With a roof like the wing of an airplane and a spectacular view over the runway, the newly refurbished gateway to Parkes was officially named the Robert Wilson Terminal last Friday. It was an auspicious day with more than 100 guests and family members of the late Robert Wilson OAM filling the new terminal.

“Council believes it is fitting to dedicate the Parkes Regional Airport terminal to our former Mayor Robert Wilson OAM,” said Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith OAM; “With 43 years of service in local government, 23 of which were as Mayor, he was a great mentor to many. He was the Donald Bradman of local government.”

Ben Wilson, son of Robert, said the family was greatly honoured and proud to have the new terminal dedicated to their father. “Dad did not do what he did with the hope that one day he would have something named after him. But to have something that recognizes his many years of service to the community is a wonderful gesture, and will stand as testament of his commitment.”

Michael McCormack, Member of Parliament for Riverina, who opened the $3 million terminal with the Parkes Mayor, said Robert Wilson was a fighter and a truly great campaigner. Parkes Shire Councillor and Chair of the Airport Committee Alan Ward said passenger demand for services from Parkes Airport has grown from 8,000 to over 30,000 passengers a year in a ten-year period.

On Saturday Parkes Showground was a sea of tents and hats as almost three thousand people gathered for the annual Parkes Picnic Races, sponsored by SCU. Winner of the Coradgery Cup was local horse ‘To the Coast and Back’, but for those who weren’t having much luck punting one of the highlights of the day was Fashions on the Field. Such was the calibre of the outfits judges Natalie Caldwell, Wilbur Harris and Laura Redden faced tough choices on deciding the winners of categories.

With the help of advisors Ann Olsen and Natalie Johnston, the following winners were announced. Cooper Wright and Grace Dwyer Mulligan won Junior, Mackenzie Baker and Zachary Worthington won Teenager, Len Parish was crowned Best Dressed Gent, Tim and Emma Ellis were Most Stylish Couple, Catherine Sly took out Cutting Edge, Deb Parish came out on top in Millinery and Casey Evans was sashed as Most Elegant Lady.

Casey attends the races every year, but decided to enter the Fashions on the Field for the first time this year. She was announced “most poised and graceful contestant” by the judges for her ensemble in black. Her headpiece, made from felt and leather, was designed by herself and her business partner Leanne Wright who together own Racey Designs.

The rest of her outfit was put together from bits and pieces she’d found. “I didn’t have a clear picture in my head of what I wanted to wear, and was freaking out the night before!” she said; “There were so many beautiful modern fashions on display at the race, I wish I could own them all.”

Michael Oakley, major sponsor SCU’s Branch Manager, said; “It was a lovely day and the race committee are to be commended for the effort they put in to pull it together.”

Parkes had a taste of Africa last Friday when two different groups came to town to showcase their culture through music and dance to students and the community. A school choir from Uganda is travelling for nine weeks in Australia to raise funds to build five classrooms at their school in Mityana.

Trishelle Sayuuni, who grew up in Dubbo, moved to Uganda where she founded the charity 100% HOPE which promotes the spiritual, economic, physical and emotional development of orphaned and underprivileged children. “We need $100,000 to build the extra classrooms for Grade 1 to 4, and have raised $70,000 so far on our tour,” Thrishelle, who is accompanying the choir on their tour, said.

The choir performed at Middleton Public School and the AOG Church with a program of traditional songs, as well as Ugandan hip-hop and rap. Middleton students had the opportunity to join in the dancing and drumming, while older choir members’ break dancing stunts had the students in awe.

Trishelle said it was the first time for the Ugandan students to leave their country, fly in an airplane and go to the beach. “They just love it here!” she said. Meanwhile at Parkes Public School Musica Viva brought Senegalese music to the students with the group Teranga, which means hospitality in the native Wolof language. Frontman Pape M’Baye, a Senegalese Griot, poet, musician, and storyteller, took students on an exploration journey into the excitement of West African music. Jean Gomes, Samuel Golding and Blair Greenberg joined him.

Teranga dazzled students with the sounds of the fula flute, balafon, and Pape’s special ‘mobile phone’, the tama talking drum. The show ended with students joining in on the school’s set of jemba drums with the audience clapping to the infectious West African rhythms.

Parkes Public Library was one of three libraries in the Central West where the $71,000 pilot project ‘Books on Prescription’ was launched in Australia last Friday. This is the first bibliotherapy programme to be offered in Australia, the concept is based on the UK Books on Prescription model, adapted to our Australian environment.

The idea behind it is to help community members use reading to understand and manage their mental health and wellbeing. The 17 books in the collection have been tried and tested by people with experience of living with mental health conditions. Parkes Mayor, Councillor Ken Keith, said at the launch that mental health had always been a hidden issue, but during the millennium drought it had come to the fore in the community.

“Men are good with bottling things up. If you have access to books and material, it could offer you a solution, and reading about your problems in a book might make it more normal,” said the Mayor. Shellie Buckle, Parkes Shire Council’s Manager Cultural, Education and Library Service, said the service and collection is free and confidential. “Books on prescription build on the library’s role as a safe, non-judgemental environment for sourcing information and support.”

The collection is supported by a website, www.booksonprescription.com.au, to ensures current, timely access to mental health information. Shellie said the full collection would be kept at the Parkes Library, while Trundle, Tullamore and Peak Hill will have a selection of the books available.

The Parkes Library plans to run special events during Mental Health month in October promoting books that boost your mood.

By Maggi Barnard

Perfect autumn weather set the scene for an exciting third Northparkes Rotary Fun Run with a new 5km record and a huge increase in the kids’ 2km race.

About 300 runners competed over 10km, 5km and 2km on a mostly flat and quite fast course along Nash street. The kids’ event proved the most popular with almost 140 participants, with many parents running along for encouragement and there was no stopping Parkes Olympian, Scott Westcott in his preparation for the marathon event at the Olympic Games as he improved the 5km record by almost a minute. His time was 15:10.50. After his record 5km run, Scott also ran with the kids to give them a target to chase down.

“I am really happy with the number of kids who took part,” said Scott, who is also the event organiser. “The schools have really come aboard this year.” At least three of the primary schools in Parkes had 30 or more runners competing.

Scott said he hoped to continue to grow the event to get even more kids to participate.

The first girl to cross the 2km finish line was Emilee Curran (8:22) and the first boy was William Tanswell (8:28). The 5km and 10km events had similar entries as previous events with 68 doing the 10km and 92 in the 5km run. The overall winner of the men’s 10km race was Thomas Hanrahan (40:24) and the women’s winner was Jenny Doak (42:42.29). The women’s 5km winner was Jane Fardell (18:32.88).

 

Have you noticed a spaceman flying high above the new Coles car park since last Friday, or the girl reading a book on Dwyers Butchery’s wall in Clarinda Street?

The main street in Parkes has splashes of colour and a vibrant feel about it thanks to the Parkes Shire Council ‘s Public Art Program installed in the Central Business District (CBD).

Local artist Jac Clark was commissioned to provide the works following an expression of interest process. The first work, ‘Elvis’ was installed prior to the 2016 Elvis Festival and has been favourably received by locals and visitors.

“We have taken another step forward to bring the CBD to life,” said Parkes Shire Deputy Mayor Cr Barbara Newton at the launch of the program last Friday. “Our vision is to create a visible arts presence throughout the CBD and the town with a public art program that engages artists’ creative ideas to celebrate the values of Parkes – its history, primary culture and future aspirations – and define the Parkes CBD as a place where people want to be,” the Deputy Mayor added.

Jac said the concept behind the art works were that they could be changed and added onto to avoid them becoming stale. She thanked the Council for the opportunity to create the art works and said it was “such fun from the start to installation”.

The works installed reflect elements of Parkes’ character. They include an astronaut, a literacy themed work, a mural fronting Cooke Park and a community art wall featuring current and past ‘Waste 2 Art’ works. Take some time this weekend and stroll the streets to take in and enjoy the vibrant art our town has to offer.

 

 

Let the music take you there…where you can have the time of your life with people clad in glitter and lycra singing, dancing, strutting and swaggering to anthems like Dancing Queen, Fernando and Gimme, Gimme, Gimme.

In what could possibly be the highest concentration of white boots ever seen within a 2km radius, Trundle’s population increased 10 times on Saturday as ABBA fans descended for the fifth and biggest ABBA festival to date.

The 60m wide main street and famous Trundle Pub overflowed as a massive crowd of over 5,000 gathered for the world record attempt for most number of people dancing on Trundle’s streets. Cheered on by Parkes band, Amity, the crowd took to the beat of Dancing Queen with their arms swaying in the air as a photographer tried to capture it for the history books.

“It was one of the highlights of the festival for me. Amity was wonderful,” said an exhausted but very happy Gary Crowley on Monday. As co-ordinator of the ABBA Festival, he said the record attempt was a way of getting the crowd together. “We try and do something new every year. Compared to a total 1,500 people last year, it was a very pleasing crowd,” said Gary. He attributed the tripling in numbers this year to a phenomenal advertising campaign.

The good news for fans is that the most successful ABBA tribute band of all time, Bjorn Again, will be back next year. “They absolutely love it here, especially the Rock ‘n Roll set-up of the concert. It is so different to most of their shows which are mostly corporate events,”

Another crowd pleaser were Dancing With The Stars regular dancers, Alana Patience and Carmelo Pizzino with their professional dancing exhibition. Missed out? Don’t worry, tickets are already on sale for next year’s sequin studded event!

By Maggi Barnard

Parkes Musical and Dramatic Society are currently in final rehearsals for the smash hit musical, Footloose! Based on the 1989 movie starring Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer, this high energy show will be sure to get feet tapping and hips wiggling. Footloose is a musical of layers, with a wonderful combination of catchy dance tunes, beautiful ballads and a deep and meaningful storyline sure to resonate with every audience member. When Ren (Morgan Flynn) and his mother (Christa Radley) move from Chicago to the small country town of Bomont, Ren is prepared for the inevitable adjustment period at his new high school.

What he isn’t prepared for are the rigorous local laws, including a ban on dancing instituted by a local preacher determined to exercise control over the town’s youth. When the reverend’s rebellious daughter, Ariel, sets her sights on Ren, her roughneck boyfriend Chuck becomes determined to keep them apart at any cost. Many of the locals are eager to believe the worst about the new kid as he tries to bring some light-hearted fun back into Bomont.

The heartfelt story that emerges is one of a father longing for the son he lost and a young man aching for the father who walked out on him. Footloose will be showing at the Little Theatre on Bogan Street throughout May and June. Tickets are available from Parkes Stationery and Office Furniture or online at the Parkes M & D website. So in the words of Kenny Loggins, ‘kick off your Sunday shoes… everybody cut Footloose!’

“Our war memorials not only remind us of the fallen soldiers, but also of those who returned and lived out their lives as hard working Australians who married, built new families and modern Australia.” As the guest speaker at the Parkes Shire commemoration of Anzac Day, Rear Admiral Michael Uzzell, AM, RAN continued his address saying the returning soldiers were from a generation that knew the horrors of war.

He told the stories of Tom Uren, an Australian Imperial Force veteran who died in 2015 aged 93, and Gavin Campbell who survived the sinking of the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth in 1942. Tom Uren, who survived the Thai Burma railway as a prisoner-of-war, was taken to Japan where he worked in a mine smelting lead and copper alongside Japanese workers. “There he learned that he hated militarism not the Japanese people.” He became an advocate for peaceful co-existence, and later in life often quoted Martin Luther King’s statement that: “Hate distorts the personality and scars the soul. It is more injurious to the hater than the hated.”

Gavin Campbell, survived many battles and action during his time of service, including three years as a prisoner-of war. Admiral Uzzell said like Tom Uren, Gavin was a man who did not hate. “He had seen so much violence and killing – so much of man’s inhumanity to man – that he would not be party to its continuation. We are all in their debt. Their legacy to us is our life long liberty.”

Parkes’ brand new Destination Guide was launched on Wednesday at the Parkes Visitor Information Centre! The snazzy, bright new brochure, which has a mathematical theme of ‘it all adds up in Parkes’, was unveiled by Parkes Shire Mayor Cr Ken Keith OAM and Deputy Mayor Cr Barbra Newton in the company of local and regional tourism representatives, local business and tourism operators, community groups and destination partners.

“The new Destination Guide showcases our unique events, experiences and iconic attractions that make Parkes all add up as an appealing tourist destination,” Cr Keith said. “Tourism provides a significant economic contribution of over $58m to the local economy and we need to continue to implement these key marketing initiatives to ensure visitation and spend continues to grow for our local businesses.”

Parkes Shire Council’s Marketing and Brand Manager, Katrina Dwyer, is also excited to unveil the remodelled website to further promote the guide; “The visitparkes website has had a makeover including formatting and technical improvements to ensure it’s more user friendly and responsive to mobile devices.” 50,000 copies of the full colour brochure will now be distributed throughout Australia to encourage visitors to the region.

You can pick up a copy of the free guide at the Parkes and Peak Hill Visitor Information Centres and other outlets including the Parkes Airport and The Dish along with coffee shops, pubs and shopping centres throughout the Shire.