COUNTRY GIRL… Raechel Whitchurch on her parents’ property outside Parkes where she filmed the video for her latest single ‘My Father’.

When your life reads like a country song, including a song about your father on your debut album would come as no surprise.

Raechel Whitchurch always wanted to write a song about her dad. “We are such similar people, but it felt like I would never be able to find the right words. I’d been working on the song for three years and I’d finally said everything that I needed to, but I never imagined that a song so personal would make it on to my record.”

Raechel, who moved to Parkes from Broken Hill with her family when she was 18, has just released the single ‘My Father’ and its video filmed on her parents’ property outside Parkes featuring her dad, Steve Lee.

Although Raechel has been living in Sydney for 10 years, she still likes calling Parkes home as her family is still here. She wanted to replicate her childhood memories with her dad and decided to film the video in the beautiful landscape around Parkes.

“When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time in the bush as a family. We’d go camping and shooting, and would always sit around a campfire at the end of the day and sing songs. I knew that my parents’ property would be perfect for the video.”

Raechel was born and raised on country music. She started playing piano when she was five, and then traded it in at eight for a mandolin. Guitar and banjo soon followed, and so did the songs.

In 2019, Raechel realised she had more than enough songs for a full-length album, and she felt ready to put those songs out into the world.

“I went into the studio with my producer Matt Fell over the New Year’s break of 2019/20 and recorded my entire album. I wrote all the songs myself, with the exception of two. One I co-write with Colin Buchanan, and one with my husband, Ben Whitchurch.” Ben is also a Parkes boy.

There is no release day yet for the album, but the aim is early next year. Raechel has released two singles from the album so far: ‘I Found Home’ in March, and ‘My Father’ last month.

While releasing a first single amidst a worldwide pandemic has its challenges, it seems that fans and artists are excited for her new music. Country music star Adam Harvey said: “I have watched Raechel’s career since she was a kid performing in her family band and it’s been fantastic to see her grow as an artist, a singer and a song-writer. This latest single demonstrates her real talent.”

Raechel impressed her fans in 2016 with her debut EP ‘Outlaw’ when it opened at #1 on the Australian Country iTunes charts (ahead of Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and Chris Stapleton).

All Raechel’s music is available online for streaming and download via Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Youtube and all other streaming platforms. You can watch the video of ‘My Father’ here

LONG JOURNEY… NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro (second from left) announced a $185 million investment for the Parkes Special Activation Precinct on Wednesday. On his left is Andrew Huckel from Pacific National, and on the right Sam Farraway MLC and Cr Alan Ward.

A vision of the Parkes Shire Council for over 20 years came to full realisation on Wednesday with the commitment of $185.4 million from the NSW Government to the Special Activation Precinct.

“I am really excited to be here today to see this vision come to fruition,” said Deputy Premier, John Barilaro at the Pacific National terminal in Parkes.

He said the funding would kick-off the delivery of the precinct and fund vital infrastructure to make it easier and more attractive for businesses to set up in Parkes.

With the prospect of creating 3,000 direct jobs, the Deputy Premier predicted the ripple effect would transform Parkes from a sleepy rural town into a cosmopolitan city of the future, as it happened in Orange when the NSW Department of Industry was moved there.

“The exciting part about the Special Activation Precinct (SAP) is that the investment is not about politics, but it is the right thing to do for the future of this region, the Central West and the state of NSW.

Councillors Alan Ward and Neil Westcott, Deputy Premier John Barilaro, Andrew Huckel from Pacific National and Sam Farrawy MLC looked at the dou- ble stacked trains at the Pacific National terminal in Parkes on Wednesday.

When training stopped in March with the COVID-19 lockdown there was not much room left for paddling. As the rain started falling, Bill begun monitoring the inflow with eagle eyes on Council’s website.

“To see the water flowing over the spillway and cascading down the rocky slope will be a treasured memory for me after seeing a dry creek bed for over two years,” he said.

“Having this magnificent lake at capacity is a wonderful feeling for the Parkes Dragon Boat Club, but more importantly it will bring to life the waterway with the habitation of so many birds and wildlife. The lake has become a special place for our members and it is so good to be back both on and off the water after months of shutdown.” He said the club members had a great respect for the lake as it is a reservoir for the town water supply.

Director Infrastructure at Parkes Shire Council, Andrew Francis said when the lake was full it significantly improved water security for the Shire. “Lake Endeavour is an integral part of the Parkes Shire’s water supply reserve. After two years without dam water availability, we will now head into the peak summer period with adequate supply.”

He said though that water restrictions would remain at Level 2. “Council will continue to monitor the situation as we approach the warmer months, the peak water supply period.”

As for the quality of our drinking water, Andrew said while the new state-of-the- art Water Treatment Plant used the latest technologies for water production and water quality monitoring, the use of dam water (rather than bore water) does result in ‘softer’ water. “Some users find this more desirable.”

At its June monthly meeting Council also decided to remove the Standpipe Usage Scheme and Drought Response Measures for Farming Enterprises framework returning to normal system operation and usage charges.

By Maggi Barnard

TRUE BLUE… No one else has a car like this. Dave Littlewood’s name was picked from half a million entries as the winner of the custom-build V2 Holden Monaro.

A Parkes resident is the envy of thousands of Holden lovers in Australia after he became the very proud and happy owner of a unique custom-build Monaro.

Dave Littlewood of Littlewood Smash Repairs was picked from half a million entries as the winner of Project Monaro, an exciting custom-build of an iconic VZ Holden Monaro. Tipping the scales of this amazing win was being handed the keys in person by V8 Supercar Driver Craig Lowndes in Sydney last week.

Cathy Littlewood is just as excited as her husband Dave about the unique Monaro. Here they are in Sydney receiving the keys from V8 Supercar Driver Craig Lowndes (right).

“It was pretty cool meeting such a legend,” said Dave. He had a good chat with the seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner about the car. Craig is the front man for Holden and presented a series of videos about the rebuild of the Monaro watched by close to a million people.

Although Dave’s business had a good number of entries in the competition, he never ever imagined he could be the winner. “When I received the phone call I was very sceptical and thought it was a prank.” It was only when he received the email from Holden, that he was convinced it was for real.

“I’ve been driving Holden for 30 years, and to be the owner of this one of a kind Monaro is just unbelievable.”

After picking up the Monaro at Heartland Holden in Penrith last Monday, he did not want to risk driving it back to Parkes and put it on a trailer. “It was straight back to work and getting home after dark every day.”

One out of one – a plate under the engine cap shows how special this car is.

The first opportunity he actually had to take it for a drive was last Saturday before he put it on display at Wholesome Blend for the public to see. “It felt so good taking it out on the open road. So powerful, just amazing,” said Dave with a twinkle in his eye.

For those who did not get a glimpse of it last Saturday, you might not be able to spot it around town too often. “I am only going to take it out on rare occasions and take it to motor shows,” said Dave.

He plans to take it to Australia’s biggest horsepower party and automotive lifestyle festival, the Summernats in Canberra, later this year. Otherwise the Monaro will keep Dave’s other prize possession, a 1969 Ford Mustang, company in his caravan shed most of the time.

By Maggi Barnard

“It’s been a wonderful life travelling around the countryside and meeting so many people,” said Kath. “In those days nobody wanted to fall out with the station master as he was a vital link in keeping everything running.”

Although they were always far from family, there were always people willing to help out with the children. “It was not so much about material possessions and more about family and taking care of each other. And everybody went everywhere on their push bikes. There were not many cars around.”

In later years when the children had left, Kath and Keith discovered the joys of caravanning all over Australia. There were so many good spots, but they did start a tradition of going back to Yamba in northern NSW every year for 27 years.

They might not be travelling much these days, but relish the time they spend with their two children, eight grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. This brings them endless joy and pride. “We have raised two excellent children.”

By Maggi Barnard

PROUD MOMENT… Laura Rusten (middle) and her horse Jaytees Hat with her dad Darryle and younger sister Jorja shortly after she won her very first race in Parkes. (Image by Coffee Photography and Framing).

Wearing her great pop’s colours, 16-year old Laura Rusten won her very first harness racing event earlier this month with her favourite horse Jaytees Hat.

“I had a good feeling racing in Parkes again after the COVID-19 restrictions, but it was very exciting to actually win.”

Although Laura started driving when she was 14, she was only allowed to obtain her racing licence in November last year at 16. She did her first race in March in Bathurst.

“It is all about judgement in a race,” says Laura. “You have to make on the spot, split second decisions. As you are moving so fast, the adrenaline is pumping. I never feel the cold in winter.”

As a fourth-generation driver in her family and her dad as her trainer, she is among very few female, school-aged drivers in the sport. “Although I am in the minority, everyone is very nice and polite, and treat me as an equal.”

At the moment Laura only considers harness racing a hobby. She has always been around horses and does the “whole lot”, but loves riding and would probably like to be a horse trainer one day.

When she lined up in Parkes with ten other competitors, Laura could not help but think about the day in November 2016 when she was riding at home and her horse fell over. She ended up in Westmead Hospital in a coma for five days, and it was six months until she could get on a horse again.

By Maggi Barnard

SAD… The community of Parkes is still trying to get its head around the shocking news of Target closing down, but has also vowed to not go down without a fight. (Photo: Spinks & Co)

Just as things started to look up with good rains falling and COVID-19 rules lifting, the Parkes community was hit with a shocker curve ball this week that came out of the blue.

Target announced in an email on Monday it would be closing its store in Parkes, after our town were not included in the initial round of closures revealed last month. “I am very disappointed and at a loss for words,” said Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith OAM.

Chairperson of the Parkes Chamber of Commerce, Geoff Rice echoed the Mayor saying he was bitterly disappointed. “There is no indication of why the decision was made,” said Geoff. “It is a very underhanded way of doing it, after giving us a false sense of security when the Forbes store closure was announced last month.”

Geoff said the Chamber was in talks with the Council. “We plan to get back to Target to understand why the decision was made, but to also present them with a very good plan of why the store should remain open.”

In the email Target’s Managing Director, Marina Joanou said: “… following the first phase of a Wesfarmers and Kmart Group strategic review of Target, decisions have been taken to accelerate Target towards being a smaller, more focused and less complex business. Regrettably, our Target store at Parkes will be closing as part of this transformation.”

“What beggars belief,” the Mayor went on to say, “is that this announcement comes on the same day that the Deputy Premier John Barilaro announced that Parkes is one step closer to becoming the state’s first Special Activation Precinct with the adoption of a new planning framework and master plan for the precinct. The master plan also sets out a long-term vision for the Parkes precinct, with up to 3,000 jobs coming from freight and logistics, resource recovery, and value-added agriculture.”

“We should be celebrating this announcement but instead we are having to deal with a decision by Wesfarmers that seems illogical.”