Parkes Little Athletics Club was supported through the Parkes Shire Council Evolution Mining Northparkes Sports Grant. The funding they received helped the organisation upgrade their high jump mats.
The new high jump mats are safer and usable by the older age groups part of Little A’s. How fun do these new high jump mats look?! Even the adults are keen to test them out.
Be sure to get your sports grant applications submitted before they close on 30 September! www.parkes.nsw.
‘Dave Mylecharane gets started with a fine shot.’
On Saturday the Forbes golfers were greeted by sunny skies with a cool breeze. Scoring was even through the field but the prize winners did have a clear margin.
The event was a 4BBB Stableford Medley, sponsored by the Francis family. A good field of 74 included both men and ladies and four juniors.
The winners were decided on count back after two pairings tied on 46 points. Trevor Williams has recently returned to golf looking for some relaxation. He teamed with visitor Ian Coombs to produce a scintillating back-9 that had no ‘misses’ and no 4-pointers.
The runners-up were Simon Martino and Brett Woonton who played a more even game of two halves with 23 points on each.
They teamed well and did not have a ‘miss’ all day but did cover the gamut of points from 1 to 4.
Terry Sharpe and Veronica Rebellato (42 pts) were the best mixed team and Sarah Black and Ann-Maree Gaffney (41 pts) were the best ladies team.
The ball sweep went to 41 points on count back. The lone visitor was Ian Coombs (Bogan Gate) who enjoyed his day on the course.
The NTP’s went to: 9th Ladies: S Grierson, Men: T Willams; 18th Ladies: A Simmons, Men T Morgan, none of whom converted for a ‘2’. The 3rd hole Super Pin went to Jeff House with a shot to 140cm. It was an easy ‘2’.Do not forget this weekend is the Caragabal Open on Sunday 17 August. This will be an Individual Stroke and Handicap and does promise trestle tables laden with food.
Check in the Pro Shop for details.
This Saturday, 16 August will be an Individual Stableford, sponsored by MTA Travel.
Sunday will have a Stableford Medley.
Junior golf classes have started, call 6851 1554.
By Short Putt
Susan Pettitt former Australian Diamond at last year’s Forbes Netsetgo and junior mixed gala day.
The Forbes netball community will have a busy weekend ahead, when they will host the Club Forbes NetSetGo and Junior Gala Day on Sunday.
The weekend will start on Saturday when the boys and girls who have been playing Woolworths NetSetGo every Saturday will have their end of season presentations.
NetSetGo is played every Saturday morning at 9:30am to 10:30am, allowing boys and girls from 5 years to 10 years enjoy the fun and skills of learning to play netball.
The Woolworths NetSetGo Forbes sessions have been growing in numbers every year.
The Junior Gala Day will be a celebration of grassroots junior netballers from ages 7 years to 12 years.
Approximately two hundred boys and girls will start the day with the skills warm up, coached by former Australian Diamond Susan Pettitt. Susan is now a regular for Forbes netball, and she brings her fun skills to start the day.
The day has been fully funded by Club Forbes, which allows all Forbes boys and girls to enjoy the day with no costs involved.
Forbes will have around 100 junior players taking to the courts, other teams will also be travelling from Young, Dubbo, Condobolin, Narromine, Ungarie, Orange Waratahs and Orange Life Studios.
No representative teams are able to enter the day, making it a full celebration of junior netball. The Forbes Netball Association is the only association in the West/Central West region to run such a day.
The program for the day will be 9am to 10am Susan Pettitt’s skills warm up then at 10:30am the round robin of games will start and continue throughout the day.
The moment captured when Elixabeth MacGregor flew over the line for her first of two tries on debut with the CanterburyBankstown Bulldogs NRLW team.
Parkes local Elizabeth MacGregor is the youngest member of the Bulldogs’ inaugural squad, at only 18 years of age, the fullback earned an NRLW call up in Round 4 and scored a double on debut.
We spoke to Elizabeth about her football journey: “I have played football for as long as I can remember, most of it being club football up until I was 16 when I played representative footy for Western Rams and NSWCCC through school.
“At 17 I began training with the Sydney Roosters under 19s Tarsha Gale team and played my first year of under 19s with them.
This involved a lot of travel to and from Sydney three times a week in order to live my dream of playing football as well as still living in my home town and completing school.
“Halfway through 2024 I received a phone call and it was an offer to be in the Bulldogs top 24 squad. At the time I was on bed rest after having ankle surgery so I couldn’t believe it. Fast forward to the start of 2025 and I played my second year of 19s with Bulldogs and when that season finished I continued training with the NRLW team.
“When Brayden (NRLW coach) told me I would be making my debut against the Roosters I was quite nervous, but he has instilled a huge amount of confidence in me which helped with my preparation significantly.
“Going over for my first try was so surreal.
The first half didn’t go well for our team so to score our first try was amazing but the cutout pass from Ash Quinlan was unreal to get me over in the corner. Everyone in the team was so happy for me and I couldn’t ask for more supportive team mates. I was happy with one try but the second one just topped it all off, looking over at my family and friends cheering for me, some even crying. It was unreal and I feel so blessed to have people who care about me and my success in rugby league.
“I had so many family and friends at the game to support me and lots of people watching from home. I can’t thank them enough for all their support, especially my parents for all the effort, especially the travel, they have put in to get me to where I am today.”
After such a thrilling debut, its no surprise that Elizabeth came out scoring first for the Bulldogs in her second game. Her stats speak for themselves – four tries in just two appearances, eight tackle breaks and four line breaks and only one missed tackle.
Elizabeth was personally identified by Head Coach Blake Cavallaro in Parkes, NSW as a 15-year-old, and despite being just 18 years old, Cavallaro believes the fledgling fullback will have plenty of impact on the Club’s inaugural NRLW squad. “Elizabeth is six-foot, she’s fast and she’s athletic,” Cavallaro said.
“She can play anywhere between fullback, wing and centre and her arrival to the squad will help to inject a spark that will positively influence her teammates.”
President of The Parkes Spacemen RLFC Tony Dwyer said of Elizabeth: “She’s a terrific girl, she deserves every success she gets because she trains very hard.
She’s put so much time and effort into getting to where she is, we’re so proud of her, and she’s just a terrific person too.”
Elizabeth pictured with her extremely proud parents Paul and Charlene.
The Forbes Netball Association is excited once again to support The Kids Cancer Project this Saturday, 2 August 2nd. Fundraising in the form of a crazy hair and sock day will be held at the FNA NetSetGo session from 9:30am – 10:30am.
Netball Associations across the state have joined to make this an extremely successful day, with over $15,000 being raised to date.
Everyone is encouraged to dress up in their craziest socks and hair, and anything else they would like to do. Players are asked to please wear suitable joggers for their fun NetSetGo session.
Crazy socks will be available to buy for $5 with all money raised on the day to be sent to The Kids Cancer Project. A mini market stall will be available to purchase goodies like gifts, veggies, jams, pure wool knitted beanies, and the canteen will be selling pumpkin soup to warm people up. The stall will be cash only so make sure you bring along cash on the day. A 100 club will also be running, and will be drawn once all $2 numbers are sold.
Help from any parents would be greatly appreciated, please contact either Corrie ofr Robyn if you are available to help.
Last year the NetSetGo sessions raised $742 that was sent to headquarters in Sydney. The Kids Cancer Project funds vital scientific research to develop better treatments for all children with cancer.
The Forbes Netball Association gives back to the community in many ways and supports vital organisations that fight childhood cancer. If we all have a go, we can make a difference!
That’s a wrap for Nations of Origin 2025. Shout out to those young people who competed over the four thrilling days of competition.
Nations of Origin 2025 was held on 14-18 July in Western Sydney. The event held each year in conjunction with NAIDOC week, sees teams compete in four sports, over four days.
This is the second year the Parkes PCYC has competed and they took two boys and one girls rugby league teams, two basketball teams and two gymnastics teams.
Parkes PCYC Club Manager Kimberlly Sherrit said, “Nations of Origin isn’t just an event – it’s a program, the lead up is just as important as the main event.
“Children have to meet the criteria to attend, for example they must have 80% attendance at school, so it’s a great incentive to keep these young people on track.
“In regional towns like ours, it’s important to have these opportunities for our youth, for some it could just be the only opportunity of its kind they are presented with. It’s all about learning, empowering our youth, building strong relationships and embracing culture.”
The kids also got to have a bit of fun and went to aqua golf and an amazing cultural night held at the zoo in Sydney.
“This event was to showcase the many nations coming together and they were all given the opportunity to bring something from their culture from art, to dance to didge playing. Tyrese Robinson represented Parkes PCYC by playing the didge” said Kimberly.
EOI’s will go out again for participants and coaches, Kimberly said “We try our best to get to as many businesses as possible for sponsorship but it was incredible to have some reach out to us. We were thrilled to have 2025 as the first year of our major sponsor Evolution Mines. Without this sponsorship we would not have been able to attend the event or deliver the program the way we did.”
On day one of the competition these four girls took away a gold and a bronze, showcasing their amazing skills.
Parkes PCYC Nations of Origin teams and supporters travelled to Sydney early this week to compete in the Nations of Origin tournament. The multi-sports tournament aims to promote reconciliation within communities by engaging the Aboriginal Nations of NSW and people of non-Aboriginal descent. Over 1,000 First Nations and nonFirst Nations young people came together to celebrate their cultures, friendships, hard work and dedication.
PCYC Parkes first attended the event last year and are excited to be back again this year. Thanks to Parkes PCYC and its supporters who have donated to help fund the trip, 56 kids from the local area will be taking part.
Kimberley Sherrett, Parkes PCYC Club Manager said: “There were come and try out sessions for rugby league, gymnastics and basketball, most of these children are already participating in programs at the club.
“The majority of the students this year are from Parkes however we also have some Condobolin, Peak Hill and Forbes players.
Last year Parkes PCYC gymnastics girls finished with bronze and a highly commended, our basketball boys and one of our rugby league teams came very close to making the finals and one of our rugby league teams made the finals but were unfortunate not to walk away with a win.
We were incredibly proud of how they all played and performed.”
The annual four-day sporting and cultural event brings together young people from across New South Wales, representing their Aboriginal Nations. The program consists of teams with a 70-30 split of First Nations and non-First Nations youth.
The event aims to foster community connections, celebrate Indigenous culture, and promote understanding and respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal young people.
A large contingent from Forbes Netball Association attendend the Hart Junior State Titles recently.
The Hart Junior State Titles were held at Penrith and Baulkham Hills.
By all accounts, the Forbes girls absolutely crushed it in all their games!
Aussie croquet was played on Saturday 12 July with only a small number in attendance, however those who played enjoyed the game.
We welcomed back John Allegri who has been on an extended stay overseas due to becoming ill there, however he is home and slowly recovering and was great to see his return to croquet. Tony Bernardi has joined our croquet club and is enjoying a game and the social aspect.
Our valued member Fay Picker has had knee reconstructions and is progressing favourably. Fay called in on Saturday to say hello and we hope it won’t be long before she is back for a game. Best wishes Fay.
Three games on 12 July were won by Noel Jolliffe and Kevin Rubie.
Seniors are catered for on Monday nights at the Vandenberg Hotel with half price meals.
Sadly the Post Office Hotel will close its doors on 13 July and the town is in mourning for what has been a popular place for locals. Forbes Croquet Club has enjoyed bi-monthly luncheons there on occasions and the food was most enjoyable. Thank you to the excellent staff.
By Elvy Quirk
FCC President
Last weekend was round 11 for the FRUC and it was also the ever popular Ladies Day.
It was an action packed day with great footy, laughter, style, and special moments shared.
It was a brilliant day celebrating the incredible women in our club and community.
Thank you to all those who attended and made the day a huge success.