This year, the Forbes Toy Library held their annual Melbourne Cup Luncheon at the Forbes Racecourse for a fun afternoon of horses, hats and hilarity. All of the ladies in attendance enjoyed a complementary glass of champagne on the lawn before heading upstairs to the Jockey Club. There the guests sat down for a delicious three course meal, with guest speaker Wendy Muffet – founder of Girra Girra Retreat – entertaining the crowd, engaging them with her accounts of making sour dough bread in Forbes.

This year’s theme was “Shimmer and Shine”, so there was a delicate sprinkle of bling over the crowd! Heather Mackinnon won a prize for the best themed outfit, while Muz Easton won Best Headwear and Jackie Wright was
awarded Best Dressed. A silent bottle auction unveiled before the big race, providing plenty of laughs.

The Forbes Toy Library holds their Melbourne Cup Luncheon as their major fundraiser each year. Fundraising is necessary in order to keep membership costs at a minimum, ensuring that access is available to all.

Forbes Toy Library is a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers who know the importance of play in real life learning. For more information, check out Forbes Toy Library on Facebook, or contact forbestoylibrary@gmail.com.

Everyone has seen the great things the Lions Club can achieve around Forbes and surrounding districts, so it’s no surprise to hear they’ve been quite busy lately getting things done.

They’ve just finished building a carport over the “Ute in the Park”, a WB Holden Ute that was donated to Lion’s Park by the Club in 2012. “It’s been a long term project for our club and the idea was to showcase The Utes in the Paddock out at Ootha, one of our tourist attractions in the Forbes area,” said Lion’s member Peter Bright.

“The carport will provide protection over the Ute and ensure that it is an attraction for years to come.” A few months ago the Lions Club also identified the need for a Handy Bar Entry assist device at the Patient Transport Unit in Forbes. It is a device that locks into the door catch and provides extra support as patients enter and exit the vehicle.

The Condobolin Show Society contacted the Forbes Lions Club a few days before their show to see if the Lions Club could help out with the show gate. Of course, the Lions Club said “yes we can” Then the Drum Muster needed a group to help out with their Forbes program. The Lions Club again said “yes we can” getting another job done without a fuss.

So, do you have any “little things” that need doing? The Forbes Lions Club want you to ask them, or even attend their meetings with your ideas if you like. You are invited to join the Lions Club and help to implement your own project.

The Forbes Lions Club meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays at the Vandenberg Hotel at 6:30pm for a 7pm start.

It’s been a big few weeks for Ray White Rural Forbes! They held yet another successful auction day on Friday 30 October with three properties being on offer. They were “JEML Park”, “Pine Flash” and Lot 511 Pullabooka. There was a great atmosphere in the auction room on the day, with a total of 17 bidders registered. Two of the properties sold on the day; Pine Flash sold for $340,000 to a local Forbes buyer, and JEML Park sold for $1,300,000 to a couple from Glenn Innes.

Ian Simpson from Ray White Rural Forbes said the auction day had great results with satisfied vendors. The purchasers of JEML Park, Jim and Lorraine Nugent said the auction day was great, with friendly people who were willing to chat with them about the properties on offer. They also commented on how well Ray White Rural Forbes marketed the property in such an enticing way. “Angus McLeod (auctioneer) was great and he never let the crowd lose interest,” said Jim, thanking the team at Ray White Rural Forbes for the great job that Ian, Ned and Stacey all did on the day. The Nugents are looking forward to moving to Forbes.

The ball keeps rolling with Ray White Rural holding their next lot of auctions on 16 December at the Forbes Services Memorial Club. This will be the first time that the use of online auctions will be available to regional Australia, an event property buyers won’t want to miss. The Ray White Rural Forbes team also attended the Australian National Field Days 2015 – the first time the team have decided to showcase their business at the event.

In the lead up Ray White Rural Forbes gave away free tickets with Alice Muffett being one of the lucky winners.
The event was a fantastic opportunity for the team to showcase their business and represent the entire Ray White brand at such a high profile event. The team recently joined up with Forbes North Primary School with a school partnership program. After purchasing a Yellow Ray White Bike, a raffle was held for the bike with a gold coin donation the only cost to enter.

After a number of weeks, showing off the bike outside the Ray White office, riding it up and down the main street to promote it, even taking it along to the Australian National Field Days, the lucky winner of the yellow bike was Forbes’ Karen Delaney. From gold coin donations only, a fantastic $650 was raised in the raffle which was donated to Forbes North Primary School. This Christmas, Ray White will continue its popular tradition of giving with the return of a little Ray of giving.

The inspiring Christmas campaign will see Ray White Rural Forbes partner with Ronald McDonald House in Orange to help disadvantaged children who may need a little extra light in their festive season. Every year, Australians are asked to donate a gift for a deserving child and drop it into one of their participating Ray White offices.

“The gift drive is a really simple way to help put a smile on the face of children and families who may need some extra cheer at this time of year,” said Ian Simpson. “It’s a really simple way to put a smile on the face of a young child who might otherwise go without this Christmas,” he said, adding that just a small gift can make the biggest difference to families who are struggling at an expensive time of year.

All you need to do is wrap up your present, drop it under the tree at 88a Lachlan St and inform the team if the gift is for a boy or a girl as well as the suitable age group. The team will ensure the gift is delivered to a disadvantaged child to help put a smile on their face this Christmas.

Beyond the Range, Central NSW Council’s (Centroc) major regional health workforce recruitment campaign was launched on Wednesday 4 November at Jemalong Regional Education Centre.

Fiona Nash, Federal Minister for Rural Health led the launch of the destination and lifestyle focused health workforce recruitment campaign, which is driven at a community level by Centroc.

Beyond the Range is a destination and lifestyle focused regional health workforce recruitment campaign driven at the community level by local government. It includes a website, a 30 page Council Toolkit, and a Facebook page, and brings together a diverse range of organisations from tourism, arts, universities and government agencies among others.

The Forbes Jemalong Regional Education Centre was an ideal setting for the launch being an excellent example of a regional council and community’s proactive approach to improving health infrastructure and attracting crucial health workforce. “This is about destination marketing and providing a quality service to people thinking about relocating to Central West NSW,” said Centroc Executive Officer Jenny Bennet. “That’s why organisations such as Central NSW Tourism and Arts Out West also feature on the Beyond the Range website – to illustrate just how culturally rich and diverse the region is.”

In 2012, a report from the NSW Rural Doctors Network found that 88% of rural towns among Central NSW Councils were considered vulnerable to the catastrophic loss of GP workforce. According to Centroc, the number of rural
GP proceduralists in regional NSW is declining at an alarming rate, and that all indications are that the rural medical workforce numbers will not improve unless more action is taken. “We can’t afford to keep hiding our heads
in the sand when it comes to regional health workforce,” said Chair of Centroc and Mayor of Cowra Shire, Bill West.

Threatening clouds did not deter people attending the annual fete at Jemalong Residential Village on Sunday. Fran Higgins, fete coordinator, was very pleased with the number of people attending and was comparable to previous years.

Residents, family members and guests all enjoyed the regular attractions and stalls and the inclusion of a Jigsaw Stall this year proved very popular. Children were also well catered for with a free Jumping Castle and Face Painting. Many friends of the Jemalong Residential Village work tirelessly throughout the year to provide handicrafts, soft toys, plants and much more of the highest quality to sell at the various stalls.

Funds raised from events like this provide valuable support and resources to the residents at the facility. Resources and equipment purchased for the Activities Shed provides residents with a wide variety of activities to keep their minds and bodies active and items produced are often sold at the fete. In previous years profits have been used to improve the common room sound system and provision of musical therapy for dementia patients.

Fundraising also supports day trips to events and activities within the community such as Day Time Concerts and Seniors Week Events which gives residents a change of scenery and increases opportunities for social interactions.
Fran is extremely grateful to everyone who volunteers their time to make events, such as the fete, possible. Volunteers are usually connected to the village in some way but there are a number who regularly volunteer who do not have a friend or family member residing or working there. Fran would like to encourage anyone with a spare half an hour to volunteer as a companion to residents who may not have the luxury of regular visitors. Social interactions are extremely important to the health and well-being of the residents and are of huge assistance to staff.

The fundraising committee would like to thank the Forbes community for supporting the Jemalong Residential Village and allowing them to supplement the services this facility provides to the community.

Forbes Shire Council held a community meeting at the Council Chambers on Monday night with over 150 community members attending. “I will take up the fight in Macquarie Street for Forbes Shire Council to stand alone, if that is what the ratepayers want and it is the wish of the Council,” said Member for Orange Andrew Gee. “I will do this in the strongest terms.”

There was an overwhelming show of support for Forbes Council to stand alone, and this was reinforced by the Micromex Research Survey conducted with 304 residents. 72% of those surveyed said they supported Forbes Council standing alone, compared to 28% saying they wanted to merge. Mayor Phyllis Miller gave an overview of where the Fit for the Future Plan was at, outlining reasons why Forbes was declared ‘unfit’.

This revolved around the population of the Forbes Shire as it applied to scale and capacity. Mayor Miller commented that the figures, taken from 2013, were incorrect and that this matter of population has been an ongoing battle and discussion with the Department of Planning. Forbes Shire Council has discussed the possibility of merging with surrounding Councils, including Cabonne, Weddin, Lachlan, Parkes and Cowra, but none of these Councils want to merge with Forbes.

The NSW Government can force Councils to amalgamate under the Local Government Act, however Council has until 18 November to respond. Andrew Gee said that a final decision will hopefully be made before Christmas, after
the NSW Government responds to IPART. “There is no question it will be a tough fight,” said Mr Gee. “Politics is about taking up the difficult causes. It’s certainly not about running up the white flag and blindly accepting a report written by Sydney bureaucrats against the wishes of the community.”

Mayor Miller reiterated that the Councillors will always strive to do what is best for the ratepayers who have elected them to this Council. As one attendee commented, “if it’s not broken, why fix it?”

Young All Western Breeds Association (YAWBA) based in Forbes held their Lope for a Cure Show to raise money for breast cancer research. Set in a beautiful setting amongst the trees and fresh green grass is the undercover arena located in Young. The warm, sunny Saturday set the tone for the day, with excited and beautifully decorated horses and rider handlers.

Members attended from all over NSW and ACT, and the YAWBA team were both honoured and proud to announce that they raised over $1,200 for research to find a cure for breast cancer. YAWBA ran their normal program, with the
inclusion of four specialty pink classes.

“We would like to thank the following sponsors: Stallions Southern Cross Appaloosa’s, Craiglea Paints, Iron Horse Stud, Ellenjai Dun Dreaming, Ziggi Jones, Kathie Garner Cakes, Thomo’s Camping, Pops Fudge factory, Dakota Gorrie Cowgirl Creations, Jewelz n Things, Kinloch Park, Giddy Up Gags & Bits, Afternoon Delight, Skipamaxistar, Brumby Horse Wear, Green Partnership Forbes, Amber Helwig, John Evans, Zelvin Creations, Samantha Cameron, Bette Thatcher, Amanda Madden, Guyson Ranch, Tuff Rugs Australia, McDonnalds Saddlery, Debbie Taylor, Zelvan Photography, Peasley Haulage, Young Pony Club, Sammy C Designs, Ronarker Chaff Mill Forbes, T&G Horse Rug Repairs, Eveready Performance Horses, Green Partnership Forbes, Wind Roper Saddlery, Amanda Madden, and Chris and Jennifer English.”

The Children’s Christmas Markets in Parkes are coming up on Saturday 7 November at Cooke Park. Now in its fifth year, the Australian Breastfeeding Association Parkes/Forbes Group annual Christmas Children’s Markets are the perfect place to sell your children’s ware and start your Christmas shopping.

There are many commercial and handmade baby and children’s items for sale, helping to support local stallholders and helping to raise funds for the local ABA group. This will allow them to continue to provide support to local mums on their breastfeeding journey. This year, Jenny’s Classroom has again donated the major raffle prize so remember
– you’ve got to be in it to win it. You will find a treasure trove of beautiful décor items, unique fashion pieces and
adorable accessories you won’t find anywhere else.

There are plenty of new stalls to browse through with amazing items and treats including children’s clothing, giftware, accessories, food and drinks and so much more! For more information, contact 0428 922 499 or 0411 105 164. Support the Australian Breastfeeding Association and spend your Saturday morning at the Children’s Christmas Markets.