Maggi Barnard

A community initiative that started in Denmark might make its way to Parkes in the near future offering free bike rides to the elderly and less abled residents.

Cycling Without Age was established in 2012 in Copenhagen as a volunteer organisation.

A community committee has been formed in Parkes to raise the finances to purchase a specialised bicycle, called a trishaw, which will be used to take residents of nursing and residential homes out to get some wind in their hair.

Bike East from Sydney, who have several trishaws which they take to the villages in the eastern suburbs, will be bringing one from 9th to 11th April to Parkes to introduce the trishaw to the community.

On the Friday it will be in the shopping centre and then at each of the three residential villages in Parkes taking some of the residents out for their first ride.

Friday evening there will be an information meeting at the Parkes Services Club, and Saturday morning future riders will receive some instruction in PAC Park. A facebook page has been created called Cycling Without Age Parkes.

Congratulations to the winners picked by Candy Jubb of Idler’s Den who sponsored four prize packs. The winners are Jed Sutton (0-4 years), Lockey Veigel (5 – 8 years) and Trinity Tanswell (9 – 13 years), as well as the lucky draw prize winner Angus Jones.

Life is slowly getting back to some form of normality as more restrictions are being lifted with many activities and events resuming. The downtime last year through COVID has reminded us just how important our connections are with friends and family, and brought a new sense of awareness to what we value in our lives.

Over recent weeks we’ve had several organisations calling for more volunteers in our community. And when we asked current volunteers what they enjoy about it, most of them answered how much joy the connection and interaction with others brought them.

Volunteering is not only an act of kindness, but can also be very rewarding in return. If you are keen to make a change in your life for the better, why not consider doing some voluntary work.

Happy Easter everyone and stay safe

Maggi

The Parkes Rotary Club celebrated the completion of the toiletry kits with a special function last week. At the event were(L-R) Glen Westcott (Parkes Christian School principal), Mark Ritchie (Parkes Rotary Club president), Jenny Jewel (Parkes Rotary), Marie Noakes (Parkes Christian School student), Michael Milston (guest speaker) and Donna Payne (Holy Family School teacher).

Australia is the only developed country in the world with trachoma and the Parkes Rotary Club is actively helping to prevent its spread.

With the input of community members, the Rotary Club has made up 50 toiletry kits that will be send to a school in the Northern Territory.

“Our club was allocated the Yulara School, a coeducational combined school about 450km south west of Alice Springs,” said Jenny Jewel, who was in charge of the project.

Jenny is very grateful to all the community members who contributed to the project. The youngest was 13-year-old Parkes Christian School student Marnie Noakes who played a major part in the sewing of the bags. “When Marnie heard about the project, she offered her help and ended up sewing 50 bags,” said Jenny. She also encouraged her class mates to write pen pal letters to the children at the Yulara School.

Donna Payne, who teaches at Holy Family School, also organised letters from her students that were included in all the bags.

Jenny said she also had involvement from Eileen Newport of the Indigenous Language Group, while Rotary members Deb Hoarder, Judith Shore and Barbara Thompson helped out too.

Apart from sewing cotton bags, the Rotary Club also filled them with toiletry supplies for the students to use to ensure better hygiene.

Trachoma, an eye infection that can lead to blindness, is easily transmitted between children. The End Trachoma campaign focuses on teaching children good hygiene

Parkes Services Club has registered for the dine vouchers. The other businesses registered so far are Cooke Park Café, Bent Food & Wine, Fu Yuan Chinese Restaurant, Parkes Hotel, Parkes McDonalds, Roasted Kombi, Railway Hotel, Hong Long Chinese and Wholesome Blend.

The NSW Government’s Dine & Discover program can potentially inject almost $16 million into the Central West according to Business NSW.

The program consists of four $25 vouchers for every NSW resident aged 18 and over to spend in participating businesses.

Vouchers have started to become available across regional NSW from last week with the rollout to be completed by the end of the month. While Parkes Shire residents have not yet been able to claim their vouchers, local businesses have been encouraged to start registering for the program.

By Tuesday ten Parkes businesses had already registered for the dine vouchers. Some reported that tourists in town had started to use their vouchers.

NSW Minister for Customer Service, Vic-tor Dominello told business owners at a recent webinar that on average, residents were spending around $42 when utilising one of their vouchers.

The four vouchers are divided into two categories to be used for eating in at restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs and clubs from Monday to Thursday, excluding public holidays. The two discover vouchers can be used for entertainment and recreation, including cultural institutions, live music, and arts venues, available seven days a week, excluding public holidays.

Earlier this week no businesses in Parkes had so far registered for the discover vouchers.

“No one needs extra encouragement to have a meal out or enjoy some downtime after the past year, so I encourage Western NSW businesses to register now so they can reap the rewards when the program opens here soon,” said Vicki Seccombe of Business NSW. “In particular, we are encouraging our entertainment and recreation businesses in the region to get involved as we are seeing less of these businesses currently registered.”