18 Wyndham Avenue on the 13th November 1965 by the then Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Science , the Honourable C B Cutler ED MLA. This year marked the 50th Anniversary and the school celebrated the occasion with a Cocktail Party at the Forbes Inn on Saturday night and morning tea and a tour of the school on the Sunday.
Everyone who attended the cocktail party thoroughly enjoyed the night and there was a great mix of ex-students, teachers and current staff. High School Principal, Charles Dwyer welcomed guests and invited them to attend the school tour the following day. Wendy Fraser (nee McFarland) was the first school captain at the new High School and spoke of her memories at Forbes High and of her achievements since leaving school. Brianna Cotterill, graduating student in 2014, currently studying music at Wollongong University travelled home to perform
and delighted attendees with her easy listening selection. The live entertainment continued thanks to the Forbes Inn and the Hodge family.
The school tour and morning tea the following day proved very popular with more than ninety people touring the school and inspecting the facilities including the commercial kitchen, industrial arts rooms, language lab, science labs and school hall. Many were amazed at the standard of the facilities and how technology has improved
learning experiences. Students who attended the school in the early years were in ore of the trees, gardens and lawn areas, and compared it to the baroness of the site when they first moved there in 1965. Morning tea in the
library was an opportunity to further reminisce with school friends and teachers and the school magazines on display proved most popular.