Nominations are open for the Forbes Shire Citizen of the Year (26 years and over) and Forbes Shire Young Citizen of the Year (25 years and younger). The awards recognise and reward community members who have displayed a
consistent record of excellence and made a significant contribution to our community.

Nominations are open to all residents of the Forbes Shire and the awards will be presented at Australia Day celebrations on Thursday, 26th January next year. Australia Day celebrations will be held at Colin McKenzie Park.
Mayor Graeme Miller encouraged residents to put forward a community member who deserved to be recognised as the Forbes Shire Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year.

“If you know someone who has been the backbone of a community group or has shown an outstanding achievement in academic or sporting fields, make sure you nominate them for the prestigious awards,” the Mayor said. Nominations close at 5pm on 18th January. Forms can be collected from Council’s Administration Office or downloaded from the Council website. If you would like to be involved in the Australia Day planning contact Blake Nicholson on 6850 2355.

A 16-year-old Forbes High student won third place in a national songwriting competition. Paige Ellison came third in the Year 11/12 section of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF) National Songwriting Competition with her song Ropes. “It is really amazing. I am so excited,” said Paige of her success after entering for the second time.

She started writing songs when she was 14. She is the lead vocalist for local band House Of Tribes and also writes most of the songs for the band. She fronts the band with her brother Jake, who received a highly commended in the same section of the competition in 2015 for his composition Underdog. Paige’s song will feature on the band’s new album, ‘We Still Have Hearts’, which is set for release in mid-January 2017. “I think with all the publicity my song is
getting, it will help our band a lot.” Paige, who also plays guitar, piano, ukulele and mandolin, said it would be lovely to turn her music into a career one day.

The band has been going for three and a half years and they play folk indie music. They perform mostly locally but have also played in Dubbo, Young, Orange and other towns in the Central West. You can hear Paige’s song and all the
other winning songs at http://acmf.com.au/

The National Songwriting Competition (NSC) is the longest running and most successful children’s songwriting competition in Australia. Don Spencer, Founder and CEO of the ACMF, launched the competition fourteen years ago to inspire creativity, imagination and self-expression in children. “I was thrilled by the quality of this year’s entries,” said Don. Entries were judged by music industry experts in Sydney. Since its inception, more than 26,000 songs have been written for the competition.

By Maggi Barnard

There’s so much to see at Flannery’s Pharmacy with new skin care ranges and new organic and gluten free health foods. Check out the Jojoba skincare range, which uses natural plant oils and extracts, is gentle on the skin and free from harmful detergents, chemicals and parabens. It’s great for people with sensitive skin and is Australian made!

Also instore now is the Honest to Goodness health foods range featuring organic nuts, spelt, quinoa, raw honey, tahini, nut spread and more! For those who need gluten free products, we have a new range from Orgran including pastas, crispbreads, pancake mixture, custard and gravy.

If you’re looking for Christmas gifts, Flannery’s has a fabulous range of beauty, bath and body products including Natio, MOR, Trilogy and InEssence gift packs and new body ranges such as Bronnley Rhubarb and Peony and White Grape, and a gorgeous range of candles and diffusers.

There’s a great range of fine and lifestyle fragrances including new fragrances from Hugo Boss, Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Chloe. There’s also a wide range of fragrance gift sets for both men and women. You’ll find everything you need for Christmas at Flannery’s Pharmacy. Call in and the friendly team will help you select your gifts and wrap them for free!

One of Australia’s most loved and leading comic entertainers Vince Sorrenti will be in Forbes next year for the Rugby Union Club’s major annual fundraiser. Vince will be the guest speaker at the President’s Lunch on Saturday, 18th March with an expected attendance of 880 guests. Vince, a four-time winner of the Mo Award for Australia’s Best Stand-Up Comic, is highly sought after as a host and performer.

He not only has a career as a TV host, but is also an actor, MC and writer. The event will again be managed by the
table captain system, which sees invitations sent to representatives who manage payments and attendance for a table of ten. There is ever-increasing demand for seats so numbers will be capped in 2017. Community members who would like to be added to the waitlist for table captaincy or fill-in attendance are invited to email rugbylunchforbes@
gmail.com. Existing table captains should expect to receive event information soon.

With the weather finally warming up swimming is an ideal way to get a full body workout. Unfortunately 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 and 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 then 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 happening and what to do if you already have impingement problems.

“For the fitness of you”
Linda Reilly

More than $1,500 worth of prizes were won at the annual Find it in Forbes Christmas Festival. The festival had lots to offer for everyone from the Forbes Farmers Markets to kids rides and entertainment, and performances by Kristin’s Dance Studio and the Red Bend Marching Band. The three $500 Why Leave Town cards were won by Maddi Noble, Matthew Little and Robyn Kenny respectively. The names drawn for the two $100 cards were Wendy
Burke and Shan Pearce.

The major prize pool of $15,000 will be drawn on Thursday, 22nd December at 6pm. There will be three prizes, plus a bonus card prize. Everyone making a purchase in participating stores will receive entries.