Drainage work commenced in Press Street on Wednesday and construction will be com- pleted in four stages with the first stage from Press Street to the Forbes Pool entrance. Stage two crosses the pool entrance, stage three will be to Lawler Street and stage four is replacing the drain to Webb Street.

Remedial drainage work has also been undertaken in Calarie Road, Alder, Belah, Dawson and Farnell Streets, Bogan Gate Road and Sam Street.

The recent downpour was an extreme event, close to the 1 in 50 year average re- currence interval, based on reported rainfall values. The rain event exceeded the capaci- ty of the stormwater drainage pipe networks, which are designed for a 1 in 5 year average recurrence interval stormwater event.

Inspections have been undertaken on several of the stormwater drainage systems since the downpour and have highlighted areas where some upgrades are required. These have been added to Council’s survey and design program for detailed investiga- tion.

Council has also announced that Paytens Bridge, across the Lachlan River on Pay- tens Bridge Road west of Eugowra, has reopened to all traffic and pedestrians with a speed restriction of 10km/hour and width restriction of 3.1 meters.

The Red Bend cattle team returned from the Sydney Royal Easter Show not only with a first and third place ribbon but also a host of great memories.

Lunch Box 2, one of the purebred Limousin steers, was placed first in the middle- weight class and our lightweight Limousin steer, Kubota was placed third in his class. Both steers were bred by Phil and Sheridan Kirk – parents of a student, Laura.

Four steers were auctioned following judging and Lunch Box 2 was sold for $7.00/kg – amazing what people will pay for a ribbon. The other three sold well. The remainder of the six steers will be sold over the grid. The steers were next judged on the hook (carcass) with the results announced at the end of the week.

On Monday Mikayla Carey, Natalie Hayes, Kelsey Muller and Laura Kirk competed in the state finals of the beef cattle parading with Mikayla gaining a fifth place.

Mitch Rubie was also placed fifth in the state finals of the meat sheep judging. Kelsey and Natalie were competing in the state finals for fruit and vegetables, grain and sheep.

Apart from the judging the students gained so much more: from meeting students from other schools, talking with people from the beef industry, the media, interacting with the public and shopping at Woolworths Rosehill all added to their life experience.

The ten students at the show represented Red Bend immensely well. I was very proud of them and returned really positive and satisfied.

Thank you to Andrew Norton-Knight and Gerard Barklimore for their continued sup- port, and to Brother Michael for his visit on Thursday – our main judging day.

By Susan Earl

“The sky has no national borders or ethnic divisions. We all share the sky and we all have sky stories in our lives.”

This is what inspired Forbes-based author Merrill Findlay to start the Skywriters project. After many years of spending time in war zones and with refugees and asylum seekers as a freelance writer, Merrill was looking for something that would unite people.

Last Thursday Forbes became the 10th of 12 locations over a 700km area where the Skywriters Project has been launched. “It’s been fantastic so far, overwhelming,” said Merrill of the almost 800 people who had already signed up. “Not one person has had the same experience or story.”

Skywriters will create sky stories of up to 3,000 words in any genre for a Skywrit- er’s anthology to be published in 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of humanity’s first steps on the moon. With the Parkes radio telescope playing a vital role in the first moon landing, Merrill is planning a first social event for the Skywriters at The Dish.

Apart from leading workshops and individual sessions with editors to hone their skills and get their work to publish- able quality, Merrill also sees the project as a way of building a supportive network of rural writers. “People in the bush have a lot of creativity, but they are also very isolated.”

The Skywriters Project is part of a larger initiative, the Big Skies Collaboration, a creative coming together of arts practitioners, astronomers and local communities to celebrate millennia of astronomies on the inland plains and share their stories about their own or other people’s relationships with the cosmos.

“We are still very privileged to see clear night sky – all the more reason to tell what it is to have a big sky,” said Merrill.

By Maggi Barnard

Ava Del Tufo won the state final of the Lions Youth of The Year Quest hosted by the Forbes and District Lions Club at the Forbes Services Memorial Club on Saturday.

The 17-year-old from Ulladulla High School, was sponsored by the Pambula Merimbula Lions Club. She was an accomplished speaker with a resumé that would do credit to any 50-year-old, and stood out in every category. Ava will next compete in the national final in Hobart on the 8th May.

Ava was one of five contestants for this year’s award: Ragavi Jeyakumar from Pres- byterian Ladies College Armidale; Phoebe McIlwraith from Morisset High School; Charles O’Neill from All Saints College, Bathurst; and Jade Lin from Presbyterian Ladies College Sydney.

The judges were Phyllis Miller, Charles Pecenka from Parkes, Aidan Clarke from Forbes, Stephen King from Red Bend Catholic College and Rochelle Bright, formerly from Canberra and a recent resident of Forbes. The stand-by judge was Will Lawrance, last year’s state winner.

The more than 100 people from around NSW attending were impressed with Forbes. Many commented on how lovely the town looks with our beautiful historic buildings and the well-manicured lawns and walkways around our lake.

By Peter Bright

An audience of almost 300 people were treated to a unique and entertaining afternoon of opera in Forbes last Saturday and raising more than $14,000 for the Garland family.

The Opera for Ava fundraiser saw principal soloist for Opera Australia, Dominica Mat- thews as well as Diego Torre from Mexico and Kathleen Moore from Canada come together for an afternoon of top class singing.

It was a huge success! In glorious weather guests enjoyed background music provided by the Four Strings quartet, while enjoying canapés prepared by the Red Bend hospitality unit.

Sipping Millthorpe’s Angullong champagne and wine, and boutique beers from Orange’s Badlands Brewery, the 270 patrons from near and far enjoyed every minute in the lead up to the performance.

Diego, Dominica and Kathleen were absolutely captivating with their incredible voices, with arias from many classic operas such as La traviata, La boheme and Lakme.

After a short interval they switched to more contemporary tunes from shows including Carousel, Sweet Charity and Porgy and Bess. The singers then lifted the roof with their encore, Nessum dorma from the opera Turandot, no doubt a highlight for many. Accompanist Barbara Bruce was exceptional, remaining consistent throughout the whole performance.

MC Adrian Matthews (Dominica’s brother) kept the ball rolling with a touch of hu- mour and his debatable Italian, as well as bringing several to tears as he described the Garlands journey so far and reminded everyone of the reason for the event.

It was fantastic to see plenty of locals turn out to support this family, but the calibre of the artists also attracted people from as far away as Dubbo, Cassilis, Griffith and Sydney! It was truly an afternoon to remember!

By Kylie Matthews