Articles Archives - Page 305 of 405

Uncover Christmas Treasures In Forbes

November 23, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Forbes Business Chamber is once again hosting the Find It In Forbes This Christmas promotion and festival. Shoppers will be rewarded by purchasing from any of the 35 participating businesses. This will put you into the draw to win $20,000.

Participating businesses are: Agriwest; Allure on Main; Bernardis Supermarket; Betta Home Living Forbes; Blue Sky Outdoor Experts; Blush Organic Beauty ; Bowns Sports Power; Brons Hair Design; C & D Floor; Cahills Footwear; Chapter 2; Country Bakehouse; Eye Wear Specs; Flannerys Pharmacy; Forbes Family Dentists; Forbes Inn; Forbes Small Engines; Gottoluvit; Gunns Mensland; Hello World; Hozpots; Lady Bird Boutique; Little Extras; Loomzys Fish and Fix; Made Of Fridays; News On Rankin; Painted Daisies; Pantry Cafe & Catering; Phillip Wells Optometrist; Robbs Jewellers; Roylances Auto One; Turners Furniture One; Undercover Sleepwear; Vandenberg Hotel and Walkers Ag N Vet.

Free Workshop Helping Learner Drivers

November 23, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Parents and supervisors of local learner drivers are encouraged to attend a free workshop which will be held at Forbes High School on
Wednesday, 29th November. The free two hour workshop, Helping Learner Drivers Become Safer Drivers, will offer parents and supervisors hands-on advice on how to provide the most effective driving practice for learner drivers.

Forbes Shire Council’s Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor, who is presenting the workshop says it is well worth
attending. “Parents and supervisors of learner drivers have a crucial role to play in making our roads safer. That is why Forbes Shire Council have teamed up with Roads and Maritime Services to hold these free two hour workshops to offer practical advice to parents and
supervisors on how to help learner drivers become safer drivers.

“The workshop covers the changes to the licensing system that came into effect 20th November 2017, how to use the Learner Driver Logbook including the use of digital logbooks, licence conditions for learner and P-plate drivers, the benefits of on-road driving sessions,
tips on supervising a learner driver and more.

“Parents and supervisors who have attended this workshop in the past have found that it boosted their confidence, helped them better plan driving sessions and allowed them to share their experiences with other parents and supervisors,” said Melanie.

The Helping Learner Drivers Become Safer Drivers workshop will be held at Forbes High School on Wednesday, 29th November commencing at 6pm. Light refreshments will be available during the workshop. Bookings are essential and can be made by calling Melanie on (02) 6861 2364. For further information please call Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor, on (02) 6861 2364.

Snippets…

November 23, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Oh what a night… Forbes Preschool were represented at the recent State Business Awards in Darling Harbour. Committee members and partners Lara and Charlie Dwyer, Carly and Darren Keane, Lisa and Randal Grayson, Forbes Preschool Director and State Finalist Amy Shine, Sandy Paterson, Steven and Lisa Jarick enjoyed the evening.

Calling All Golfers: Golfers are encouraged to sign up for The Longest Day, a 72-hole golf marathon, to raise funds for Cancer Council NSW. The Longest Day will officially take place on Monday 18th December, but participants can hold their event at their local golf club anytime during December. Participants are challenged to play four rounds of golf in one day at their own club with their friends and fellow members. Choose a day and contact your club to book four tee times, then head to www.longestday.org.au to register and start fundraising.

Skin Cancer Action Week: In NSW alone, 17% of adults admit to having been burnt on summer weekends. This is an estimated number of 881,000 people. This year, everyone is invited (in particular adults) to join the #SunSmartGeneration this National Skin Cancer Action Week.

Firearms Legislation Changes: There have been recent changes to the requirements in relation to the safekeeping of firearms. These changes relate to the storage of firearms and the location at which they are stored. You are now required to store your firearms at your primary residential premises. In simple terms, your primary residence is the address where you most often reside. This change in legislation comes because of a significant amount of firearms thefts from rural properties while those properties are unattended. Police
are asking that firearms owners make changes to their storage arrangements immediately to comply with these changes to the legislation.

Rotary Ipomoea Christmas Tree Festival: Anyone can get involved in designing and creating a Christmas tree of any shape or material that reflects their love of Christmas time. Members of the community are invited to the official opening of the festival on 1st December at 6pm, which will see the trees light up. Enter a tree by phoning Helen on 6851 4930 or Sue-anne on 6851 5197, or send an email to sueanne.nixon@hotmail.com. Entry fee is $5. Anyone can enter any type of tree.

Forbes Public School Market: For the third year running, the market has tripled in size. Lots to do. Live local entertainment, kids zone, pony rides, face paint and much more. Taking place on Saturday, 2nd December from 9am to 2pm in Lachlan Street. Everyone is welcome to join in for a fun filled shopping family day.

Mayoral Notes…

November 23, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

The General Manager and I attended the CENTROC regional meeting this week to discuss the Draft Future Transport Strategy 2056. On the whole we were disappointed with the connectivity to Sydney and will be expressing this in a submission from CENTROC. The draft document is also available online for further public comment at future.transport.nsw.gov.au.

Earlier this week, I had the great pleasure, along with Deputy Mayor Jenny Webb and Councillors Jeff Nicholson and Phyllis Miller, to personally thank the amazing volunteers from the Visitor Information Centre for their many hours promoting and informing visitors about our town.

Council had a very interesting update by Matt Clifton about Vanfest at last week’s Council meeting. Ticket sales are tracking well and hopefully will exceed our expectations. Council also heard a presentation from Monique Pointon, the energetic and enterprising proprietor of the Sweet Three Vintage Van located at Lion’s Park. After driving past last weekend and seeing about 40 cars in the area, she seems to be catering to a new market and Council will be reviewing our policy for businesses to operate on crown land and parks.

Manager Jason Grieve from Evolution Mining spoke at the Council meeting and while announcing an expansion for the mine, he also discussed its new commitment through $150,000 worth of community grants. As well as $500,000 over three years for the sculpture trail. It is very encouraging to see as they grow so too does their commitment and support for our community.

Mayor Graeme Miller

Flannery’s Pharmacy

November 23, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

How Much Sun Is Too Much?

Did you know that 15 minutes is all it may take to damage your skin? A glorious sunny day may give you a spring in your step, but could there be a darker side to sunshine? We all know about the damage tanning booths can do, but the sun can also cause harm to our skin destroying elastic tissue and making it prone to wrinkles. It can also cause discolouration or mottling of the skin and can even make small blood vessels under the skin dilate, causing thread veins.

But the really bad news is that sun exposure increases your risk of skin cancer and if you have red or blonde hair, blue or green eyes and/or freckles you are at a higher risk of developing skin cancer.

While you can’t reverse sun damage, you can cut your risks of skin cancer and further damage dramatically with a few simple sunsafe steps:
• Use a high sun protection factor sunscreen;
• If possible, stay out of the sun between 10am and 3pm;
• Be generous with the sunscreen and reapply every couple of hours;
• Protect your youngsters! About 50% of your lifetime sun exposure is likely to happen before the age of 18 and
• If you notice any skin changes that you think might be cancer, don’t delay – see your doctor.

When applying sunscreen make sure you cover the curves of your body as areas, such as the tops of your ears, shoulders and top of your chest are particularly vulnerable to sun burn.

Interested in knowing more about sun damage…. Flannery’s Pharmacy can help with more information and advice, the latest sun protection products and a daily UV Index report.

Students Time To Educate

November 16, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

A concerned Year 6 group and their teacher are determined to bring awareness and change. The inspiration to research waste management at their school and within the community came after viewing the ABC series, War on Waste.

Kids Teaching Kids Co-ordinator, Trish Henderson and almost 25 students of Forbes Public School decided that they would identify two key improvements that they wanted to make.

Firstly, they wanted to increase the correct separation and disposal of waste into green waste, recycling and general waste.

The students conducted a ‘waste audit’ of all the red bins within their school playground.

The team took on the task to dramatically reduce the amount of general waste sent to landfill by encouraging fellow students to bring less soft plastic to school and to sort their waste into the correct bin.

Secondly, they wanted to increase the number of reusable cups as a consumer’s preferred choice when purchasing takeaway coffee.

They were concerned about the fact that many takeaway coffee cups are non-recyclable. A survey conducted by the students within coffee shops determined that very few customers brought their own cup.

NetWaste Environmental Learning Adviser Sue Clarke said: “This is the way to change attitudes and behaviour for the future!

Many don’t realise that these cups can’t be recycled and there are so many disposable coffee cups that end up in landfills.”

Netwaste have invited Trish and the students to be part of their campaign to reduce disposable coffee cups by providing them with posters for display in participating coffee shops.

By Gizell van Wyk

Six Young People Complete Army Of Green Projects

November 16, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

The third and last Skillset Green Army team graduated at the beginning of this month after 20 weeks of valuable environmental work in the Forbes and Parkes Shire Council areas.

The team consisted of six participants between the ages of 17 and 24 years, overseen by team supervisor, Darrin Kopp.

The team did planting work at the Gum Swamp Painted Snipe Project site and at the Forbes National Tree Day site, Parkes National Tree Day site, Memorial Hill Parkes and Parkes Solar Farm. They also obtained work health safety, First Aid and other training, and assisted at Eco Day at the Central West Livestock Exchange.

“The team did well to make the most of the opportunities, and maintaining and improving biodiversity in our local area,” said Central West Lachlan Landcare (CWLL) Co-ordinator, Marg Applebee. She thanked the Parkes and Forbes Shire Council staff for their support over the 18 months of the program.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Skillset to provide work opportunities for young people in our community.” Marg said she hoped it was the beginning of many great things for the participants and that they would be able to build on the skills they have obtained.

Darrin who worked very closely with the team every day, was rather overwhelmed when he thanked them. “Although you pushed me to the limit at times, I really enjoyed it. It was fantastic!”

The participants all agreed they had gained a lot of knowledge of and a much deeper appreciation for nature.

The focus was on increasing the biodiversity and connecting Grey Box Grassy Woodlands corridors to increase habitat for native species.

CWLL will be taking applications as part of the National Landcare Programme (NLP) initiative. Landholders are encouraged to contact Marg on 6862 4914 if there is a project

that would fit the NLP guidelines.

By Maggi Barnard

Want To Eat More Veggies?

November 16, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

Scientists have come up with an innovative approach to tackling Australia’s poor vegetable intake, with the launch of a new app that challenges people to eat more veggies.

Using a gamified approach, CSIRO’s new VegEze app aims to motivate Australians to add extra vegetables to their daily diets and form long-term, healthier habits through a 21-day ‘Do 3 at Dinner’ challenge.

CSIRO nutritionists will also study how effective the app’s game-like nature is at helping transform people’s eating patterns, as part of a broader research study.

“We need a fresh approach to improve Australia’s vegetable consumption and overall diet quality,” CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist Professor Manny Noakes said.

“Our research found two out of three Australian adults are not eating enough vegetables, especially as part of their evening meal. It’s time to find more engaging, effective

approaches to help break these entrenched diet habits.”

Challenging users to eat three different vegetables at dinner every day for 21 days, the VegEze app helps people track their intake and tally up vegetable serves, with daily reminders and rewards to help people stay motivated and on-track.

“Committing to eating more vegetables every day is one of the most important ways we can improve our health today. Boosting your intake can be as easy as having three types of vegetables taking up half of your dinner plate,” said Manny.

“After just a few weeks using the app every day, users should feel more confident in adding more vegetables to their menu and notice some positive changes to their health and wellbeing.

“The beneficial nutrients and fibre from vegetables can help improve digestion, and fill you up – which can help reduce eating too much unhealthy junk food.”

Since May 2015, CSIRO has studied the dietary habits of more than 191,000 adults for its Healthy Diet Score research.

Eating three types of vegetables as part of the evening meal was found to be a key marker in having a better diet, but further research of 1,068 adults showed some Australians were being held back from eating more vegetables by low awareness, lack of time and low confidence.

To help people overcome these barriers, the VegEze app features educational resources such as a visual guide to specific vegetable serve sizes, vegetable recipes, nutritional information and motivational rewards.

Information from app users will feed back into CSIRO’s study of Australians’ vegetable consumption, while helping to analyse the app’s effectiveness as an education initiative to improve Australia’s poor vegetable score card.

The technology was developed in Australia in collaboration with digital health solution provider SP Health.

To try the 21-day Do 3 at Dinner challenge and participate in the research study, download the free VegEze app via the Apple App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/vegeze/id1268951104

Community Garden Open Day

November 16, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

The Forbes Riverside Community Garden will be hosting its Open Day this Saturday. The Open Day is an opportunity to showcase the Community Garden and to announce the winners of two competitions that they have been running.

The two competition categories to be judged are Best Scarecrow and Best Individual Vegetable Garden Bed.

Approximately 30 scarecrows have been entered into the competition. The judging will be done by popular vote and will take place at the Community Garden in Reymond Street (site of the old Forestry Nursery) between 9am and 1pm.

There are around 20 entries in the Best Individual Vegetable Garden Bed and these will be judged by Darren Kopp.

The presentation of awards will take place between 11.30am and 12.30pm. Prizes for the competition winners have been generously donated by local businesses.

Along with the competitions there will be plant sales, tours of the garden and a sausage sizzle. Entry is free. Sausage sandwiches are $2.00 and cold drinks are $1.00.

Enquiries regarding donating towards the Forbes Riverside Community Garden (a not for profit organisation) can be directed to Anne Hodges on the day.

Swimmer’s Shoulder Part 1

November 16, 2017 by Maggi Barnard

With the weather finally warming up swimming is an ideal way to get a full body workout. Due to the repetitive nature of swimming, overuse injuries in the shoulder and neck are common.

The shoulder is a ball and socket joint with a ring of cartilage around the socket to make the joint more stable. Around this is a loose joint capsule that is reinforced with ligaments and muscles. Because the shoulder is a very mobile joint it relies on the action of these muscles and ligaments to maintain stability. These muscles are called the rotator cuff and consist of four muscles that work together to keep your shoulder centred in its socket.

So if swimming strengthens the shoulder muscles why do so many swimmers have shoulder problems?

The simple answer is due to the repetitive nature of swimming. The more complex answer lies in the fact that many swimmers don’t have good stroke technique, while those that do, can still have problems because the swim stroke (in particular freestyle) mainly strengthens the shoulder internal rotators and adductors. This causes muscle imbalance, leaving the scapular stabilisers and external rotators relatively weak and joint laxity increases. The rotator cuff must work harder to keep the shoulder centred in the socket. When the already relatively weakened external rotators fatigue, the ball of the shoulder joint moves forward and the tendon of the rotator cuff muscles is pinched between the bones as the hand is raised above shoulder height.

Next column I will cover some practical ways to prevent this from happening and what to do if you already have problems. For the fitness of you.

Linda Reilly

Subscribe