Yellow ribbons have become synonymous with National Road Safety Week which starts on Sunday with Forbes Town Hall lit in yellow for the week.

Forbes, Parkes and Lachlan Shire Councils will be getting behind this initiative with a range of activities to help raise awareness of road safety as they’ve done since 2017. This includes honouring the memory of the 1,200 lives lost and more than 44,000 seriously injured on Australian roads each year.

During the Week, road users are encouraged to take the pledge to Drive So Others Survive, including not being distracted while driving, not speeding and to never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“During National Road Safety Week 2022, yellow ribbons will be displayed all across the country to remember those we have lost on the roads and to remind us to drive safely,” said Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor.

“Our fleet vehicles and staff will proudly display yellow ribbons. Members of the public are encouraged to pick up a vehicle sticker and/or lapel ribbon for free from our administration offices in Parkes, Forbes, Condobolin and Lake Cargelligo.

“Our email signatures will display the National Road Safety Week artwork for the week. In Parkes the monument on Memorial Hill and the Sir Henry Parkes statue will also be lit in yellow.

“We are encouraging our staff and locals to sign the pledge to Drive So Others Survive www.roadsafetyweek.com.au,” Melanie said.

The Forbes Public School will be a hive of activity on Wednesday morning when they host the participants in the 30th Variety NSW Bash for breakfast before 100 cars will depart at 8am on the next leg of the rally to Ardlethan.

The Bash will visit rural and remote communities bringing much needed tourism revenue and equipment for schools. More than $45,000 worth of grants will be given to regional NSW schools, while more than $12,000 is spent at each lunch stop along the route and more than $70,000 at each overnight stop, including Forbes.

Variety Bash cars are renowned for bringing fun and excitement to the communities they visit with themed cars from Paw Patrol, Bob the Builder and Hot Wheels to Lightning McQueen, Scooby Doo and The Flintstones.

This year’s event starts on Sunday, 15th May at Foreshore Park Newcastle and will head to Spring Ridge, Dubbo, Ballimore, Quambone, Cobar, Condobolin, Forbes, Ardlethan, Wagga Wagga, Wyangala, Bathurst, Wattle Flat, Hunter Valley before finishing back for the Family Fun Day in Newcastle on Saturday, 21st May.

The breakfast at Forbes Public School will be open to the community who can come and view the cars. 

Two Forbes CWA members worked at the ever-popular Tea Rooms at the Royal Easter Show this year for their fourth time after a COVID break of two years.

It is a major fundraising activity for the CWA, and after two years of no show, the CWA members were excited to be baking scones and selling produce again.

Forbes CWA Evening Branch President Robyn Miller and Vice-President Karen Wright worked the morning shifts on Saturday, 9th April and Sunday, 10th April. 

“It was terrific to be able to get back to the show for a milestone year as the Royal Easter Show celebrated their 200th anniversary and CWA its 100th,” said Karen. Robyn said: “Our jobs in the tea rooms this year included ironing the CWA aprons worn by each volunteer (about 60 members per day are needed to staff the Tea Rooms), packing items into the inaugural CWA show bags, cutting of scones and putting them onto oven trays for baking and working on the promotions table selling raffle tickets, merchandise and homemade goodies.”

“The shifts each day were only four and a half hours long but were ‘jam packed’ as the Tea Rooms are so popular with show goers,” said Robyn.

“There were often long lines of people patiently waiting for the next hot fresh batch of scones to come out of the oven,” said Karen.

They were both were very excited and privileged to attend the official opening of the show by Princess Anne. “This was full of pomp and ceremony with her arriving in a horse drawn carriage, having groups of the defence forces marching and a flyover by the Air Force Roulettes,” said Karen.

Support the local CWA’s Open Garden at Helen and Kingsley Green’s property Booklyn on Victory Rd on Saturday, 21st May from 2-4pm. Entry is $10 including afternoon tea. 

By Sue Cunningham

The Central West will see the 250 cars taking part in this year’s Shitbox Rally when the 500 participants will pass through Forbes tomorrow afternoon on their way to Trundle where they will overnight.

The teams of two will leave Wollongong on Saturday, 7th May in cars worth less than $1,000 (aka shitboxes) and travel 3,600km to cross the finish line seven days later in Mackay, Queensland. The rally is the largest independent fundraiser for the Cancer Council with over $30 million raised since the rallies began. The $2 million target for this rally is well in sight with current fundraising totals at over $1.7 million.

James Freeman who founded Box Rallies (Shitbox and Mystery Box Rally) after losing both of his parents to cancer within 12 months of each other said: “Shitbox Rally is not a race, but a reward for fundraising  efforts. This is a chance to explore Australia, drawing teams from around the country to help achieve the extraordinary. This year will be another incredible rally starting for the first time in Wollongong and finishing in Mackay. As with all rallies though, the route will be on the roads less travelled as we make our way into the Outback.” 

The impact of COVID in 2020 and 2021 has made it particularly difficult for teams to fundraise and Box Rallies has seen its expected fundraising total for the period cut by as much as $7.2 million. Rallies are the reward for raising vital funds for cancer research but when the reward is unable to take place, the fundraising slows considerably.

The rally cars are expected to go through Forbes from around 4pm and can be spread out over two to three hours. Arrival time in Trundle is from 5pm.