We might work with them, live with them, be friends with them or see them in their high vis shirts working outside as we drive past. We all have a tradie in our lives at some stage and it is time to give them some acknowledgement.

The Parkes Phoenix is starting an exciting competition sponsored by Totally Work Wear. For the next six months we will ask you, our readers, to nominate your favourite tradie. A winner will be picked every month as Tradie of the Month and featured in the paper.

The winner each month will also win a prize from TWW. “We would love to see male and female tradies being nominated,” said TWW Manager Laura O’Shannessy.

Simply send your nomination to us by email: editor@parkesphoenix.com.au stating the tradie’s name and workplace, or drop your nomination in at TWW. The closing date for this month’s nominations is Tuesday, 26th April, so let’s see lots of nominations!

Tom Lees can clearly remember watching the moon landing on TV when he was seven, but never thought he would end up working at The Dish for 30 years! The CSIRO staff gave him a beautiful farewell last Thursday.

Farming was going to be his life, but at age 41 he applied for his very first job and for the next 30 years Tom Lees immersed himself in the world of astronomy.

Starting as a handy person at the CSIRO’s Parkes Radio Telescope, and moving on to being safety officer and many other roles, he got to know every aspect of life at the telescope from meeting world-famous astronomers, liaising with farmers and assisting trades people to even starring in the movie, The Dish.

For the boy who grew up on a farm at Bogan Gate, it was a complete culture change that will stay with him the rest of his life. “There are still lots of stuff I don’t quite understand, but it’s mind boggling to suddenly be able to comprehend what’s beyond what you see in the sky.” For Tom it was always fascinating to be around astronomers. “I will keep my interest going, and I can talk to the grandkids a little about what is up there in the sky.”

Tom is in awe about what is being done at the telescope. “People study things many light years away and the abilities they developed in my 30 years here is just astounding.”

A real eye opener for him was when a breakdown of the telescope happened. “We had it fixed up and when I took back one of the senior people to fly back to Sydney, I remarked that it was good to get it going so quickly, but it would not have mattered much if it wasn’t fixed for a few days. “The person said the astronomer working with the telescope at the time was studying an event that was not going to happen for another 4,000 years!”

While his head might have been up in the sky, Tom always kept his feet firmly on the ground travelling to work from his Bogan Gate farm every day. That is where he is retiring to ‘muck around with his horses’ as a member of the light horse Trundle Troupe.

At the award ceremony were (L-R) Francine Binns (Chief Executive Officer, IPWEA NSW & ACT), Ben Howard (Direc-tor Operations, Parkes Shire Council), Melanie Suitor (Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils) and Grant Baker (President, IPWEA NSW & ACT).

The successful Load Restraint Education Project of the Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils has won the Local Government Excellence in Road Safety Award at a gala dinner at Parliament House in Canberra last week.

This year there were more than 100 nominations across the eight categories of the awards presented by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia to endorse and recognise excellence of Local Government and public works projects.

The Load Restraint Project was spearheaded by the three Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer Melanie Suitor, who accepted the award on behalf of the project team.

“The project saw an increase in load restraint knowledge, breaches decreased by almost 70% and there were no load restraint incidents recorded on our local roads during 2021.

“We worked collaboratively with NSW Police, NSW Farmers and Transport for NSW to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the project,” she said.

The project involved a pre and post online awareness quiz, how to videos and accompanying fact sheets, local case studies and the Load Restraint Village Tour. It focused on the safe transportation of hay bales, machinery and general freight.

NSW Farmers Regional Services Manager Catriona McAuliffe said: “We were able to show how vital good quality restraints and their appropriate use are for the safety of our produce and equipment, the drivers of the vehicles, and the road users that we share the roads with.”

For Parkes Highway Patrol Sergeant Martin Ling being on the road everyday meant they were able to see the improvements in compliance with load restraints on heavy vehicles and the reduction in incidents caused by insufficiently restrained loads. “Also, to know that we were able to educate a large number of people on safe and proper load restraints meant they had less chance of being fined or having to go to court.”

The host of local speakers from Forbes booked in for the NSW Rural Women’s Gathering.

The NSW Rural Women’s Gathering is an annual weekend event organised by local committees with support from the Rural Women’s Network, and this year it is taking place in Forbes from 1st to 3rd April.

Each Gathering reflects the unique culture, industry, tourism and environment of the host community. The theme for the Forbes Gathering is AMAZING Women With Vision. The Forbes committee is thrilled to announce a host of local speakers from a diverse range of backgrounds and occupations.

Tara Kelly will be part of the Saturday morning session. Tara is the principal of Century 21 Central West based in Forbes and expanding. Tara grew up in the Central West at Tullibigeal and settled in Forbes in 2007.

On Sunday, Dr Karen Ritchie will be speaking about the Forbes Art Society’s art project. The Forbes Cultural and Arts Centre development is part of the $7.2 million ‘Boosting the Lachlan Valley Economy Art Project’ funded by the NSW Government, the Forbes Arts Society, Forbes Shire Council, Lachlan Shire Council and Evolution Mining.

Forbes local Maz Rees will be playing the Forbes Town Hall pipe organ at the NSW Rural Women’s Gathering on 3rd April.

Wendy Muffet will be profiling the Grazing Down the Lachlan event. This epic long lunch is set alongside the picturesque Lachlan River and celebrates produce native to the Central West NSW region, prepared by local restaurateurs and caterers.

Fifth generation lamb producer, Fiona Aveyard, of Outback Lamb is doubling up for the Partner’s Program on Saturday and a local speaker on Sunday. Outback Lamb is the creator of premium, farm-fresh, gourmet lamb sausage rolls. Fiona’s focus is on moving up the agricultural value chain by developing lamb based products sourced directly from the farm.

Rose Philipzen is the head of Livestocks and Genetics at Moxey Farms and she will be sharing about how they came to be one of the country’s leading dairies.

These local speakers will be joined by sponsor presentations from Department of Primary Industries, NSW Farmers, Melinda Schneider, supported by Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (RAMPH), Country Women’s Association of NSW, Cressida Cains, NSW/ACT Agrifutures Rural Woman of the Year 2020 and Jean Kittson.

There is still time to register for the NSW Rural Women’s Gathering until Monday, 28th March. The registration fee has been discounted and includes the Saturday Gathering, workshop options, gala dinner and Sunday Gathering. Alternatively, each event can also be booked separately if you can’t join for the whole weekend. Go to https://forbes2021nswruralwomensgathering.com/registration/

March is a special month for The Parkes Phoenix as we turned six on the 4th and today we celebrate our 300th issue!

When The Parkes Phoenix first hit the streets on 4th March 2016 as a free community paper, residents were not too sure what to make of it. It has since become a Friday feature and stood with the community through tough times of the drought and the COVID pandemic, and celebrated the happy times and achievements.

The Parkes Phoenix is part of the Phoenix Group of Newspapers and over the past six years the paper has changed ownership three times. It was started by Cheryl Newsom, and her daughter Sarah Maynard took over when Cheryl retired in January 2017. The current owner, Joshua Matic, took over in October 2019.

“In the three years that I have owned the Parkes Phoenix we have been through some great challenges, including drought and COVID-19, that have made it difficult to continue to thrive, but I am extremely proud of the way that we’ve done it,” said Joshua.

“To make it to 300 issues after starting in 2016 under the original owner is a wonderful achievement. We are very proud to be a part of the Parkes community and communicate the best news in the Parkes Shire each week.

“We are very excited to see the return of the Parkes Elvis Festival next month. The last installment of it in January 2020 was a huge one and after one year off I think this year’s event will be even bigger and better.

“I would like to thank all of the staff that have worked on The Parkes Phoenix during my time as its owner, particularly Editor Maggi Barnard who has been a part of it since it first began six years ago.”