Forbes Sport and Recreation Club manager Norm Cook says he was impressed by the turnout at the first ever ‘All Roads Lead Back to Forbes’ event. Around 500 people from across Australia, including Queensland, northern NSW and Tasmania, came back to their hometown of Forbes to celebrate the event held between Friday January 22 and Sunday January 24.

Mr Cook, who coordinated the event, said he hoped it would be just as big when it runs again in two years time. “It was a magnificent success. We were talking about one for next year but that probably won’t happen, it’ll probably be two years down the track.” “We had a lot of people come from the Gold Coast, as well as from the NSW coast like Coffs Harbour, Ballina and Sydney, and as far south as Batemans Bay, Albury and Wagga.”

The event was organised with the purpose of reuniting current and former Forbes residents, with Facebook being the main mode of communication to invite people to the event.

“Social media played a big part. There’s a Facebook page called ‘We come from Forbes and we’re proud of it’, so that was obviously the main thing,” he said. The three-day event involved a meet and greet on the Friday night, live entertainment and the official reunion on the Saturday night, and a BBQ brunch on the Sunday morning.

The two main bands, the ‘Echoettes’ and ‘Freight’ were a highlight on the Saturday night, with both groups playing music from the 1970s including the Bee Gees, The Shadows and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Mr Cook said the band members were reuniting on a musical level just as everyone else was reuniting on a social level.

“These bands played in Forbes pubs back in the 70s, so that was the original idea, to get all the boys back together, and all of the original members were there,” he said. Mr Cook said the auctions originally planned were not able to take place, but will be run at a later date by the Forbes Diggers Swimming Club with proceeds going to the soon-to-be established Prostate Awareness Committee, to be based in Forbes from February.

Forbes’ Darcy Morrison and Dylan Gunn have taken out the 2016 Ben Hall Gifts in the open womens and mens divisions respectively. Morrison just nudged out sister Nicole by a mere 0.17 seconds, finishing with a time of 13.74 seconds, while Gunn ran an impressive time of 11.53 seconds, 0.25 seconds ahead of runner-up Ozzie Toole.

Gunn, a former regular runner, said after his race win he may now consider getting back in to sprinting after surprising himself with how well he ran. “I used to run for the school quite a bit when I was still in high school, and I used to do Little Athletics” he said. “But I haven’t really done much running in the last year or so.”

Both athletes took home $600 prize money, with runners-up taking $200. Forbes Shire Council says it hopes to increase money for the Gift in the years to come. Gunn said with his win coming on Australia Day, he was very grateful to have made his achievement on such a significant occasion. “It’s great seeing everyone come around [to watch]. In the past I’ve competed up in Sydney where there’s no one you know,” he said.

“It’s good on Australia Day. Everyone’s down amongst it, and it’s great for the community.” The other divisions that ran in the Gift on Australia Day were under 10s boys, 10-14 boys, junior girls, junior rugby league 14s, junior rugby league 16s, celebrity, rugby union v rugby league, 15-17 years girls and 15-17 years boys.

In respective order the winners were Jonah Little, Coby Ryan, Annie O’Connor, Coby Ryan, Charlie Staines, Scott Toole, Ozzie Toole, Nicole Morrison, and Ozzie Toole again.

Forbes Shire Council Mayor Phyllis Miller says was “really excited” by the attendance at the Forbes Australia Day Festival on Tuesday. The Council experimented with a new celebration format this year, moving away from the traditional parade through the town centre to having a festival at Colin McKenzie Park.

The Festival had food and drink stalls, live entertainment on the main stage, display vehicles from the local fire brigade and State Emergency Service units, and kids rides. There was also dragon boat racing and the Ben Hall Gift foot races. The official presentation ceremony of the junior and senior Forbes Citizen of the Year awards
took place on the main stage. Cr Miller said she was impressed with the number of people that attended the festival. “It’s a new format and I’m really excited about the crowd that we had on the day,” she said.

“Having a foot race is a new event for Australia Day, and I think there’s a great opportunity to build on that and build the prize money so we will get people here that want to participate.” Cr Miller said the idea of changing this year’s Australia Day format was to have an environment where families could gather together.

“It’s about trying to create a family day where families come together and celebrate together for Australia Day, and I suppose really enjoy the community in which they live” she said. While Cr Miller said there would always be an Australia Day event in Forbes, the format of next year’s festivities would still be up for consultation.

“I will wait until we get feedback and not be presumptuous and decide ‘yes, we are doing this again’. We’ll wait until we get feedback from the community,” she said.

Forbes High School Principal, Charles Dwyer, is looking forward to the 2016 school year which commenced Wednesday 27th January when staff returned to work to prepare for what is set to be another exciting and busy year.

Forbes High will enter the second year of its three year plan which focuses on the three main areas of Student Learning, School Learning, improving school systems and process, and continuing to strengthen Community Partnerships. For many years the high school has been working closely with local primary schools to increase and improve interactions between prospective students and staff to ensure a smooth transition from primary to secondary schooling. The Partnering with Primary Schools program has been very successful with Year 7 students comfortable and confident with their new surroundings and routines as well as more settled and eager to learn.

The Bring Your Own Device policy will be implemented this year and students will be able to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets and smart phones) to school and use those devices to access programs in educational settings. Senior students will have the opportunity this year to experience ALARM. ALARM is an acronym for A Learning and Responding Matrix which is designed to support students extended responses to questions in exam situations. ALARM gives them a framework to develop and show a deeper understanding of subject content.

The retirement of experienced and dedicated teachers in 2015 will see many staff changes this year. These staff members were farewell on the last day and their careers were recognised and celebrated and they were showered with well wishes as they enter the next stage of their lives. Although the school community is sad to see the departure of these individuals it will be an exciting transition and the school is looking forward to welcoming the new staff members, not only to the school, but the wider community as well. Each will bring a particular skill set to the school which will support students, colleagues and faculty development. Consolidating programs throughout the school improves student learning opportunities and outcomes.

Staff and students will continue to work with all aspects of the community including businesses, sporting organisations and community groups. The community is an essential element of the school that contributes to all aspects of student learning and social development.

Parents are being reminded to ensure their children’s vaccinations are up to date following the Australian Government’s program NO JAB NO PAY coming into effect from the start of the Year.

From the 1st of January only parents with children who are fully immunised will receive the Child Care Benefit, the Child Care rebate and the Family Tax Benefit Part A end of year supplements. Nurses at the Forbes Medical Centre are urging all parents to ensure their children are up to date with their vaccinations and are offering FREE catch up vaccinations to any child (under the age of 20), with appointments available daily.

Forbes Medical Centre Nurse Manager Shelley Clark says ensuring children are vaccinated protects all children as well as safeguards the health of future generations. “Immunisation remains the safest and most effective way to stop the spread of many of the world’s most infectious diseases. Rapid advances in the science of immunisation mean that modern vaccines are extremely safe, and serious reactions to them are rare,” Ms Clark said.

“Statistics have shown that before the major vaccination campaigns of the 1960s and ’70s diseases like tetanus, and whooping cough killed thousands of young children each and every year, whereas today, deaths from these diseases are extremely rare in Australia.” “If enough people in the community are immunised, the infection can no longer be
spread from person to person and it is possible that the disease can die out altogether.”

Ms Clark is urging all parents who are unsure of where their children are up to with Vaccination to make an appointment to find out what’s required to bring their child up to date. “If a parent is unsure if their child is up to
date they can contact the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) on 1800 653 809 or online on with the Department of Human Services. They can also make an appointment with one of our Registered Nurse’s to talk about their child’s Immunisation history.” Ms Clark said.

Forbes Australia Day ambassador Tracy Mann says she loves visiting the country, and would happily re-visit Forbes in the future. Mrs Mann, a famed actress that has starred in theatre productions as well as television shows such as Wonderland, Sweet and Sour, and movie Hating Alison Ashley, was in Forbes for much of the week getting to know the town and attending various community events.

Being born in Adelaide and spending much of her life working on productions in Australia’s other large cities, Mann said she loved a trip to the bush, and always appreciated her time in regional parts of Australia. “I love country towns,” she told The Forbes Phoenix. “Later this year I’ll be a part of a seven week tour of Australia in a theatre production which starts in Sydney and finishes in Perth.”

“I really can’t wait to get to visit more country towns on that tour.” While Mann expressed her love for rural Australia, more specifically, she said she loved the town of Forbes. This week had been her first visit to the town and shire, a trip she said she was very glad to have made in her second appearance as an Australia Day ambassador after appearing in Byron Bay last year. “It’s a beautiful town Forbes,” she said. “There is so much civic pride, the town is beautifully kept, and everyone I’ve met here is so happy to live here. There is a lot of community pride in Forbes.”

Mrs Mann was joined in Forbes by husband Scott Hartford-Davis, and spent most of the week touring the region with Forbes Shire Council Mayor Phyllis Miller. Mrs Mann attended the main Australia Day events at Colin McKenzie Park including the announcement of the Forbes Citizens of the Year, and also made an appearance at the Diggers Swimming Club event on Tuesday morning. She said she would be spending most of her professional time this year on theatre work at this stage

News on Rankin are the Back to School Specialists with readymade schools packs available for all local schools available instore now with different supplies for each school and year. The team are also happy to do all out of town school packs if clients want to drop in their lists of what you need or better yet, give them a call on 68521008 and let one of the friendly staff assist you in getting you or your child ready for the school year, News on Rankin are more than happy to tackle the Back to School whirlwind for you.

Pick up a copy of the Back to School catalogue which is out now, check out the massive savings and all stock is competitively priced, not only for the back to schoolers but fantastic for stocking up on all office supplies and stationary for the busy year ahead. News on Rankin have a large range of cards, giftware, toys and the most important lotto tickets and scratchies. With the friendly service they provide it’s hard not to pop down and let them give you a hand with whatever you need and if you spend over $50.00 in store you will go into the draw for the chance to win an IPAD. Like them on Facebook to keep up-to-date with specials and sales happening.

Australian and New South Wales rugby league legends Brad Fittler, Nathan Hindmarsh and Steve Menzies will visit Forbes on February 16 as part of their ‘Hogs for the Homeless’ tour. The tour will see the three former National Rugby League players visit local schools, conduct rugby league football clinics, before arriving at the Forbes Services Club for a fundraising dinner.

‘Hogs for the Homeless’ is an initiative formed by Brad Fittler in partnership with Harley-Davidson to support Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off the Streets campaign, and aims to tackle homelessness in NSW. Fittler, Hindmarsh and Menzies will ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles across the state on their tour to regional areas. Mr Fittler said in a statement he looked forward to the tour. “It’s a very worthwhile cause and it is always wonderful to see so many rugby league fans throughout this state come together to help out,” he said.

Forbes Services Club manager David Fitzgerald said he was excited to host part of the event at his club. “We anticipate the community at large will support this opportunity to meet some NRL Legends and to help raise funds,” he said. “Our commitment to helping the boys raise much needed funds it is donate $7 from every $20 ticket sold to attend a Q&A dinner at the club.”

Forbes Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre treasurer Aileen Allen says funding from the state government to allow it to upgrade its pavilion is much needed. The outdoor riverside facility, designed to host aboriginal cultural events and social functions, had been lacking a barbeque and seating arrangement in it’s pavilion- two essential items for outdoor socialising.

But the Dreaming Centre was successful in obtaining $10,000 of state government funding through a $55,000 grant awarded to community based organisations by member for Orange Andrew Gee late last year. The money will be used to install an electric BBQ as well as two tables with seats on either side of it.

With electricity yet to be installed at the Centre, the cost of the upgrades will total $12,000, but Ms Allen said the grant still meant improvements were possible. “We’ve raised enough money through other grants to put this project together,” she said. “We don’t have electricity here at the moment so the cost has gone up a bit to get it put in.”

“I’d like to thank Andrew Gee for the grant. Before we would bring in a portable BBQ but we really need one that is there all the time.” The Centre has, unfortunately, been subject to vandalism, with the sprinkler system installed last year coming under damage, which the Centre has constantly been left out of pocket paying for.

Ms Allen said because of this it was also important for the Centre to install security cameras before getting the BBQ up and running. “We’re looking at installing two solar powered security cameras to try and stop vandals from damaging the new BBQ,” she said. “Kids that come here have seen them before, but it’s hard to report them without evidence.”

“We’re not allowed to install a fence around the Centre, so it’s the best thing we can do to protect it.”
In another positive, the Centre will receive the services of two people from the ‘Working for the Dole’ program, a federal government initiative that allows people on welfare to accrue skills and knowledge while helping out in the community. Ms Allen said these people would provide valuable help in maintaining the facility.

NSW Premier Mike Baird, Deputy Premier Troy Grant, Health Minister Jillian Skinner and Member for Orange Andrew Gee officially opened the new $40.9 million Forbes Hospital redevelopment on Tuesday. Mr Baird said the Forbes community now has access to a contemporary hospital that will meet their needs now and in the future.

“Forbes Hospital is part of our record investment in health infrastructure across the state and I’m delighted to see it delivered,” Mr Baird said. The new Forbes Hospital features an emergency department, inpatient unit, birthing suites for maternity services and clinical support services, including medical imaging. Mr Grant said Forbes may be a small community, but it deserves only the very best in healthcare.

“The people of Forbes deserve worldclass facilities and that is exactly what we have delivered as part of this redevelopment,” Mr Grant said. Mrs Skinner said Forbes Hospital now has the best of both worlds, with the new
state-of-the-art facility adjacent to the charming heritage building. “Forbes is one of the most beautiful hospitals I have visited across the state and I’m pleased it can now offer the level of services the community expects,” she said.

Mr Gee said patients and staff have been benefiting from the new building since moving in late last year.