Maggi Barnard

The NSW Graduated Licensing Scheme will change on Monday, 20th November to improve the way the scheme prepares novice drivers to be safe. Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention
Officer, Melanie Suitor said: “The first six months of solo driving is the highest risk period for novice drivers.”

The three main changes include:
1. Learner drivers will now be required to complete the Hazard Perception Test before undertaking the practical driving test.
2. Provisional 1 drivers (red P Platers) no longer have to undertake the Hazard Perception Test to graduate to their provisional 2 licence (green P’s).
3. The Driver Qualification Test has been removed for P2 drivers to graduate to a full licence, though a six-month extension will be imposed if a P2 driver receives a suspension for unsafe driving behaviour.

These changes will align the NSW licensing system with other jurisdictions and better prepare novice drivers for real world hazards. There are transitional arrangements in place for current learner and provisional 1 and 2 licence holders.

Since October NSW learner drivers can now also use digital logbooks to record their 120 hours of on-road supervised driving. Melanie said there were three approved apps learner drivers can download for free and access a digital logbook, GPS tracking, automated weather conditions, video lessons and goal setting. “All learner drivers are able to use the Licence Ready, Roundtrip or L2P app as their learner driver logbook.”

All of these licence changes will be covered in upcoming ‘Helping Learner Drivers Become Safer Drivers’ workshops to be held across the three council areas. Find out more information about the changes, visit www.rms.nsw.gov.au/licence

Instead of delivering a meal, volunteers for Meals on Wheels were served a lovely spread on Wednesday at the organisation’s Christmas party. More than 100 volunteers and clients packed the Parkes Golf Club for a festive celebration of their dedication and hard work through the year.

Una Colley received special thanks as she is retiring after 35 years of volunteering, while three more volunteers were
acknowledged for their hard work: Bob Fernando, Marilyn Phipps and Lynette Pengilly.

When Paul Thomas returned to Parkes in 1980 as a Vietnam veteran after six years in the army, he teed up his involvement with the Parkes Golf Club committee. “It gave me something to do,” said the man who had become known as Mister Golf after 37 years of involvement. He had become such an institution when he announced his intention to retire, nobody wanted to believe him.

As a ‘free’ man who can now focus on his handicap, he also has time to reflect on a lifetime of working for the betterment of the Parkes Golf Club. “That is all I ever wanted to do.”

He rates turning the Parkes Open into a premier country golfing event as one of his achievements. “Over the 30 years of my involvement we did not change the format, but upgraded it fractionally to attract one of the strongest fields for any country event in NSW.”

Paul gives a lot of credit to Ray White who was “a very good administrator” and his greatest influence. I followed him in most of his positions from captain, to president of Lachlan Valley to Golf NSW.”

He looks fondly back at his involvement with junior golf. “The highlight was in 1986 when we filled up a bus with kids who had qualified for the Jack Newton International in Cessnock, with Greg Lawson from Parkes winning it.”

The biggest highlight this year left him completely gobsmacked when Rotary awarded him a Paul Harris Fellowship for helping out with the Rotary golf day for ten years. “As a non-member of Rotary, it is an honour I am very grateful for.”

Over Paul’s 37-year involvement he has seen a big change in society with people now working seven days a week and businesses staying open longer. “Shops used to close lunch time on Saturdays and then everyone did sport.” He said the club’s membership has decreased because of this change in lifestyle.

Paul’s retirement does not mean a new routine for him as he still serves at the Lachlan Valley president, and he is secretary of the RSL Sub-branch with lots of projects to work on. Parkes better watch out his next title might just be Mister RSL.

By Maggi Barnard

A Parkes GP has won a major award recognising her excellence and ongoing commitment to quality general practice education and training. Dr Kerrie Stewart of the Ochre Medical Centre is well on her way to become a GP after she was announced as the GP Synergy Western NSW Registrar of the Year last week. She received the highest score amongst Western NSW candidates sitting the Royal Australian College of General Practice exams last term.

After deciding to specialise as a rural GP, Dr Stewart is now in her third term of GP training based in Parkes.
She grew up on properties in Cobar and Coonabarabran, and completed her internship and residency at Dubbo Base Hospital. “My family is settled in Parkes and I intend to continue working here once I am fellowed as a GP, as it’s a wonderful community to live and work in,” she said. “I really enjoy being a rural GP as it is always interesting and allows a great balance for me with my young family.

Wednesday was a day of celebration for the LBGTIQ community of Parkes when the results of the Marriage Law Postal Survey came out as an overwhelming yes. For Parkes couple Kasie Ferguson and Bianca Sheridan it was a joyous day. Although they were married in New York City in 2013, they were celebrating in Sydney as their marriage would now be legal in Australia too.

Other Parkes residents with family members in same-sex relationships were also ecstatic by the result, saying they were very happy for them. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) announced that 61.6% of the 16 million
eligible Australians supported changing the law to allow same-sex couples to marry and 38.4% did not.

In the Riverina electorate, which includes Parkes, a total of 47,333 people voted yes accounting for 54.6%, while 39,308 voted no (45.4%). A total of 77.4% of eligible voters in the Riverina took part in the survey, compared to 79.5% countrywide.

Riverina MP Michael McCormack said the vote showed democracy at work. “I am pleased nearly 80 percent of people voted, I think that shows that people wanted to have their say and now they have it is now up to the Parliament to uphold the will of the people and change the act accordingly.”

All states and territories recorded a majority Yes response. Of the 150 Federal Electoral Divisions, 133 recorded a majority Yes response, and 17 Federal Electoral Divisions recorded a majority No response. Australian Statistician, David W. Kalisch, said the participation rate was high for a voluntary survey.

“This high response rate far exceeds expectations and compares extremely favourably with other voluntary exercises conducted around the world thanks to the strong interest and engagement of eligible Australians in this topic,” he said.

Ladies it’s time to heat those lash curlers and get the hairspray cans out – the Miss Priscilla competition is back for a glamorous night of big entertainment and even bigger hairstyles at the 2018 Parkes Elvis Festival from 10-14 January.

Returning for the 11th year, this shimmering showdown sees women from all walks of life pulling out the stops to resemble The King’s one and only Queen Priscilla Presley, with one lucky lady to be crowned the Face of the Festival at the Goodsell Machinery Miss Priscilla Dinner on Thursday, 11th January 2018.

Tickets to the Miss Priscilla Dinner are on sale now at www.parkeselvisfestival.com.au. While enjoying a delicious dinner and witnessing the crowning of the 2018 Miss Priscilla winner, guests will be entertained by Parkes’ 2016 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist winner Jack Gatto, and local group Amitie.

The 2018 Miss Priscilla winner will enjoy all the perks of being crowned the King of Rock and Roll’s leading lady for the weekend – instant celebrity status, plus special guest appearances at plenty of the Festival’s spectacular events.
Festival Director Cathy Treasure said: “It’s not too late to sign up for Miss Priscilla. Applications are still open. We encourage all ladies to enter, whether you’re a professional hair and makeup artist, beauty queen or just a passionate Priscilla fan out to enjoy one of the best nights of the festival every year!”

Can’t commit to going full Priscilla? Don’t pack up the hairspray cans yet – recreate a rockin’ beehive for the Hairstyles of ’60’s competition, or let the hemlines do the talking for title of Miss ’68. Applications can be
downloaded from the Parkes Elvis Festival website – www.parkeselvisfestival.com.au

If you would like to enter Miss Priscilla – complete the form on the website. For all programming and ticketing information, visit www.parkeselvisfestival.com.au

Almost 400 people attended the Remembrance Day ceremony in Cooke Park last Saturday. Captains of all the local schools participated in the ceremony too and at the end Paul Thomas of the RSL Sub-Branch Committee rounded them all up to sing the National Anthem. Parkes East Public School was represented by Archie Rix, Principal Michael Ostler and Madeline Blackstock.

With the weather finally warming up swimming is an ideal way to get a full body workout. Due to the repetitive nature of swimming, overuse injuries in the shoulder and neck are common.

The shoulder is a ball and socket joint with a ring of cartilage around the socket to make the joint more stable. Around this is a loose joint capsule that is reinforced with ligaments and muscles. Because the shoulder is a very mobile joint it relies on the action of these muscles and ligaments to maintain stability. These muscles are called the rotator cuff and consist of four muscles that work together to keep your shoulder centred in its socket.

So if swimming strengthens the shoulder muscles why do so many swimmers have shoulder problems? The simple answer is due to the repetitive nature of swimming. The more complex answer lies in the fact that many swimmers don’t have good stroke technique, while those that do, can still have problems because the swim stroke (in particular freestyle) mainly strengthens the shoulder internal rotators and adductors. This causes muscle imbalance, leaving the scapular stabilisers and external rotators relatively weak and joint laxity increases. The rotator cuff must work harder to keep the shoulder centred in the socket. When the already relatively weakened external rotators fatigue,
the ball of the shoulder joint moves forward and the tendon of the rotator cuff muscles is pinched between the bones as the hand is raised above shoulder height.

Next column I will cover some practical ways to prevent this from happening and what to do if you already have problems.

For the fitness of you.
Linda Reilly