Maggi Barnard

It was a real trip down memory lane for some members of the Anglican Women’s Association when they visited the Henry Parkes Museum last Wednesday.

The group of eight women decided to move their monthly meeting to the museum to watch the Art of Resilience video after reading about it in The Parkes Phoenix. They were all very impressed with the art talent among young people in the Parkes Shire saying it was wonderful that the students had such a great outlet for their artistic creations.

The video is currently being shown in the Wongalea School building at the museum. It was when someone asked if anyone had gone to school in the building, when the memory flood gates opened and the stories started flowing.

Vivienne Cunningham said her husband attended the Wongalea school and he told her how they used to hide out the back of the building and got into trouble for it. “They were probably out there smoking,” said someone with a naughty smile.

Vivienne started looking at the display of the other one teacher schools on the wall and got very excited when she found her alma mater, Deep Lead School which she attended up to 6th class. She called her older sister Loris White over and together they found some familiar faces on the photos.

“I have the best memories from that time,” said Vivienne, who is 87. “We loved playing games like Jack and tunnel ball. The tennis club was also very active. The school picnics were just wonderful – we always had raspberry drinks in big China cups.”

For Loris, who had turned 92 a few days before, the school concerts were a high-light. “I learned to play tennis at school too.” Living about 4.5 miles from the school, the Cheney sisters first went to school by horse and sulky, and later rode their bikes and eventually were taken in a Chrysler car.

Deep Lead School, about 8km west of Parkes, was open from 1888 to 1947. At the time of the Cheney sisters there were about 20 students in the school.

When Warwick Tom unexpectedly became vice-president at the young age of 16, little did he know that 70 years later he would receive the Cultural Lifetime Achievement Award on Australia Day 2021.

“I saw an ad in the paper, went along to a meeting and in February 1951 the Parkes Musical and Dramatic Society was restarted after it knocked off in 1939 at the start of WWII.” (The M &D was first started in 1875.)

Warwick clearly remembers their first production called Private Lives. “We took it to a festival in Orange and won the best dressed award!”

A tragedy played off in Warwick’s own life when he lost his leg in a farming accident and he retired from the M & D for a while. He re-joined in 1971 and has been active ever since, also serving on the Arts Out West board for six years from 1980, and again for the past three years.

“I tried everything over the years from acting to directing to stage management. I really enjoyed being on stage.” One of his favourite roles was playing a bikie in La Mysticalle in 2003. “I asked Lyn Townsend what my costume would be and she gave me a leather jacket and some chains to put around my neck.” He also enjoyed playing Tom of Warwick in Camelot in 1974, direct-

If you are in year 10, 11 and 12 and have a passion for politics, the YMCA NSW (Y NSW) Youth Parliament might just be the place for you.

The state’s premier youth political empowerment program provides a platform for young people to have their voices heard through legislative debate and decision making. The Y NSW is seeking representatives from all 93 NSW state electorates to participate, and applications have opened after the program had to be suspended last year.

Youth Parliament consists of an eight-day camp where participants are split in committees and develop policy positions ahead of a day of debate on the floor of NSW Parliament. Following the event, passed bills are formally presented to the NSW Government.

Since its beginning in 2002, approximately six pieces of Y NSW Youth Parliament youth legislation have been passed into NSW Law, including the recent Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme.

Applications close on 12th March at 5pm. Young people will be notified of the outcome of their application on 22nd March ahead of an online introduction to the program on 26th April and finally, residential camp from 3rd to 10th July.

For more information, or to apply, visit: https://www.ymcansw.org.au/community-services/youth/youth-parliament/

After four hours into her first visit, the Governor of NSW, Margaret Beazley AC QC, said Parkes had a nice feel about it.

Accompanied by her husband Dennis Wilson, she said the meeting at Parkes Shire Council was terrific. “The council is forward-looking and strategic in vision, which is something to be really proud of.”

She was particularly happy meeting Nicayden Greenwood, Young Citizen of the Year who did the Welcome to Country in language. “I was very impressed when he told me the Wiradjuri language is being taught in school from Kindergarten to Year 12. I would really like to put the challenge out there that someone need to create Wiradjuri Scrabble.”

In the afternoon the Governor met about 20 children attending after school care at the PCYC. She first asked them what they enjoyed about school and then it was their turn to ask questions ranging from: Why do you talk to the Queen, What do you like about your job, to What is your favourite place you’ve visited? She said meeting so many interesting people, and especially children was the best part about her job. “You can always learn so much from children because you have such great ideas,” she told them.

The Governor’s tour of the Central West, that also included Forbes and Condobolin, is the first multi-day regional visit after a long pause because of COVID. “We are keen to hear how the past months have impacted on the diverse economy of the region and the day to day lives of local people.”

The visit to Parkes included a tour of the Parkes Water Treatment Plant, Regional Hospital, and Radio Telescope, and a visit to Parkes High School. The Vice-Regal couple visited several local businesses to learn first-hand about current conditions and plans for the future.

 

 

 

Almost 4,000 votes were cast online by the Parkes community last year to vote for projects in the Local Road and Community Infrastructure (LRCI) Program.

The LRCI Program is funded by the Australian Government and aims to assist a community-led recovery from COVID-19 by supporting local jobs, firms and procurement.

Parkes Shire Mayor Cr Ken Keith OAM said: “We were overwhelmed with the response and community contribution during the consultation period. The project page was viewed over 7,900 times with 1,746 registered participants casting 3,665 votes across the identified projects during the voting period which closed on 31st July 2020.”

Parkes Shire was allocated $1.3 million to support Council in the delivery of local road improvements and community infrastructure projects. The following projects were approved with completion expected by June:

Woodward Oval tennis courts – resurfacing of six tennis courts $175,000; Spicer Oval – installation of new LED lights $400,000; Upgrades at Parkes East School carpark area including a new shared pathway $250,000; Works near the International Motel and Rawson Street to address flooding concerns with new drainage, extension of the footpath network with pram ramps $66,000; CCTV units in the Peak Hill main street to be fed to the Parkes Police Station $20,000; New furniture and carpet for Parkes Coventry Room to reflect the upgrades made to the Parkes Library & Cultural Centre for the hosting of art exhibitions $100,000; Create a Wiradjuri Keeping Place & preservation of artefacts display area adjacent to the Parkes Library $35,000;Install banner system across the new smart poles in lower Clarinda Street to use as advertising opportunities for events, Parkes Shire and Elvis $30,000; Upgrades to the Henry Parkes Centre’s air conditioning system and sealing to protect the collections $50,000; Construct 100m of 4m wide shared pathway in Rose Street to mitigate current storm water damage to the walking areas $35,000; Upgrades to storm-water and drainage in and around Cooke Park as well as irrigation work in the park to ensure the park is accessible to the community $80,000.

Council is in the process of applying for round two of the program with projects again prioritised based on the community’s feedback received during the consultation last year.

A team of 18 swimmers from Parkes Sharks swimming club took part at the Mountains and Plains Summer Championships in Lithgow last weekend. There were many excellent results with all swimmers gaining at least one personal best time in somewhat arduous conditions in non-stop rain on Saturday.

Meg Turner had excellent results throughout the two days recording four-second places, and achieving enough points from nine events to be the girls 15 years champion for the meet.

Khan Jackson won three first placings and three minor placings. He and Hunter Kriedemann swam particularly well in breaststroke clocking times that would place them well at state carnivals.

In a magnificent team performance late on Saturday afternoon, Sam and Finlay Quince, Hunter and Quinn Kriedemann, Meg Turner, Khan Jackson, Chloe and Lilly Phillips and Charlie and Marcus Skinner swam consistently in the 10×50 metre relay, where you have to be closest to your nominated finishing time, to win.

Special mention should also be made of the performances of Liam Moody who competed in the 1500m in a carnival for the first time and placed in third, Katie Forbes who had two personal bests, and her sister Phoebe who took a whopping 21 seconds off her time for the 200m freestyle.

The Sharks also competed well in each of the relays they participated in, taking time off each event from their seed time.

Overall, Sharks finished 7th on the point score out of the 15 clubs, just behind Grenfell, who with the same number of competitors, had the swimmer of the meet, Tom Robinson. He won every event he went in and broke many records.

A big thank you to the parents who made the big trip and those who organised the accommodation.

Live music is back in the Central West with the Inland Sea of Sound 2021 series of concerts in the centre of Bathurst at indoor and outdoor events.

The festival kicks off on Tuesday, 23rd February with a free, but ticketed screening of Soda Jerk’s Terror Nullius in association with Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

The live concerts commence on Wednesday, 24th of February in the BMEC City Hall with Sub-Tribe, a dynamic six-piece band from New Zealand, and supported by The Safety of Life at Sea and The Mirandas.

On Thursday, 25th Hussy Hicks with soul vocalist Leesa Gentz and Australia’s leading female guitarist Julz Parker will perform outdoors, supported by local favourites Smith & Jones.

Friday, 26th Kate Ceberano accompanied by guitarist Ben Butler having returned from the USA where he performed with Sting and Bruce Springsteen will be back at the BMEC. Local support from singer songwriter Andy Nelson with his amazing new five-piece band.

Saturday is again outdoors with Headliner CW Stoneking, a musical, blues story teller supported by the incomparable Mo’Ju, winner of best song and best album at the 2018 National Indigenous Music Awards.

On Sunday at 2pm in the BMEC theatre there will be a free show with kids favourites The Beanies.

Tickets at https://www.inlandseaofsound.com.au/tickets/ticket-information.html For the outdoor concerts and City Hall you can pre-order a delicious picnic box.