Maggi Barnard

On Thursday 30th June Parkes Library will end the financial year with a bang! At 6pm it will host the inaugural meeting of its first every community book club. According to Manager Cultural, Education & Library Services, Shellie Buckle, the formation of a library book club has been a while in the planning.

“Early 2016 the Parkes Library team invited the community to give feedback on what services customers and members would like the Library to introduce. High on the list was a book club. We carried out further research to find out when people would like the book club to be held, what things they would like to read and how often the club should meet” said Shellie.

When the results were tallied it was decided to hold the meetings monthly, in the evening, on the last Thursday of the month. The first book being read by club members is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. “Hornsby Library is kindly supporting the book club by loaning us book club kits, multiple copies of the same title” said Librarian Gillian Hunt, coordinator of the book club.

Book clubs run on a simple formula: gather people, pick a book, read it and get together to discuss! If you are interested in joining the club, please call Parkes Library on 6861 2309 and register your interest.

Spinifex Australia is a group of multi-talented and versatile recruitment companies with personalised approaches to doing business. The Spinifex Group is made up of a number of professional, hardworking individuals, some of which you can learn about here…

Phil Cartwright has spent nine years with the company. He began working with GWS Personnel recruiting for Northparkes Open Cut Project. When the project ended, he moved in a QA role in administration and IT support. Now that GWS has become part of Spinifex Australia, the support functions Phil specialises in have been extended throughout the rest of the group.

Wendy Cheney is the administration manager and RTW co-ordinator for the group. She began her career in administration in 1996 and has worked for the Spinifex group for the past 15 years. During Wendy’s time with the company, she has been responsible for a variety of functions including finance, payroll and administration duties. Most recently Wendy has taken on a WHS and RTW role. Over the past 10 years Wendy has completed a number of WHS courses, particularly in the area of rehabilitation. As RTW coordinator, Wendy strives to ensure all injured workers return to work in a safe and timely manner following a workplace injury.

Heilala Mill is an associate consultant for Spinifex. She completed her HSC at Red Bend College in September 2015 and began work at Spinifex in January on a casual basis. She has recently started working as a full time employee. Heilala is currently completing her Cert III in Business and then plans to move on to a diploma. She aims to further her knowledge and career in human resources as she is very passionate about the topic and loves being able to work within a human resources environment every day.

Kris Kent has been the regional manager for Spinifex for five years. She began her career as a recruitment consultant in 2011 and completed 10 months at NPM working for the HR team. In 2015 Kris went to Byron Bay for four months to manage an office and learn about other parts of the Spinifex group. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Business MGT at Deakin and has also completed a Diploma in HR.

Katie Mapperson is a senior recruitment consultant and has been with Spinifex for nearly seventeen years. She began her career with the group in August 1999. Katie specialises in recruiting for all white collar, blue collar, mining and government roles and is the go-to person for industrial relations, awards, agreements and employment policies.

Katie Mapperson

Kris Kent

Heilala Mill

Wendy Cheney

Phil Cartwright

Ruby Wilson is a seven-year-old with a mission: she wants to save the Great Barrier Reef! Last Friday she took the opportunity to present a poster she has made of the Reef to Michael McCormack, Member of Parliament for Riverina and Assistant Minister for Defence. When the year 2 student from Parkes Public School heard there was going to be an MP at the opening of the Robert Wilson Terminal in honour of her grandfather, she decided it was time to take some action.

She started drawing the reef with her favourite animals, sea turtles. At the opening of the new terminal at the Parkes Regional Airport she spoke to Michael McCormack, who was happy to accept her poster and listen to her concern. Ruby’s mum, Angela, said her daughter definitely had inherited her drive and motivation from her grandfather. Robert Wilson was the Mayor of Parkes for 23 years and was widely known for his commitment to the community.

For children who would like to speak up for the Great Barrier Reef, there is a website of The Kids’ Party offering a new, fun way for young people to protect the magical Reef and the rest of the planet by talking to Australia’s leaders. “You might have heard there is an election coming up. You might not be old enough to vote yet, but that doesn’t mean you have to be quiet. If enough kids speak up, the grown-ups will listen!”

You can get involved by creating artwork, poems, photos, songs, videos, animations or anything to ask politicians to do more to save the Reef and our environment. The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system stretching over 2,300 km. It is located off the coast of Queensland and can be seen from space.

By Maggi Barnard

The Back to Bugandramine Cultural Festival held at Peak Hill was moved to the Koinonia Hall due to the threat of significant rainfall over the weekend. The rain held off on Saturday and a perfect winter’s day set the scene for the opening of the festival. The festival was originally planned for the grounds at the previous aboriginal mission site known as Bulgandramine where over 1,000 Aboriginal people lived and raised their families until the mission was closed.

The weekend was opened with a smoking ceremony, acknowledgement of Elders, past and present, a welcome to visitors and the Maori group, Te Raranga Whanui who travelled from Sydney to be at the Festival. Te Raranga Whanui were represented by Pastor Bill Mei in an acceptance and the group responded to the welcome sharing their beautiful harmonies in song.

Visitors were welcomed to the Shire by Councillor Ken Keith and the Wiradjuri performers escorted Cr Keith to the stage to show him some traditional dances which he happily joined in! After the welcome, kids enjoyed activities including face painting, jumping castle, craft and weaving with a special guest from Sydney, Kirri Morcombe. Rodney Powell entertained the crowds, while lunch was prepared by Bernie Peri and Te Raranga Whanui put on their main performance for the weekend.

After lunch, Larry Brandy spoke about Aboriginal tools and clothes and local band Riff Raff performed during the evening. On Sunday everyone joined at the Koinonia Hall to finish off the weekends festivities with a church service as the rain came down outside. The community was fortunate to have Pastor Mark Naden talk about growing up in Peak Hill and how he came to be a preacher and he was joined by Pastor Tom Sloan and his wife Stella to lead the singing. The Parkes Fijian Group and Te Raranga Whanui performed filling the building with fabulous music. Thank you to the many sponsors, volunteers, guests and the Peak Hill community for providing such a wonderful event.

Winter is coming to Bathurst as part of their festival running from 2nd to 16th July. The ‘cool’ event will include an outdoor McDonalds Bathurst ice rink, a Ferris wheel and illumination elements that will be turned on every evening from sundown until 10pm. The illuminations will feature the theme ‘fire and ice’ with the Court House, Carillon, Ribbon Gang Lane, Church Bar and TAFE building key features. Don’t miss out on the interactive element this year where you can throw snowballs at the TAFE building!

Ferris wheel tickets can be purchased at the Ferris wheel during the festival at $5 per person and ice skating tickets can be pre-booked online at www.bathurstwinterfestival.com.au. The festival will feature two key nights, the first, opening night on Saturday will be themed, ‘Ignite the Night’. The evening will create a festival atmosphere in Kings Parade with skating, the Ferris wheel and a range of other family friendly activities including a giant six lane slide, a kid’s laser maze and an infinity mirror at the ice rink.

Bathurst Youth Council will also run the YJam stage, featuring local young performers and local food and wine will be on offer. On Saturday 9th July ‘Brew and Bite’ will get underway from 4pm. The evening will again offer a range of food and entertainment for everyone including food trucks and regional brewers. A pop up bar will serve regional wines, beers and ciders and the food will take on a distinct street food feel with burgers, gourmet frankfurts, slow cooked lamb, barbecued ribs, Lebanese and more.

There will be an ice hockey exhibition and market stalls featuring, selling winter woollies, jewellery, candles and clothing and the popular silent disco will return to Court House. Sounds, brr-illiant!

The free Child Restraint Checking Day held recently, a service provided by Parkes Shire Council, Col Fletcher Ford and Kia along with Parkes Tyrepower and Mechanical Repairs, discovered that 65% of the child restraints checked were incorrectly fitted.

The service provided free child restraint inspections at RMS Authorised Child Restraint Fitting Stations in Parkes and 18 child restraints were brought in by parents, grandparents and carers for checking. Parkes Shire Council’s Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Logan Dolbel, said that research shows that two out of three child restraints are not being used properly and this puts children at risk of sustaining injuries if they are involved in a crash. “Most of the child restraints that were checked only had minor problems that needed fixing to ensure the safety of the child. The correct fitting and adjustment of child restraints is vital. Child restraints that are not correctly fitted put children at risk of injury in the event of a crash,” he said.

The most common mistakes were related to the use of the lap sash seatbelts and the straps on the child restraint; they needed tightening, they were too tight, they were twisted or they were incorrectly anchored in the vehicle. Many of the restraints checked also needed additional parts like gated buckles to ensure the safety of the restraint
and the child.

“It is important to make sure that your precious cargo is safe and buckled up every time they are in the car – whether it’s a five minute or five-hour journey.” “Everyone who attended the checking day said they had come along because they wanted to double check that their child restraint was installed correctly and find out more information of when to move their children from one restraint to the next,” Mr Dolbel said.

Information and advice was also available about the types of child restraints, the national laws and when to move children from one restraint to the next. Attendees were also able to grab one of the new height charts, developed as a part of the local Road Safety program, to assist with when to move children from one restraint to the next.