Autumn is the perfect time to hold a garage sale, and The Forbes Phoenix is here to help. Garage sales are an easy way to transform trash into treasure. Selling unwanted items also eases the burden on the environment, allowing people to reuse and recycle goods.

What to do? Collect all the unwanted items from your house, and figure out a price. A general guide is to ask 25 to 35% of what it cost new. Clothes sell for about 5 to 10% of the original cost. Place any free items towards the back, so buyers see your priced items first. Make sure you have enough change and plastic bags to give to buyers.

Advertise your sale in the Phoenix Trash & Treasure Trails to let over 2,000 readers know where to bag a bargain. For a quote contact Sylvie Maloney on 0490 517 590 or email sales@parkes- phoenix.com.au

Canowindra, in the heart of NSW and situated on the banks of the Belubula River, offers small country hospitality and affordable living.

The best thing about Canonwindra and its historic curving main street, is that you are in the heart of the country, but not very far from a handful of major centres: Orange is just 45 minutes away, Cowra 20 minutes, Bathurst 60 minutes, Parkes 50 minutes, Canberra 2 hours and Sydney 3.5 hours.

Best friends will do a lot for each other, but this week Gillian Davis had the surprise of a lifetime for her friend Lee Reynolds.

She astonished Lee in front of every- one at the College for Seniors meeting on Tuesday with a letter from Queen Elizabeth II. Gillian had written to the Queen and in- cluded Lee’s poems she had written in the Queen’s honour. One of Lee’s poems sent to the Queen was in honour of her 90th birthday and the other on the passing of the Queen’s mother.

Forbes Public School students learn in a stimulating and challenging environment with a 21st century approach to school- ing. Students are supported as individuals ensuring all children reach their full poten- tial by developing creative, confident and informed future leaders of the community. Strong academic, sporting, cultural and cre- ative arts programs, highly dedicated staff and wonderful families combine to form a school community that has its students at heart.

Despite the major disruption to school routines during the floods last year, the students of Bedgerabong School continued to shine.

Achievements in 2016 include: individual and team representation at NSW level in four sports, award winners at the Cowra and Forbes Eisteddfod, CWA public speak- ing and cooking honours, University of NSW competition awards and a sell-out performance at the Sydney Opera House as part of the NSW Small Schools Marimba Ensemble.

There are three classes at Bedgerabong this year with eight new kindergarten stu- dents: Kindie-Yr 2, Yr 3-4 and Yr 5-6 with small numbers in each class.

This year will maintain its focus on suc- cessful and enjoyable programs, such as the Get Yourself Moving (GYM) featuring circus arts and gymnastics. This includes unicycling, stilt walking, acrobatics, clown- ing and much more. It is a wonderful student engagement success story with students eagerly awaiting Thursdays to work on mas- tering their circus skills. The performing arts, Marimba, and kitchen garden, Tootie Fruity, programs will also be high on the kids to-do lists.

Invigorating! Socially interactive! Illuminating! Tai Chi participants used these words to describe their first class for the year on Tuesday.

“It’s all about you and your health. We impart the facts and make it fun,” said in- structor Cheryl Shirvington.

More than 30 people of all ages turned up for the first class. First participants were introduced to individual movements, and later the movements were choreographed together into forms.

“Tai Chi brings your focus to the here and now. It is important to breathe deeply and allow your movements to flow,” said Cheryl.

Giggles erupted around the room at times. “You know when you watch a Tai Chi master and they flow? Well, it is just a trick and we are here to teach you that trick!’ laughed Cheryl.

Instructor Sandra Nicholson said she had been practicing Tai Chi for over 10 years, “and I love it as there is never a point where you think there is nothing else to learn or perfect.”

The breakdown of a relationship can emotionally be very hard for all parties. This is sometimes made worse by uncertainty over what you should be doing when it comes to making decisions about your children.

There are often big decisions about where the children are going to live and what time the other parent may have with the kids.

Under the Family Law Act it is assumed that parents have equal shared parental responsibility, whether they are the par- ent who has the children living with them or only spending some weekend time with them. This means both parents have to de- cide on the major long-term issues. These could include what name a child has, what religion the child practises and major medi- cal issues. Everyday decisions, such as what a child eats, what a child wears are the responsibility of the parent the children are with at the time.

The only time a parent doesn’t have equal shared parental responsibility for the chil- dren is when a court order states otherwise. If a court order states a parent has sole pa- rental responsibility, then they do not have to consult with the other parent on major long term issues.

In a situation where you do not have a court order, the other parent still has equal shared parental responsibility.

It is very important to know where you stand in relation to your obligation to com- municate and consult with the other parent regarding important long-term decisions for your children.

It is always better to obtain legal advice regarding disputes relating to parenting issues. Danielle Cartwright, our resident Family Law Solicitor is able to provide you with advice.