Maggi Barnard

The mission of the PCYC is to get young people active in life. The Parkes PCYC start with the youngest of the young offering KinderGym classes to three to five-year-olds every Wednesday from 11:00 to 11:45.

“We have younger siblings joining in too,” said Kerry Hodges, the experienced gym- nastics coach at the PCYC who takes the classes. Kerry, who has qualifications in a range of gymnastics classes, is an accred- ited KinderGym leader.

The aim of KinderGym, as it is also known, is to make learning fun while teaching con- cepts of movement. The emphasis is on free play and structured activities to assist the development of fine and gross motor skills, as well as hand-eye co-ordination in young children.

The heroes and villains of the Summer Reading Club not only achieved their mission – they shattered it by reading more than double the amount of books.

The 230 members of the Parkes Shire Library’s Summer Reading Club were set the task to read 888 books over the summer. Last Thursday they were invited to a Heroes and Villains graduation party to celebrate the total of 1,787 books read by children from across the Shire.

The party was a big celebration of reading, but also a fun event for the kids to see the library staff doing some crazy activities. Debbie Gould, Library Officer, said when a member returned a completed reading record to the library they were asked to vote for a wacky challenge the library team would perform at the party.

“The Library team anxiously watched the voting, wondering what the kids wanted us to do.” The top three crazy challenges voted for were spraying their hair different colours, being wrapped as a mummy in toilet paper and catching balls with a bucket on their heads.

There were lots of smiles and shrieks of joy as the kids transformed four staff members into mummies with toilet rolls. There were even more excitement when they could unwrap the mummies with toilet paper flying everywhere.

Super awards were also given to members who significantly contributed to the reading total. They were Brendan Bates, Harrison and Matilda Smede, Annabelle Border, Chloe Mudiman and Hareem Ak- mal from Parkes; Freya Berry from Trundle; Kayliah and Shanae Alvey from Tullamore and John and Peter Thomas from Peak Hill.

Around 50 bikers rode into town for the Big Ride 4 Parkinson’s fundraising event last Saturday.

Arriving at the Cambridge Hotel late af- ternoon, there was one notable absence though. The event’s poster boy Angry Anderson was absent due to an unfortunate double-booking. But for the dozens of bikers who came from Sydney via Mudgee, it was quite a ride.

For Richmond man Rudy Heynsdyk the ride is a personal challenge. He was diag- nosed with Parkinson’s in 2004. He recently lost his father to the disease, although there is only a genetic component in 1% of cases. Rudy has undergone several procedures to alleviate his symptoms and takes regular medication. He is determined to live life to the fullest. “You’ve got to do what you can when you can,” he said, “it’s such a horrible disease.”

Mark Atherton is the man behind the event. He started it five years ago to com- bine his passion for motorbikes with a posi- tive cause. He chose Parkinson’s as he wanted to support a disease that affects men in the later years of their lives. “Everyone really gets behind events for cancer, so I wanted to do the same for a less visible disease.” Tragically, just two years after he’d established the Big Ride, Mark’s father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, so it’s become a personal cause.

Parkes was the obvious destination; not only does it have great alliteration, but it’s the perfect distance for a ride from Sydney. Not all riders came from Sydney. There were a few locals who joined them.

Parkes woman Natalie Madsen rode to Sydney on Friday for the Big Ride. Her mother has Parkinson’s, so it’s a cause she cares about deeply. “We’ve been wanting to do this since before we got the bike,” she said.

By Raen Fraser