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.

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.

Local man James Irvine is making every effort to promote local performers through his involvement with community radio station 2LVR. James volunteers for the station as a radio host and is working hard to develop a new segment – “Unchartered”.

Unchartered is a segment designed to showcase music from unknown artists, promoting and encouraging local talent. At first the response to the new segment was limited, but after further advertising campaigns the program is gaining momentum. James’ playlist is increasing with very positive results. James uses the air time as a vehicle to
promote local and Central West artists. He invites them into the studio to perform their music live and chat with the host. This medium is such a great way for the musicians to connect with their audience in a personal way.

Although live performances and interviews are preferred, there is the opportunity to make alternate arrangements. Musicians can simply forward a copy of their original pieces of music and conduct interviews via the phone.

James already has a number of local artists on the playlist, including Chelsea Turner, Maddi Collits and popular local band House of Tribes, but he is constantly on the lookout for more. James is hoping to increase the variety of music he is able to play and cater to the tastes of a broader audience.

If you are interested or know of any local talents who would benefit from this type of exposure, want more information or would like to arrange a meeting, please contact 2LVR on 6852 4288 or call James Irvine on
0400 054 381. Unchartered airs on 2LVR between 8pm and 11pm on Wednesdays. Tune in to hear
the freshest local talent and support artists in the Central West.

White Ribbon commenced in 2003 and is Australia’s only national male led campaign to end men’s violence against women. It is the vision of White Ribbon Day that all women live in safety, free from all forms of men’s violence. It’s making women’s safety a man’s issue too.

The Forbes Domestic Violence Committee decided to take a proactive approach to this issue three years ago and organised the White Ribbon Day March. The March gained a lot of support from the community and was a very successful event.

Last year ultra-marathon runner Kirrily Dear used the march as the finishing point for her Run Against Violence, a 860km run over 12 days. The run aimed to get everyone talking about steps they can take to end domestic violence.

“In Australia, one in four children is exposed to domestic violence,” says White Ribbon Australia CEO Libby Davies.
“Over 12 months, on average, one woman is killed every week in Australia as a result of intimate partner violence. Alarmingly, this figure is rising. A woman is most likely to be killed by her current or former male partner in her own home.”

“We all like to think that all of us, our family, our friends, colleagues and neighbours, are safe at home. Most of us believe this is a basic human right and would be outraged if it were taken from us. But sadly, for many of us, this is not always the case,” Libby said.

The White Ribbon Day March will be held on Wednesday 25th November, commencing at 10am in Spring Street, travel down Lachlan Street, into Court Street for the official ceremonies in Victoria Park. Michele Harmer from Binaal Billa would have more information on 1800 700 218.

Forbes Council Shire have reaffirmed their position to stand alone in response to the IPART assessment of its Fit for the Future proposal at a special meeting this week. The Council’s decision was backed up by Member for Orange Andrew Gee, who says that he fully supports their stance to stand alone.

“Forbes Shire Council has voted unanimously to continue to stand alone, and I have made it clear from the start, I will be backing them to the hilt,” Mr Gee said. “While I accept that people have differing views on the issue, and I, and we as a community certainly need to respect those views, the overwhelming feedback I’ve had at both the community meeting earlier this month, and through a phone survey conducted by Council, is that the communities
of Forbes would rather stand alone.” “Being a local member is about backing your local communities through thick and thin, and while there is no doubt that this is a very tough battle, I’ll be in there fighting for the Forbes community until this thing is done.”

Mayor Phyllis OAM said the response from the community at the public meeting and the telephone survey showed 72% wanted to stand alone.

Local Forbes musician, Jake Ellison who is a guitarist and vocalist from the popular local band House of Tribes, has received quite a prestigious award. Named as Highly Commended in the 2015 Australian Children’s Music Foundation National Songwriting Competition for his song “Underdog”, Jake and his supporters are thrilled with the result.

“I’m really stoked about it and it puts me up with the top composers in the country for my age group,” Jake said.
It was Jake’s music teacher, Don Ruttan who suggested Jake enter the competition. “There were only two days left to enter. Mr Ruttan was about to delete the email. We entered anyway thinking, you never know where it might get you.”

Jake says that Underdog, which is featured on House of Tribes recent debut album Paint it Red, is a song inspired by some of the struggles faced in day to day life. It is a touching and inspiring melody featuring the kind of beautiful acoustics and rising harmonies that give you goosebumps. “I wrote it about bullying. It’s about trying
to stay strong and keep with it,” said Jake. Order a copy of Paint it Red by sending your order to HouseOfTribes@outlook.com.au or listen to House of Tribes on You-Tube.