How long have you lived in or around Forbes and what do you like about living here? About 30 years. I love the small country town feeling. The people here are friendly and supportive.

Where do you work and what do you enjoy most about your work? I own the Forbes Central Butchery. I enjoy building my relationship with customers and love how versatile meat can be, so many different cuts and flavourings.

What do you do to unwind after work or on weekends? I love a nice cold beer and playing with my kids. We head out to our family farms whenever we get the chance.

What are you really good at? Talking! And I’m a pretty good cook, especially camp ovens.

What is your pet hate? Without a doubt, liars and thieves. But I also hate people chewing with their mouth open!

If you could have a super power what would it be and why? If I could choose, I would like to be able to fly. I’d love to take in the view from way up there.

Tell us about your best holiday ever? Affie Station. We go there annually as a family for a camp oven weekend.

What makes your day? Happy wife, happy life! Everything is better when she’s happy!

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself? I’m pretty well-known for my camp ovens using mum’s secret recipe. Although I think mine might be a little better than hers. I won my first competition over the weekend!

Gabrielle Sands

How long have you lived in or around Forbes and what is the best thing about living here? I live in Parkes and have done for 6 years, however I work in Forbes. The best thing about living here is the community, the people are friendly and always willing to help out.

Where do you work or what do you do currently and what do you enjoy about it? I’m an office assistant for HE Silos. Not only do I have fantastic work colleagues, but I’ve been given wonderful opportunities to grow as an individual and study. I have great people to learn from and fantastic customers to keep me busy.

What is your favourite thing to do when you have free time? I enjoy going to the gym whenever I have the chance. Apart from that, binging Netflix on lazy days.

What makes you proud? Seeing my hard work pay off. Since being at HE Silos, I’ve completed my Cert IV in Business in well under the completion time and I’m really proud of myself for sticking it out.

If you could be an animal which one would you choose and why? I would definitely be a monkey. Not only are monkeys smart, but they’re also really funny. Best of both worlds!

What is your all-time favourite movie, song and/or book, and why? The Hungry Caterpillar! I’ve never found another book that is more relatable.

What is on your bucket list? I really want to go to the Maldives. I want to get my scuba diving certificate, so I can enjoy it all and experience the ocean in peace.

What are you really good at? I can talk my way out of any situation! That counts, doesn’t it?

Tell us about your best holiday ever?
Definitely Bali for the girls trip of a lifetime. Nothing better than sipping on cocktails on a sunny, tropical beach.

What makes your day? Waking up knowing I’m going to a rewarding job, with people I enjoy spending time with. Then coming home to spend quality time with my friends, family and I can’t forget the cat, Yumi.

How old are you? I am 7.

How long have you lived in or around Forbes? Ummm I don’t know. 7 years I think.

Where do you go to school and what year are you in? I go to Forbes North Public School and I am in Year 2.

What do you love most about school? Playing with my friends.

What is your favourite sport and why? Soccer, because I like playing it.

What is your favourite food? Tomatoes.

What do you do in your spare time? Watch TV and ride motorbikes.

If you could have a superpower what would it be? Ummm be super speedy!

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself. I like doing maths.

How long have you lived in or around Forbes and what is the best thing about living here? I came to Forbes in 1968 as an Art teacher. I left in 2000 and we returned to retire here in 2017.

Where do you work or what do you do currently and what do you enjoy about it? I am now retired but I taught at Forbes High School until 2000 and in Newcastle until 2017. I now work in my pottery studio Serendipity and take occasional classes. What is your favourite thing to do when you have free time? I like to read and engage in creative writing. My main passion is pottery and other forms of art. I also play squash and tennis for fun.

What makes you proud? I feel proud when I meet past students who remember the experiences and good times they had in my art lessons.

If you could be an animal which one would you choose and why? I would be a dog because dogs give the best example of how to behave in a humane manner. Fidelity is their motto.

What is your all-time favourite movie, song and/or book, and why? Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The opening line is very revealing and still relevant.

What is on your bucket list? My bucket list is to stay active, to continue sharing my pottery knowledge and not to lose my sense of humour.

What are you really good at? I am good at trying to achieve my goals which are to stay healthy and creative.

Tell us about your best holiday ever? My best holiday was when I backpacked with my friend around Europe visiting many famous Art Museums.

What makes your day? My day is made when I share my studio with enthusiastic students and visitors. My other best time is when I have an occasional glass of wine with long time Forbes friends.

How long have you lived in or around Forbes and what do you like about living here? I’ve lived just out of Forbes for my whole life. There’s always something to keep me busy whether it is at work or on the farm, that is what I like about living here!

Where do you work and what do you enjoy most about your work? I work at Moxey Farms. I enjoy the challenges of the job and the freedom of not being in an office and the variety of work we do.

What do you do to unwind after work or on weekends? On weekends I like taking the Harley out for a ride, having a few drinks with mates and occasionally going down the Coast.

What are you really good at? I don’t think I am good at much, but I’d have to say working and annoying my missus!

What is your pet hate? People that dirty my ute or leave the windows down when there’s dust everywhere.

If you could have a super power what would it be and why? To be able to fly so I can get places quicker.

Tell us about your best holiday ever? When I went to Europe for a month last year.

What makes your day? Coming home to a happy house makes my day.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself? I am mad about trucks.

How long have you lived in or around Forbes and what is the best thing about living here? I have lived in Forbes all my life. The best thing about living in Forbes is being able to bring up our children in such a great community with so many of our family and great friends.

Where do you work or what do you do currently and what do you enjoy about it? I work for the Forbes Shire Council as the Events Officer. I love my job, being a member of the Community & Tourism team allows me to be involved in attracting people to our great town to showcase all our shire has to offer and helping community organisations hold successful events is very rewarding.

What is your favourite thing to do when you have free time? I love spending time with my husband and our four amazing children. Travelling and watching the kids play their sports and catching up with our closest friends and their families.

What makes you proud? My children – We have great schools and sporting organisations in Forbes and I take great pride in my children doing well, either at school or in their chosen sports and activities.

What are you really good at? Planning – I love making schedules for all my family and making sure everyone knows where they need to be and when!

Tell us about your best holiday ever? Sounds boring – but a family holiday to Lake Conjola. We had a lovely cabin on the lake with native birds and kangaroos at our doorstep. The kids loved it and it was very relaxing.

What makes your day? Getting home from work and my 3 year old son rushing to give me a cuddle is a great feeling.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself? I have Dutch heritage – my Father was born in the Netherlands and moved to Australia as a child and we still have family there.

How long have you lived in or around Forbes and what do you like about living here? I moved here about 13 years ago. I lived here for a couple of years before spending some time in Sydney and then Canberra. I came back to Forbes in 2016.

Where do you work and what do you enjoy most about your work? I am part of the IT team at the Catholic Education Office. It’s a great place to work. There’s a lot of variety in what we do which I like. It’s a relatively new field of work for me and it’s certainly challenging. Occasionally you might have to pretend a little to know what you’re talking about.

What do you do to unwind after work or on weekends? There’s not much unwinding happening at the moment. My four and two-year-old aren’t really interested in it. If I can get one TV show in each night I’m happy.

What are you really good at? Some say I’m an okay guitarist.

What is your pet hate? Our pet. Well, her behaviour anyway. We have a labradoodle. She chews everything. I had about eight pairs of thongs and I’m down to zero.

If you could have a super power what would it be and why? I wouldn’t mind having a photographic memory. That way I might have a shot at winning the occasional argument. I’m often hearing the words “I told you this already”.

Tell us about your best holiday ever? I’d have to say my first road trip to Byron Bay while I was at Uni. A friend and I went up there for the Splendour in the Grass music festival. We did a lot of surfing back then (it was actually bodyboarding but surfing sounds better). There wasn’t much trip planning (we had no accommodation or even tickets), but we survived the week and had a great time.

What makes your day? Seeing my boys sleeping soundly in their beds each night. It makes all the craziness and chaos that led up to it totally worth it.