It is amazing how much educational value there is in the building of a solar light as a group of home schoolers discovered in Parkes this week.

The local home school community joined the SolarBuddy project on Wednesday putting together 25 solar lights for kids in energy poor countries.

Leah Knowling, who organised the structured activity for the group’s regular Wednesday get together at Lions Park, said when the Home Education Association called for participants in the project, she liked the idea of getting the Parkes group involved.

On Wednesday children from aged 7 to 15 sat down to assemble the lights that will possibly be send to Cambodia. To finish off the project, each participant wrote a letter to the child who will be using the solar light.

Leah said SolarBuddy would send them a video showing the kids when they open up their lights for the first time, and they would be getting return letters as well.

“It was fun doing it,” said Ayrton Fowler (14). “We read up about the Afar people in Ethiopia this morning. As they are nomads, these lights would be very useful to them.”

Carmel Kelly (11) said the lights would be good for kids who wanted to study at night. “I enjoyed being able to help them, and I learned about technology.”

Leah said the activity was not only a great STEM exercise, but included some history, geography and English, while the kids also learned about the importance of kindness. “It is a fantastic exercise and I would encourage all schools to get involved.”

SolarBuddy is an Australian charity with a big dream to gift six million solar lights to children living in energy poverty by 2030, to help them to study after dusk and improve their education outcomes.

The ban by Facebook last Thursday of all Australian news content, meant The Parkes Phoenix news stories were cut off from a large percentage of our readership.

Fortunately for us the ban did not last too long and our page was restored late Tuesday afternoon.

While we are back to business as usual for the time being, we would like to remind you that we are accessible on various other media sources like Instagram and email, and of course our website.

So if you want to make sure you can always find our stories online keep the following in mind, and as a backup, we would recommend you sign up for our email service to receive the paper in your inbox every Friday morning.

Simply go to our website (www.parkesphoenix.com.au) and scroll to the bottom of the page to subscribe. You can also follow us on Instragram (theparkesphoenix).

You can always pick up a copy of the paper every Friday around town at all the supermarkets and various other businesses.

The Parkes Phoenix has a new face in our advertising sales position. We welcomed Zoe Smith to our camp last week and we would like to introduce her to our readers today.

Where did you grow up? I grew up in the bush – in the tiny town of Wilton, near Picton, about 1.5 hours south of Sydney.

What did you do before joining the Parkes Phoenix? I was building my house and working on my farm, until I broke my wrist and ruptured a thumb tendon! Now I’m on light duties, which is a nice change really.

What do you enjoy about your job? I love meeting people, and connecting with the community. I’ve only been in the Central West for 2.5 years, so getting to know everyone is important to me.

What is your favourite thing to do when you have free time? I love a long ride on my motorbike in summer, gardening and cooking in winter.

What is on your bucket list? I would love to travel the world more, but at the moment I would just be quite happy with a quick trip to the coast!

What makes you laugh the most? My son’s sense of humour – he cracks me up – always has.

If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be? A day spa in Thailand with my kids would be great. We all need a beach and a massage right now.

Do you have a message for the Parkes Phoenix readers? Please call me if you have any questions about advertising in the Phoenix. I’m friendly, I love my job and I’m keen to help. We don’t work on commission – so I’m not pushy!

Parkes Shire residents are invited to join the nation-wide effort to help conserve the environment as part of this year’s Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday, 7th March.

Community members are encouraged to gather friends, family and colleagues to join Council staff in helping to clean up, fix up and conserve our local parks, gardens and reserves.

Over 18.3 million Australians have donated their time as part of Clean Up Australia activities over the last 30 years. A total of 36 million hours of volunteer time has been donated to Clean Up activities to benefit our environment and 380,000 ute loads of rubbish have been removed as part of Clean Up Australia activities.

Mayor of Parkes Shire, Cr Ken Keith OAM said: “Clean Up Australia Day is not only good for our native flora and fauna, it is also a great community event and a way for everyone to show pride in our region.

“By doing our bit to remove and reduce rubbish accumulating in our local parks, roadsides, bushland and waterways, we can ensure that our natural assets will be there to enjoy well into the future.”

Registrations will take place from 8am on Sunday, 7th March at Lions Park. Clean up areas will be allocated to groups at this time, or individuals combined into Clean Up teams. Please bring gloves, a hat, sturdy shoes and don’t forget your water bottle and sunscreen.

This event will adhere to the current NSW Health Restrictions in place at the time of the event. There will be a number of measures in place to ensure the health and safety of the volunteers and the broader community. If you are feeling unwell, please get tested and stay home. For more information about the latest restrictions, please visit www.health.nsw.gov.au.

The Wongalea School hall at the Henry Parkes Museum filled up on Sunday for the presentation of a song on International Mother Language Day on Sunday.

The Parkes Wiradjuri Language Group with Ub Ubbo premiered the video of the song called Nuganirra, which means heartbeat.

It is about going back into the earth and was dedicated to the late Ron Wardrop (first Wiradjuri language teacher in Parkes) and Geoff Anderson’s mother, Alma Anderson.

The project was instigated by Geoff Anderson and Lionel Lovett, and the video is the result of many hours of hard work put in by Sean James Cassidy, Jason Macho Murchie, Tanjim Islam with artwork by Scott Turnbull and Ron Wardrop.

“The Ghalari Lachlan Reconciliation Group is happy to endorse this wonderful production of Nuganirra,” said Eileen Newport. “They have combined Wiradjuri language, music, graphics and performance in a unique presentation. This is their third video using this technique.”

After the launch of the video at the museum, the celebration of the day continued at the new Garradyang Cultural Garden and amphitheatre at Bushman’s Hill to recognise the past history of Parkes in order to continue on the path to reconciliation.

Eileen said that including both venues for the launch of the video was very significant as it was important to recognise past histories, then to move forward together in a spirit of reconciliation. “We need to protect both our indigenous and non-indigenous histories,” said Sean.

President of the Parkes and District Historical Society Bruce Hall expressed his gratitude for being asked to be part of the launch. “It is events like this that bring like-minded people together to make wonderful things happen.”

Sean said the group planned to release three more songs over the next three months, and these would be played on the First Languages Australia website.

The Nuganirra song is available on YouTube.

Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of NSW, and Dennis Wilson visited Parkes on Wednesday and Thursday last week as part of a wider Central West region tour.

“Dennis and I are pleased to be back on the road and delighted to be heading to the Central West,” said the Governor.

The Thursday program included a visit to the Parkes High School and the Parkes Radio Telescope where they were treated to a ‘ride’ on The Dish.

Judy Zielke, Chief Operating Officer CSIRO, and John Reynolds, Facilities Programming Director CSIRO, welcomed the Governor to The Dish.

She said it was so good to be able to experience all the tourism sites in the Central West first hand so she could go back and tell people about it and encourage them to visit the region. “There is so much to see and do here.”

Parkes Shire Council is getting $9 million in funding support from the NSW Government to upgrade seven sections of the Bogan Way (MR350N) between Forbes and Tullamore.

The upgrades will deliver safer, smoother journeys for freight operators and motorists on Parkes’ north-south freight link.

“Efficient freight networks are so critical for businesses in the bush – and projects like these play a crucial part in driving productivity and bringing businesses closer to their customer,” said Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole.

Work would start from August 2021 with the expected completion date being within two years. “It will see 25km of road being widened, upgraded and sealed around Trundle and Bogan Gate, including Boltfield Road and the crossing of Crooked Creek,” said Member of the Legislative Council Sam Farraway.

The project is valued at more than $15 million and is being funded with more than $9 million from Fixing Country Roads, $4.58 million from the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program and $1.45 million contributed by Parkes Shire Council.

Parkes Shire Mayor Cr Ken Keith OAM said: “The use of high productivity vehicles is restricted in Parkes Shire and the Central West region, resulting in inefficiencies for transport of commodities. The upgrades will enable high productivity vehicles to use this route, providing a significant link for local producers to regional and state freight and associated markets.”

Deputy Mayor Cr Barbara Newton, a resident of the Tullamore area and frequent user of MR350 said: “It is wonderful that the State Government has invested with Council on this road. The proposed improvements will make it much safer for the mix of heavy vehicles and everyday passenger vehicles.”