This weekend Forbes is hosting the NSW Fire and Rescue Regional Championships at Stephan Field. There will be 25 teams from across the state competing in a range of events based on the skills that firefighters use in emergency situations. It is great for Forbes to be hosting these championships,
so grab a chair and head down to Stephan Field to see how fun and fit our
firies are.

Speaking of visitors to town, next week Forbes will welcome about 350 members of the CMCA Solos Network as part of their annual rally. The group will be staying at the Forbes Showground and are looking forward to introducing themselves to locals and will be participating in a range of activities while in town.

One of the main reasons they have chosen to come to Forbes is because of how friendly our community is and the great shopping we have. The Free Cuppa for the Driver Scheme has started back up again and will be running until May 31. Forbes is one of 18 local councils to be a part of the project with 62
businesses ready to serve drivers with a free cup of tea or coffee. The businesses taking part in town are the Bakehouse, Lakeside Takeaway, Superbee Café and Metro Ben Hall Roadhouse.

To find out the other cafes part of the project, download the smartphone app Free Cuppa.

Have a great week, stay safe and God bless.

Mayor, Cr Phyllis Miller OAM

Just a quick reminder that this Sunday is Clean Up Australia Day and I encourage all residents to get involved. The Forbes clean-up is being held from 9am to 12pm with volunteers to register from 8.30am at Victoria Park. After the clean-up all volunteers will be treated to a free barbecue lunch at Apex Park. Unfortunately I won’t be there as we have a family function planned this weekend.

Tonight there is a free event taking a wider look at mental health, drugs and alcohol from 6pm to 9pm at the Forbes Services Club. For those people that need assistance, this is a great opportunity as there will be drug and alcohol clinicians as well as local service providers in attendance.

It will also be a fun night with a comedian providing entertainment. Junior basketball has started on Monday nights and it is great to see all of those kids out there enjoying basketball again. There are around 120 to 140 players involved in the sport and there is a very self-sufficient group of parents that are running the show. Our next hurdle is to get lighting for the courts.

The Forbes Sportsperson of the Year Awards ceremony was held on Saturday night and it was a great night to honour our sporting achievers. Congratulations to Tom Drane on winning the Forbes Sportsperson of the Year. At only nine-years-old, Tom has a very bright future in front of him!

The Adrian Motel has a new Indian restaurant with a new chef and staff. Council would like to welcome them to town and by all accounts I’ve been told the food is wonderful. We can never have too many nice places to eat!

It is my understanding that there has been a Facebook page set-up about the
new waste collection service. I personally haven’t seen it and just so you all know, I don’t do business through Facebook. My door is open to every member of this community.

In regards to the new service, it is hard to decide whether there will be a problem before it starts on April 4. Once it is up and running, then if there is a problem, please come and see us and we will look at your issues on a case by case basis. We will certainly do our best to assist you.

On a sad note, after 15 years of tireless representation for our area, John Cobb announced earlier this week that he is retiring. He will be missed by many but he’s assured me that if Michael McCormack gets re-elected, we will be in very good hands.

On behalf of all of the Forbes community, I wish John all the very best for his future endeavours and may he have good health and happiness. Have a great week, stay safe and God bless.

Mayor, Cr. Phyllis Miller OAM

International Women’s Day is coming up and this year the Forbes Phoenix is hosting an International Women’s Day Luncheon on Friday, March 11 at the Forbes Services Memorial Club to raise money for the One Girl charity. The guest speaker for the event is One Girl Ambassador Tara Scott and $5 from each ticket sold will go to the charity.

At our Council meeting last Thursday, Council donated $400 to the One Girl charity to show our support for this event. One Girl is a charity that believes that every girl has the right to education with the aim of educating one million girls across Africa by 2020. It is really hard to imagine that not everyone is
entitled to an education because we take it for granted in Australia.

During Thursday’s Council meeting we received a report on the terrific job our Department of Environmental Services and Planning is doing. Paul Bennett’s team of Mat, Scott, Alex, Bri, Rowan, Melissa and Jenny received an excellent report card on the way development applications are processed.

Council also resolved on Thursday to work in partnership with CanAssist to host an information night for prostate cancer awareness in Forbes. We will be getting together with CanAssist in the near future to work out how best to present the information to the community of Forbes.

Council’s Third Bore construction is well underway and is due for completion in mid-2016. We had a visit of the site on Monday with our Local Member Andrew Gee also attending. The bore is located on the Lachlan Valley Way and its completion will sure up the water supply.

Have a great week, stay safe and God bless.

Mayor, Cr. Phyllis Miller OAM