Motorists travelling on the Great Western Highway over the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends are urged to plan their trips and allow extra travel time, with high traffic volumes and delays ex­pected.

The Great Western Highway has several known pinch points for travel connecting the Greater Sydney area with the Central West.

Historical traffic data shows the busiest day for westbound travel towards Lithgow will be Friday 18 April and Saturday 19 April, and for those heading east towards Greater Sydney the busiest day will be at the end of the long weekend on Monday 21 April.

Delays are also expected on Friday 25 April (Anzac Day) for mo­torists travelling across the Blue Mountains, with significant traffic volumes also anticipated eastbound on Sunday 27 April as holiday makers return to Sydney.

The Govetts Leap Road intersection at Blackheath can be a pinch point where there are often queues for motorists heading east. Traffic queueing also often extends west from Blackheath to Hartley and beyond.

When queueing begins eastbound at Mount Victoria, a traffic management plan is put in place with motorists held at Hartley to prevent further congestion and a start/stop movement up Victoria Pass. Vehicles are then released in small groups, allowing them to travel up the Pass to prevent further delays in the event of break­downs and to avoid nose-to-tail crashes.

For more details about predicted delays on the Great West­ern Highway see the NSW Holiday and Journey planning web­site. For information, visit https://www.livetraffic.com/incident-de­tails/230828, or download the Live Traffic NSW app.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see an up and coming Brisbane singer-songwriter in the making, Ripley Alexander, right here in the Central West at Frost and Fire in Forbes on Saturday 21June. Ripley describes his mu­sic as “a modern spin on a classic sound”. Ripley’s standout Australian Idol perfor­mance went viral around the world, racking up more than 100 million views on TikTok.

There’s no one like the Wolfe Brothers to warm up a crowd with their high energy per­formance of iconic truly Australian anthems.

The most awarded country rock duo ever, the brothers took away three Golden Guitars at the 2024 Country Music Awards bringing their total to 9 Golden Guitars to date.

Buy Your Frost & Fire Tickets: Tickets are essential. No ticket – no entry! Under 18’s are free entry. Over 18’s are $30 per person. Tickets are available via 123tix.

Book Your Accommodation: Plan your stay in Amazing Forbes with some great ac­commodation options.

Book Your Bus Transfer Tickets To The Event: Don’t forget to pre-purchase bus tickets before the event. Tickets are exclu­sively available via 123tix.

BYO Chair and Warm Winter Clothes: Keep nice and toasty with warm clothes. Enjoy the entertainment in comfort by bring­ing your own chair.

Plan The Rest of your Weekend: Amaz­ing Forbes has an abundance of exciting at­tractions and activities to see and do. Come for the night – stay for a weekend.

Getting to the Event: Frost & Fire is held at the Forbes Ski Dam. During our event there is no public parking onsite, so we have a variety of public transport options to get you and your family and friends here safely.

By Bus: There is a free shuttle bus ser­vice running to and from the event on the day, operating on a continuous loop.

Oxley Group CWA held their annual ‘The Land’ Cookery and Handicraft Day on Tuesday 11 March in Condobolin. The Land Cookery Judge, Ann McIntyre, and Handi­craft Judge, Ruth Hando, found many im­pressive items presented for judging from our local community.

For the cooking section there were en­tries in 10 sections ranging from boiled fruit cakes, butter, sultana and chocolate cakes, slices, biscuits, apricot rolls, sponges, rel­ishes, marmalade and jams.

This year entries were submitted from Forbes CWA and Forbes Evening CWA Branches, Condobolin, Myamley, Parkes, Tullamore and Kiacatoo. The Cooking Of­ficer for Oxley Group CWA, Linda Brang­win commented, “It was wonderful to see all branches in Oxley Group represented.”

The competitor to gain the most points was Ruth Worthington from Kiacatoo and Champion Cake was a sultana cake en­tered by Pat Hurley from Myamley.

In the Handicraft section, entries were received from Forbes, Tullamore and My­amley. The Eight Item Group Competition was won by Tullamore Branch with Emily Hunt of Forbes Branch taking out the high­est score in this section.

Myamley won the Branch Challenge and Myamley Branch member, Janette Man­waring, won ‘The Land’ Champion Article Natural fibres Section 8 with a white child’s dress with navy smocking and trim. Janette also won the Over 80’s section with her smocking. Other successful entrants were Dawn Ible (Forbes) for her Assisi work win­ning the Chairperson’s Award, Zita Carey (Tullamore) taking away the Handicraft Of­ficer’s Award for her striking black, white and red quilt and Marian Gutherie (Myam­ley) for her knitted garment.

Winning entries in Handicraft progress to State and be judged at the CWA State Conference held at Wagga Wagga in May.

Contact your local CWA branch to enter in 2026.

The Forbes Thai Massage Centre has commenced trading and has employed an experienced Traditional Thai Masseuse with over eight years practising and hon­ing her skills by not only working in lead­ing International Resorts in Phuket but practising in a range of different massage outlets in Thailand. Places such as Pat­taya, Bangkok and Phuket. She has also worked internationally for one year in Ko­rea.

Her name is Honey, and her skills are in all the Traditional Thai Massage as well as foot massage. We offer the full range of accepted Thai massage products including Herbal Ball heated treatments and few in Forbes have experienced this unique treat­ment. We note for your interest it is rare to find these as few in Australia have the skill of using Herbal Balls. Honey’s foot mas­sage is normally done in a large comfort­able chair, and I’m sure you will find this a unique experience.

The Forbes Thai Massage Centre was built as a complete Traditional Thai Mas­sage experience, you will see and experi­ence the attempts we have made to repli­cate this unique Thai Experience. Our goal here is to have you experience peace and serenity not only is this created by the mas­seuse but often it is the little things we do.

Such as the soft Thai massage music, the aromas, from the washing of your feet at the start, to warm tea or a simple piece of candy at the end. This is a unique Thai ex­perience without going to Thailand .

Amongst our many features is we have the massage mat on the floor exactly how it is done throughout Thailand. Please note you’re more than welcome to have a mas­sage on the table.

At the first View Club lunch meeting for 2025 held on 13 February at Club Forbes, mem­bers were welcomed back after the Christ­mas break by new President, Helen Pitt.

During the meeting, Helen introduced the incoming committee for 2025 to View Club members. There are 12 committee members comprising a combination of ex­perienced members and those new to the committee, to help guide the club through the coming year.

Judy Kerr, a past District Councillor, presented long service badges to three members, with Helen Lupis and Helen Pitt receiving their twenty-year badges and Jen­nifer Purdy receiving her thirty-year badge.

Congratulations to these three ladies for a combined total of 70 years of service to the community.

After a tasty meal provided by Club Forbes, members listened to an interest­ing and informative presentation from guest speaker, Wendy Broome, from Forbes Sal­vation Army. Wendy spoke about her back­ground and provided a little history about the Forbes Salvation Army, her role and experi­ences in the community and how their pro­grams support people needing assistance.

Forbes View is one of 280 clubs around Australia and its members add to the 13,000 members Australia wide who support chil­dren’s education and the Smith Family.

The next View Club lunch will be held on 13 March at Club Forbes at 12 noon for 12.30pm start. Guest speakers for this meeting are Trish Humphries who will pro­vide information about Forbes Meals on Wheels. The second speaker will be Pauline O’Neill, talking about home modifications and maintenance services available. These ladies have a wealth of experience in sup­porting the community, they work at Forbes HaCC (Home and Community Care) Centre in Harold Street.

All members are requested to please RSVP to their new contact member on or before Thursday 6 March.