Maggi Barnard

Reverend Ben Mackay with Bron and their children Ella (11), James (9), and Elijah (3). They enjoy life with peo-ple, wide open spaces, camping, and anything that gets them outdoors.

The Anglican Parish of Parkes and Peak Hill has welcomed and embraced the Reverend Ben Mackay and his family who moved to Parkes in early January.

Ben’s formal welcome and commissioning will be held at St George’s Parkes tomorrow, 12th March, at 10am. The Bishop of the Diocese of Bathurst, Mark Calder will conduct the service, and a good friend of Ben’s from Bible college, the Reverend Andrew Thornhill, the minister at Coonabarabran, will bring a brief message from the Bible.

The church is very grateful for the Reverend Natalie Quince who lovingly cared for and led the church over the past two years while a search for a new minister took place. Natalie will continue to serve the church and the community.

Ben and his wife Bron are no strangers to this part of the world: before leaving for Bible College, Ben worked as a lawyer in Forbes – with Natalie as a colleague!

Ben said: “We are so looking forward to getting to know you all better and growing together into the likeness of our Lord Jesus, and continuing to be a light shining in the communities in which we live and work.”

The Merino Sheep Young Judges are (L – R) Destynee Harvet, Michelle Fairall, Nathan Francias from Parkes and Greg Sawyer.

Two Parkes students have qualified for the state finals for young judges to be held at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in April.

Nathan Francias and Thomas Barker will join other young judges from across the Central West after they qualified at the group finals at the Eugowra Show recently.Nathan qualified in three categories winning the merino sheep category, second place in the merino fleece and third in the grain, while Thomas was third in the meat breeds sheep category.

This year the group finals were fortunate enough to have high quality competition judges in Steve Eagles from Paschendaele Ayrshires and Holsteins, Dennis Moxey from Denngal Santa Gertrudis, Greg Sawyer of Elders Molong, Steve Chester of Quality Wool, Brendan Mansbridge of KMWL and Brooklyn Park Poll Dorset Stud, Lydia Herbert – previous state young judges winner and Stuart Muller of Western District Exhibit.

While the quality of competitors was high, the competitions also allow the development of the next generation of agricultural show enthusiasts and expertise in industry through education and networking.

The Meat Breeds Sheep Young Judges are (L – R) Thomas Barker from Parkes, Jack Whitty, Michelle Fairall and Brendan Mansbridge.

The disappointment of cancelling the QUE Club’s major International Women’s Day (IWD) event was turned into an opportunity to celebrate Australian fashion designers at the March meeting.

Although IWD is a call to action to empower women, it is also a global celebration of women’s achievements on all levels, social, economic, cultural and political. Members enjoyed a presentation by Wendy Neville honouring the many Australian women of fashion including Carla Zampatti, Jenny Kee, Leona Edmiston, Lisa Ho, Anthea Crawford, Collette Dinnigan and more. Their histories were discussed, while several of members were brave enough to model clothes from previous decades.

While IWD was officially celebrated on Tuesday, Parkes women were treated to a program of pampering on Sunday at the Cooke Park Pavilion.

The day started with a very well attended movement and awareness session by Jen Harris followed by free coffee, live music and pop-up stalls.

This year’s theme for IWD was #BreakTheBias, with the focus on empowering women to forge their own path.

Some of the issues tackled by the NSW Women’s Week under the theme were increasing women’s financial independence, more opportunities for regional and rural women and promoting careers for women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

By Maggi Barnard

Ronda Sharpe at the Henry Parkes Museum with her beautifully crafted art works.

Threads of the past were invoked at a recent weaving workshop held at the Henry Parkes Museum. Ronda Sharpe, a local Wiradjuri environmental artist, conducted a weaving workshop to introduce local community members to this art form.

On display were a considerable number of original woven art works created by Ronda and two stunning, woven artefacts from the museum’s collection. Ronda is working closely with the museum, assisting with the cataloguing of exhibits in textiles and First Nations’ artefacts.

The workshop began with a presentation by Ronda, outlining her journey into weaving. Her original interest was sparked when she began embracing her heritage and First Nations’ culture through experimentation with weaving, using data cables. Since then, her interest has blossomed with Ronda embarking on many studies culminating in achieving her Masters of Visual Arts from Griffith University in Queensland. She has participated in group and solo exhibitions, facilitated workshops and been involved in several professional development projects.

She has a strong connection to Country and believes in respecting and working with nature by looking at and listening to what nature is showing us. ‘Being on Wiradjuri country allows me to connect to my ancestors and Mother Earth who provides me with natural grasses and inspiration.

“My journey of creating contemporary fibre artworks that represent Wiradjuri cultural artefacts, and ‘Yindyamarra’ (respect) for Mother Earth, is evolving.”

Not only does Ronda use natural fibres in her work but she is passionate about recycling, creating ways to use a wide variety of off-cast materials. She has made statement works from coloured electrical and electronic cords and plugs, a large wall weaving using optical cables and aluminium rings, representing Wiradjuri Country and a delicate sphere from spectacles, highlighting the fragility of Mother Earth.

Wherever she travels, Ronda is committed to cleaning up the environment, reusing and recycling whatever she can. Consequently, she collects a range of items and then challenges herself to find creative ways of using the ‘saved’ pieces.

With the workshop being presented in an atmosphere of generous sharing and calmness, participants found the weaving process very relaxing and several left with completed works. From the same starting point, it was amazing to see the variety of shapes and items that emerged, from different shaped baskets to sculptures incorporating emu feathers.

By Kerrie Peden