Forbes Art Society hosted another successful Art Exhibition in the Forbes Town Hall on Friday 23 October.
‘From Somewhere Down The Lachlan’ was an exhibition of works from two well-known local artists – Rosie Johnston and Jac Clark.

Rosie is an artist and award winning graphic designer who began painting seriously in her mid-30’s. She originally began working with water colours and smaller paintings before moving onto to much larger impressionist style pieces in bold strong acrylic colours for which she is now associated with.

Jac Clark is the owner of Morabon Print and Design in Parkes has been painting professionally since 2006. Her artworks are bold, vibrant portraits of animals and people. Jac had the privilege of painting Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty, and this painting was accepted into the Portia Geach Exhibition, Australia’s most prestigious art prize for portraiture by female artists.

Jac was also asked to paint popular local singer, Celia Pavey and received many accolades for her 2015 Archibald entry ‘Dr Karl, pose 5’. Both artists displayed more than twenty pieces each and organisers were pleased with the response to the exhibition launch on Friday evening. The exhibition is open for public viewing until Sunday 1st November.

The Forbes Dancing With the Stars charity event is fast approaching and twenty local identities are nervously and excitedly preparing their routines for the big night. Local farmer and passionate dancer, Noel Fuge, is one of the contestants and is looking forward to showing off his dance moves.

“I was very dubious about it, but the more I get into it, I’m really enjoying it,” he said. “We started off a bit wary, but the people organising it are putting so much into it so I feel we should try hard and put our bit into it as well.”

Like many people, Noel’s life has also been touched in some way by cancer, and with all profits from the event going to Can Assist Forbes, this is a cause close to Noel’s heart. “Two of my best mates just passed away from cancer,” Noel says. “We were the same age and I grew up with both of them.”

Noel’s dancing partner for the event, Denise Jelbart, said when she received a phone call asking if she would like to take part in a charity event for Can Assist, she jumped at the chance. “I’m a breast cancer survivor and I’m twenty years down the track from having cancer. They helped us a lot in regards to travel and they were great,” said Denise.

“I’m dedicating my dance to all the breast cancer survivors in the Forbes area. I thought, why not give it to the living; the ones who have survived – the ones in my boat.” “It will be unique and I’m looking forward to dancing with Noel because he is a great dancer and a great person.”

Tickets for Dancing With the Stars are on sale now at the Forbes Services Memorial Club.

Earlier this month 106 women were recognised in the 2015 Hidden Treasures Roll which celebrates the valuable volunteer work that women do within regional and remote communities throughout rural NSW.

Seven of the recipients hail from Forbes and include Nikki Patten, Narelle Shaw, Maree Yapp, Peg Clifton, Julie Herridge, Sue Uphill and Heather Mann. Each of these women have devoted their time to improving the lives of others and the local area. Maree Yapp, the Schools Community Centres coordinator, was “surprised and humbled” by the announcement and thought that the letter was to inform her of the success of the women who she had nominated. Maree works with a lot of volunteers on a regular basis through the Forbes North Public School Breakfast program and understands the importance of volunteering.

“It keeps things ticking over in the community. Volunteers get all the little things done which keep programs going to help others” Maree explained.“ Volunteering is not only a financial benefit to the community it is good for your own health. When you help others it makes you feel happy and lowers your stress levels”. Maree is in good company with the other local ladies who have been named on the 2015 Honour Roll and believes that there are others in the community who give much more than her. She, like many others, do not give to the community for recognition
but for a sense of belonging. She is passionate about the community which is evident in the dedication she displays in everything she does.

Maree believes the Hidden Treasures Honour Roll is not only a chance to recognise and celebrate the diversity and important roles women play in their local areas but an opportunity to encourage others to become actively involved in volunteering and contributing to the sustainability of their community.

The Honour Roll was launched in 2010 and these special ladies join more than 700 women who have now been recognised for their generosity and hard work. Forbes Shire Council are planning to pay tribute to these remarkable ladies with a small reception following the next council meeting on the 19th November.

Dust off your blue suede shoes and preen that pompadour to perfection because there’s a whole lot of rocking competitions at the 2016 Parkes Elvis Festival! Registrations for the Festival’s popular Busking Competition and the McDonald’s Rock’n’Roll Dancing Competition are now open.

For the buskers, there are fantastic cash prizes and trophies on offer with the top three buskers chosen by popular vote. The three busking big shots will then compete for the title of Best Busker. In the Dancing Competition, entrants will be judged on their enthusiasm, attitude, rockin’ moves and costume. There are junior and senior categories so dancers of any age can join in.

If you’re not a dancer or a singer, there are plenty of other ways to get involved in the Festival with the annual Poets’ Breakfast and Elvis Edible Art competitions. More than 120 free and ticketed events, shows, concerts and competitions will feature on the 2016 program which is now available online and in print pocket-guide format. For more information, visit www.parkeselvisfestival.com.au

Forbes High School turns 50 this year and groups of ex-students are organising school reunions to coincide with the milestone birthday.

One of those groups is the Class of 1988, and they are putting the word out, hoping to get as many people as possible from their year to join the reunion at Forbes Sport & Recreation Club on Friday 13 November. The organising committee behind the reunion have been friends since school, making sure to keep in contact after 26 years.

“We all get together once every 2 to 3 months for a cuppa and a catch-up,” says reunion organiser Tami Stewart. “We had one for our 20 year reunion and it was great. So many people came. We were supposed to have one for 25 years
but everyone was just too busy.” “With the school’s 50th anniversary coming up we thought why not get together?”

Tami hopes any ex-students still living in Forbes, or any of their parents, will pass the message on and help the Class of ’88 have their biggest High School reunion yet. If you want to connect with your old school buddies from 1988, check out the Forbes High School Class of 1988 Facebook page and remember to pass the message on!

The National Barbeque Championships held in Forbes on Saturday 17th October were hailed a huge success according to committee President and Forbes Councillor, Chris Roylance.

Sixteen teams donned their aprons and tongs to compete for the coveted trophy with the overall winners, Melbourne based team “Natural Born Grillers”. The Melbourne duo of Pan Van Duinen and Andrew Kavanagh were inspired to enter the event when members of the National Barbeque committee attended the Barbeque Festival in Melbourne earlier this year. The pair were very excited with the win and plan to return next year to defend their title.

Many of the teams competing on the day were locals and really got into the spirit with inventive team names, uniforms and decorated workstations. Peter Ashcroft, local chef and regular judge for the championships was impressed with the standard of meats presented for judging. “There has definitely been an improvement over the years, and the variety of flavours experienced this year was exceptional”.

Each team had to prepare and present four different cuts of meat by specific times and winners of each category were spread across many teams. The overall winner was determined after the Last category was judged. The meat was supplied by Bernardi’s IGA and Peter was extremely impressed with the quality.

TV Chef and personality “Fast” Ed Halmagyi, certainly drew a crowd for his cooking demonstrations. “He was a real showman” Peter said and the crowd really enjoyed his simple instructions and his down to earth personality. Peter
liked the way Ed told the crowd there was no need to buy the most expensive ingredients, they just needed to be a good quality. Ed was very impressed with the event and plans to come back next year as a competitor.

The committee are meeting this week to commence preparations and confirm dates for the 2016 Event which they believe will be bigger and better than ever.

As the state-wide Cooee March approaches, towns and villages along the route are now finalising arrangements to welcome the marchers to their communities, commemorating all those who volunteered to service in WWI.

The Central Western portion of the march, the Boomerang March, is a unique part of the history of the region. The March was one of nine snowballing recruiting marches held throughout NSW in late 1915 and early 1916.

In this centenary year of the ANZAC, the 2015 Boomerang March aims to use this history of volunteering to focus on the present day volunteers who serve our communities – the Rural Fire Service, the State Emergency Service, Defence Reserves, the Country Women’s Association, Progress Associations, Rotary, Lions, Apex, sporting and special purpose committees.

“The energy and effort that local groups and individuals are putting into this commemoration continues to amaze me. Some of these communities are very small, yet they are embracing the March with open arms – very much in the spirit of volunteering that we are celebrating,” said March coordinator Kim Templeton.

The March will pass through Forbes, Eugowra, Gooloogong, Canowindra, Billimari, Cowra, Woodstock, Lyndhurst, Mandurama, Carcoar, Blayney, Newbridge and Perthville. The March will leave Parkes on Saturday 31 October and end in Bathurst on Tuesday 10 November where the Boomerangs meet up with the Kookaburra March coming
from Tooraweenah via Mudgee.

March organisers are looking for full-time or part-time marchers to represent their community in this unique opportunity to relive a special part of history. An Expression of Interest form is available on the Boomerang
website www.cooeemarch.org.au/boomerangs.

History will be repeated on Saturday 31 October when the Boomerang March travels from Parkes to Forbes by train.
A re-enactment of the World War I “Boomerangs” recruiting March will take place throughout towns across the state including Forbes in a celebration of the volunteer values which have been epitomised in the ANZAC Spirit.

The original marches from Parkes, Bogan Gate, Alectown, Condobolin and Peak Hill left Parkes on 19 January 1916, picking up recruits along the route through Forbes, Eugowra, Gooloogong, Canowindra, Billimari, Cowra, Woodstock, Lyndhurst, Mandurama, Carcoar, Blayney, Newbridge, Georges Plains and Perthville. A contingent of 202 men marched into Bathurst on 5 February 1916.

This re-enactment will commence and finish a few months earlier than the historically correct dates but the route will still pass through most of the communities visited on the original march. Participants will travel from Bathurst
to Sydney and join with participants of six other recruiting march re-enactments to attend the Remembrance Day service in Martin Place.

“The original marchers were the ultimate volunteers, signing up for military service and heading to a war that was no longer an unknown adventure,” says Cooee March 2015 organiser Helen Templeton. The Lachlan Valley Railway will run three return motor rail trips during the day from Forbes to Parkes providing a unique opportunity for families to travel to the Boomerang March commemorative events in both towns. Lachlan Valley Rail will also be running
two 80-minute heritage rail trips. The first will leave Parkes at 9:30am, returning at 10:50am. The second will depart from Forbes at 12:30pm and return at 1:40pm.

To book tickets on any of the trips visit www.lvr.com.au. Register your interest as a marcher at www.cooeemarch.org.au/boomerangs/.

Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is calling on Forbes residents to show their support for the charity by simply rocking their Ronald socks off in the lead up to McHappy Day on Saturday 17 October.

For the first time, the all-new Ronald Socks have been added as an item to the fundraising mix and are a fun way for people to show their support for RMHC. Now in its 25th year, McHappy Day raises money for RMHC which creates, finds and supports programs across Australia that help seriously ill children and their families. Their programs help families all the way along the often long journey to recovery, including providing a home-away-from-home for a night or even a year so families can stay together in a friendly environment; through to providing school catch-up services through the Learning Program.

This year, one of Australia’s favourite musicians Ricki-Lee has been announced as this year’s Ambassador for McHappy Day. She is encouraging Australians to get out and about on Saturday to help raise a record $3.4 million for RMCH. Ricki-Lee has had a long and close association with RMHC since she participated in her first ever charity activity – visiting the families at Ronald McDonald House in Sydney in 2004 when she was on Australian Idol.

This visit had a profound effect on Ricki with her commitment to the charity continuing seeing her perform at multiple RMHC Balls and naming RMHC as her charity of choice when she competed in Dancing with the Stars in 2014.

To get involved, Forbes families can share how they are rocking their socks off for McHappy Day on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram by using the hashtag #McHappyDay. It can be as simple as showcasing your air guitar skills or best Elvis hairdo!

Forbes own branch of Neighbourhood Watch hosted its first ever Home Security Information Expo at Bunnings on Sunday 11 October. About 45 people attended the event including Mayor Phyllis Miller who opened the Expo by
welcoming the audience and thanking Bunnings for coming to Forbes.

Police Constable Daniel Greef spoke for a while on a range of issues and provided some very good tips on how to improve the security in your home, around your home and when obtaining cash from ATMs. Constable Greef can also offer free home security assessments so if you are interested, feel free to give him a call at the Forbes Police
Station on 6853 9999.

Bunnings staff members presented informative, helpful and entertaining demonstrations on a great range of home security products, including alarms, locks, safes and solar lights. Seven lucky people in the audience also won some fantastic prizes which were generously donated by Bunnings.

After the Expo, a BBQ was hosted by Forbes Neighbourhood Watch volunteers. The organisers would like to sincerely thank the Mayor for attending, the Forbes Shire Council for their financial support for this event, Anita Morrison for her efforts and suggestions, Bunnings for staging this Expo at their Forbes store, Constable Daniel Greef, Bunnings staff members April Townsend, Brenda Weatherall, Sid Zuliani, Jason Godden and the people of Forbes who attended this successful Home Security Information Expo. Enjoy living in Forbes!