Elvie Collins: My garden – I love growing things and it is good exercise and very rewarding, especially planting flowers.
Rita Carpenter: I love to crochet, especially blankets and knee rugs. I find it very relaxing and it keeps my mind occupied. I’ve been doing it from a young age when my grandma taught me.
Trish Davies: My favourite possession is my car. I can’t do without it. I’ve had a Mazda for the past four years and love driving it out of town to visit friends.
Ub Ubbo Exchange celebrated 75 years of diplomatic ties between Australia and the Philippines with a debut album launch and Reflective exhibition earlier this month.
Ub Ubbo, a non-profit foundation, promotes creative talent by organising projects, exhibits, and cultural exchanges in both countries.
The exhibition, held on a farm in Queanbeyan, featured artists from the Parkes Shire and the Philippines and was opened by Jim Snow, former Member of Parliament for Eden-Monaro and supporter of Ub Ubbo.
Jim said he loved that Ub Ubbo shared and acknowledged culture that creates an exchange for more knowledge, education and better communication.
“Art is used to build relationships between different beliefs and start conversations,” said founding member of Ub Ubbo, Sean James Cassidy.
The exhibition included works from local artists with Scott Sauce Towney’s pyrography (wood burning), Scott Turnbull’s emu egg tempera painting and Sean James Cassidy’s marquetry and oil painting. Lope Bosaing from the Philippines had his ceramics on exhibit. He is also a founder member of Ub Ubbo.
The event started with a smoking ceremony conducted by Jahmarl Towney and Bradley Mapiva Brown, with Wiradjuri elder Robert Clegg and Wiradjuri representative Steve Parker in attendance.
Sean James Cassidy with some of the works on show.
Hamish Orr completed his 25th parkrun on Saturday in a personal best time of 18:07 for the 5km run. (Photo: Northparkes Oval parkrun)
It was a week of milestones at the Northparkes Oval parkrun event 47 last Saturday with three runners achieving their 25 run milestones. Congratulations to Tim Keith, Hamish Orr and Jianjun Tian.
Tim completed all 25 of his parkruns at his home run of Northparkes Oval since he joined at event 4.
Hamish completed 24 of his 25 runs at Northparkes Oval, and one at the Orange parkrun. Hamish also ran a personal best time for his 25th event clocking 18:07 for the 5km run.
Jianjun completed 12 parkruns at Northparkes Oval, seven at Rock Riverside, four at Southbank, and one each at St Peters and St Lucia.
Emily Klein (middle) enjoys her ice cream with Mum Jessica and brother Liam.
Ryder Vidler, Maleaha Clark and Adeline Smede.
Lachlan Bennett, Gabriella Miri, Nicholas Hunt and Harvey Williams.
Jessica Ross with Noah, and Paige Cowling with Elsie.
Henry Kross won two ACT State titles in Canberra last weekend claiming the Boys Under 14 and Boys Under 15 divisions.
He might have a national title under his belt, but a young Parkes squash player keeps on shocking his parents with his wins.
Last weekend Year 7 student Henry Kross was keen to build on his success of winning the Under 13 Boys ACT State title last year. He managed a second consecutive win at the 2022 ACT Junior Championships becoming the Under 14 champion, and then decided to go one up and also enter the Under 15 Boys division.
He had a slow start in the semi-final, but persevered to win his second title at the championship. “He really shocked us,” said his proud mum Judy Kross.
Building on his success Henry will be representing Western with fellow Parkes High student Harry Bligh at the Combined High Schools (CHS) State Championships in Sydney from 7th June.
The following week is the Green Shield competition in Dapto, Wollongong with 12 Parkes in the 24 players Western team, while the next major event is the NSW State titles in Coffs Harbour. Henry will play for the Under 13 title and is hopeful of making the NSW team to head to Perth in September.
Mark Coulton and Michael McCormack at the Riverina Campaign Launch in Parkes last week.
The Riverina Electorate campaign launch for the National Party took place in Cooke Park last week with Member for Riverina Michael McCormack and Member for Parkes Mark Coulton.
Michael said he would prioritise the labour shortage and cost of living in Parkes if he got re-elected. “These are the two major issues for this electorate, and I will be working on programs and projects for both of those.”
He said while there was a whole host of other issues, like action on climate and national security, he’d been talking to business people who just could not fill their positions, and families were worried about the cost of living.
Michael said the labour shortage was largely because of the 90,000 backpackers the country lost during COVID. “I don’t think people realise our reliance on overseas labour in hospitality, farming, agriculture, meat processing and other positions.”
He said even in the Central West hundreds of backpackers made a huge difference in the labour market. “Often these positions were word of mouth. One person would work on a farm near Forbes and go home and tell their friends about the great farmer where they could go and work. When the backpackers left and did not come back for two years, that word of mouth broke down. The backpackers came here in their droves and spent a lot of money.”
Michael said while the Australian Agriculture Visa (AAV) program was introduced to address workforce shortages in the agriculture sector and backpackers were slowly coming back, the Pacific labour hire program still needed to be enhanced.
“The problem is we cannot invite people back to Australia who are not vaccinated and this is impacting the numbers.”
John Niddrie and Greg Cregan volunteer at Vinnies in Parkes.
This week is National Volunteer Week and a chance for all of us to celebrate and recognise the vital work of volunteers and to say thank you. Volunteers do a lot of work behind the scenes that is vital to the functioning of groups and organisations that serve our community for its betterment.
At Vinnies in Parkes the female volunteers are always in the front helping out customers, but there is also a team at the back doing some vital work. Two of the behind-the-scenes volunteers are Greg Cregan and John Niddrie.
They do a lot of after hours work and on public holidays being responsible for emptying out the donation bins. “We also sort all the items, and pick up and drop off items to people,” said Greg.
Greg has been doing it for about six years, and John joined around 12 months ago. “It is all about helping people out and the comradeship. We all get along really well working here.”
Have you ever considered volunteering? It brings people together; it builds communities and creates a better society for everyone.Together, through volunteering, we are changing communities for the better. We are, Better Together.
The vacant block beside the Hong Loch Chinese Restaurant will be converted into an open-air plaza and improve pe-destrian connectivity between Clarinda and Welcome Streets under the new round of funding for the CBD activation.
The Parkes CBD makeover has received more funding to further expand the program that will see the transformation continue to create a vibrant precinct.
Parkes Shire Council’s successful application resulted in $499,930 in grant funding from the NSW Government’s Streets as Shared Spaces Program.
“The CBD is the community’s most important meeting space,” said Parkes Shire Mayor Cr Ken Keith OAM. “We’ve done a lot of work in recent years to improve the look and feel of the Parkes CBD to make it a more vibrant and welcoming precinct.
“This next stage will focus on activating the southern end of Clarinda Street, including converting the vacant block beside the Hong Loch Chinese Restaurant into an open-air plaza for public space and improving pedestrian connectivity between Clarinda and Welcome Streets.”
The works will include surface levelling and sealing, drainage works and landscaping, as well as the installation of new bollards, street furniture and festoon lighting.
“Outdoor dining is more important than ever as we adjust to the ‘new normal’ way of life with COVID-19. This funding will allow us to construct two additional dining platforms, similar to those at Bella’s Restaurant and Packed Cones Gelato,” the Mayor said.
The projects will commence this month, with completion expected in February 2023.
Parkes Public School Vice-Captain – Emma Hando
How old are you? 12.
Were you named after anyone? No.
What three things would you like to pack in your lunch box every day? Lunch, chips and grapes.
If you could choose any job in the world, what would you do? A sports trainer.
If you could invent something, what would it be? A drone that cleans up the ocean.
If you had to spend $10,000 today, how would you spend it? A new camera.
What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done? Let my brother and his friends swing me around.
If you could meet any historical person, who would that be? Les Murray.
What makes you feel like dancing? A good beat.
If you found a genie, what would you wish for? A never ending supply of money, a lot of art supplies and my own sports gym.
PIANO DANCING… The iconic floor piano dancing scene in Big performed by Kate Walsh, owner of the toy store, and Henry Best in the lead role as Josh Baskin.
Local theatre returned to Parkes in a ‘big’ way last weekend after another year of lockdowns, interruptions and postponements.
With a cast and crew of 50 the Parkes Musical and Dramatic Society’s production of Big the Musical once again highlights the abundance of talent in our community putting on a fun-filled musical for all the family full of high-energy songs and dancing.
“It’s been such a long time coming, all of us are so glad to be back in the theatre,” said Lisa Ramsay as director of her third musical with the M & D.
The production required a good dose of perseverance from Lisa as it had to be postponed twice, there were long breaks between rehearsals over the festive period and the April holiday and Elvis Festival, while managing changes in roles, finding new supporting crew members for choreography and set construction and coping with cast members getting COVID during the concluding weeks of rehearsals.
The final result sees the Overture star from Grenfell, Henry Best in a huge lead role as Josh Baskin. Based on the 1987 smash-hit film with Tom Hanks, Josh is a frustrated adolescent who magically becomes an adult, and discovers that life is not simply child’s play.
The other lead roles are played by Jess Morgan as Susan, Kate Walsh and Hannah Connell, with new comer Blake Martin and Forbes locals Grace Powley and Drew Barter in semi-lead roles. Grace plays Billie Kopecki, the main character’s best friend, and Drew plays Josh as a child.
The musical includes the iconic floor piano dancing scene from the movie, and thanks to the ingenuity of two locals, Steve McGrath and Dave McCrae, the Parkes production has a giant floor piano too. “Our piano has three octaves and all the keys light up when you stand on them,” said Lisa of one of the biggest challenges of the set production.
Whether you want to support local talent, or see the floor piano, make sure to get your tickets online for the shows this weekend and next, or buy tickets at the box office at the Little Theatre on Sundays from 10am to 12pm. NSW Discovery and Family Vouchers are accepted.