Rhonda Brain reads to Barbie Bates (left) and Ro-byne Harrison from a special picture book about the Paint the Town REaD 100-day book relay across the country.

A big celebration is planned for an amazing idea that was born in Parkes and has spread across the whole of Australia.

Next year will be the 25th anniversary of Paint the Town REaD (PTTR), the annual reading day that involves the whole Parkes community with its philosophy of reading, talking, singing, drawing, playing with your children every day from birth to support early brain development. It is expected that 100 communities will be hosting a reading day this year from remote to urban communities in all states.

Last week founder of PTTR Rhonda Brain OAM welcomed the Executive Director of Paint the Town REaD Ltd Barbie Bates AOM and the NSW Co-ordinator Robyne Harrison to Parkes to look at the possibility of hosting PTTR’s 9th national conference in Parkes to coincide with the 25th reading day.

The PTTR delegation met with the Mayor and some Councillors last week to discuss the conference that is expected to be attended by up to 150 people from grassroots child and family workers, to librarians, early childhood directors and workers, through to policy makers.

“We see it as something really big, and we want to make it really big,” said Rhonda. “We would love to come here as Parkes is the birthplace of the model,” said Barbie.

Robyne said her first experience of a Parkes reading day really helped to give her a foundation of how to involve the community. “I am really hopeful that we can have the conference in Parkes so everyone can see how it’s done and to inspire them all.”

Nothing stops the Southern Cross Care Village residents wielding their paintbrushes! Although our QUE members have been unable to go into the village during lockdowns, the art program has soldiered on as the residents experience so much well-being and enjoyment from the sessions.

QUE members and local artists Robyn Morrissey and Karen Ritchie did all the preparation work to ensure the residents don’t miss their art. For one art work the residents painted the flowers drawn by Robyn. The village’s Lifestyle Coordinator Maree Hando supervised the residents while they painted the flowers. The flowers were then returned to Robyn who cut them out and displayed them on the canvas which she had prepared.

Staff at Southern Cross Care were so impressed with the final result, they sent photos to their head office in Sydney. The story will be published on Southern Cross Care’s website and social media.

The program originated in July 2010 with the help of two local artists, Elsie Mahon and Robyn Morrissey. In 2013 the QUE Club started financing the program and provided volunteers to assist the residents with their artwork. CMOC-Northparkes Mines also recognised the value of this work and have given us an annual grant to cover the costs of canvases, paints, brushes and more.

Many of the completed artworks are displayed throughout the village complex and enjoyed by residents and visitors alike. Members of our club look forward to the time when they can return to the village and spend ‘art time’ with the residents.

If you are interested in the community work we do, why not ‘join the QUE’! You can contact us through our Facebook page, Parkes Que Club Inc, or email us at parkesqueclub@gmail.com.

By Lynn Rogers

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.