Bernardi’s Marketplace in Forbes will undergo exciting changes over a four week period to provide an enhanced shopping experience for customers. “After a great deal of market research and valuable feedback from customers, we have started making some changes to our supermarket,” said Joseph Bernardi, CEO of Supermarkets.

The refurbished store will have a bigger focus on fresh produce, sourced locally from the Central West as much as possible, an enhanced bakery with freshly baked sourdough bread, cakes and pastries, new Grab & Go lunch options and a new range of bulk wholefoods. “We want to give Forbes shoppers more reasons to shop local,” said Joseph.
“In our experience, when locals purchase more of their groceries in town it has a positive knock on effect for a lot of other small businesses.”

A range of new brands of healthy and specialty foods, as well as locally sourced products, will also be entering the store in October. New and interesting products will be added to the Everyday Low Price program. Regular customers would have noticed some changes already with corrugated iron and timber added at the entrance and inside the store. The finished product will give the store a barn feel. As part of the upgrade, the group will also launch a new Community Benefits program with $6,000 awarded to three local community groups. Applications are open until
30th September. The successful recipients will be announced at the launch of the new store in late October. Application forms are available from sarah@bernardigroup.com.au.

Most of the work is being done after hours to minimize disruption to customers as much as possible. “I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused during the fit-out, but we promise any disruption will be well worth the final result,” Joseph said.

Forbes Public School (FPS) students took part in a Mini Olympics event at the school recently organised by Year 6. The 300 students were divided into nine countries and marched in an opening ceremony with the school captains carrying the Olympic torch donated to the school by Robert Lytton OAM, who carried the torch through Forbes in 2000.

The year 6 students ran activities like tug of war, gum boot toss, sack races, egg and spoon obstacle course, hoop throwing, hurdles, relays, soccer dribbling races and target ball throwing. Students have been studying the Olympic Games and loved seeing the joy on the faces of outstanding role models displaying sportsmanship and national pride. They also witnessed athletes who have trained hard, sacrificed a lot and competed with everything they had.

With Australian childhood obesity at a record high, FPS is committed to exposing students to as many opportunities as possible to enable them to find their preferred sport and develop a life-long love of it. As part of this term’s skipping unit, FPS participated in the Jump Rope for Heart Program. In the classroom, students learnt about heart health including nutrition and the dangers of smoking. In sports skills, students learnt tricks using skipping ropes and choreographed routines, and in the community, students fundraised for the Heart Foundation, while the school newsletter featured articles educating parents about healthy eating and keeping children active.

After the Mini Olympics event, students from Kindergarten to year 6 put on an amazing skipping show. The school raised well over $5,000 for the Heart Foundation and the P & C raised more than $600 through the Mini Olympics, Jump Rope for Heart skipping show and celebration lunch.

By Katie Stitt

The Forbes State Emergency Service (SES) has been a hive of activity since Saturday with more than 40,000 sandbags being filled by Tuesday.

Local and visiting volunteers have been preparing for floodwater in Forbes this week. The Lachlan River peaked at 10.35m at the Iron Bridge on Wednesday slightly under the level of 10.55m recorded in the 2012 flood. This level is rated as moderate flooding, but with further rain expected from today this may not be the only flooding that will affect the community in the coming weeks. Wyangla Dam is above capacity at present and water released is being staggered to minimise the severity of flooding and damage.

All residents in low-lying areas were alerted and the Red Bend College was closed on Wednesday. More than forty volunteers have been at the SES depot every day to fill sandbags for delivery to areas expected to be most affected. On Tuesday a massive 55.6 tonnes of sand was bagged into approximately 3,500 bags each weighing 15kg. SES volunteers have come from far and wide to assist Roc Walshaw and his crew. They had only praise for the Forbes community and were amazed by the teamwork and community spirit. Visiting SES volunteers stay for about five days, so anyone with spare time is encouraged to help at the SES depot.

The depot provides regular and accurate information regarding the flooding. Even though the flood levels were lower than 2012, experienced volunteers believe that the density of grasses from the winter season will slow the flow of water causing the water to recede and disappear much slower.

The public are reminded not to drive through any roads signposted as closed, as this could compromise their insurance should they get into trouble.

By Anita Morrison

Mayor Phillis Miller promised a questioner at the Meet the Councillor Candidates evening last week to find out more about the building embargo at the old ambulance station site. She has asked Forbes Shire Council General Manager, Danny Green, to look into the history of the ambulance station. “He is busy to determine what business has taken place to date and will come up with a solution to the owner and advise the public on it,” the Mayor said in the final week of her term before the Local Government Elections tomorrow.

Mayor Miller reminded all residents to vote. “The most important thing about this election is that 17 people had the courage and conviction to put their names forward, and they need to be commended for that.” She said the candidates represented a great gender mix with six women standing, which is 35% representation. “This compares very well considering there is only a 20% representation of women on local councils on average.”

Mayor Miller said the past four years had been trying in some parts, “but we have been able to take Forbes forward in terms of job creation. I have loved every minute of my time on Council and hope I can serve a seventh term as Mayor as I still feel as much passion as I did on my first day.”