More than 100 local farmers attended the load restraint village tour sessions at 12 locations across the Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Council areas last month.

The practical sessions featured displays, case studies, how to videos and presentations from NSW Police, Transport for NSW Heavy Vehicle Inspectors, Safework NSW and NSW Health’s Rural Mental Health Adversity Program.

The sessions formed part of the ‘Load Restraint Education Project’ which targets the safe transportation of hay bales, machinery and general freight.

“We held sessions in Trundle, Kiacatoo, Alectown, Wirrinya, Derriwong, Tullibigeal, Bedgerebong, Tullamore, Peak Hill, Totten-ham, Lake Cargelligo and Burcher,” said Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Coun-cils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer Melanie Suitor.

“Numbers were good at most of the sessions, the participants were really engaged and we know that they will share what was discussed with their network.

“Safework NSW spoke about their current focus on the freight industry and some of the rebates on offer to small businesses and farmers. Phil Worrad from the Rural Mental Health Adversity Program gave attendees tips on how to look after themselves and their mates.”

All attendees received a load restraint pack containing the Load Restraint Guide 2018, fact sheets, links to the project’s videos and other useful information.

The winner of the lucky door prize was Rachel Harding who attended the session at Tottenham. She won an Engel thermo15 worth $190.

The post campaign quiz is now live and can be accessed at https://forms.office.com/r/c4xXmj0J8s.

Test your load restraint knowledge and you could win $500 worth of load restraint equipment. Entries close at 5pm on Monday, 5th July and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, 6th July.

The project is an initiative of Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety Program.

Craft Corner Parkes moved back to its home at 257 Clarinda Street with everything looking new and fresh! The shop had to undergo a complete renovation after it was flooded in the supercell storm in January.

“We are very happy to be back and it looks wonderful,” said President Margaret Tanner.

She said masks were in high demand at the moment and they were managing to keep up the supply.

The shop is open from 9:30am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday, and 9:30am to 2pm on Saturdays.

A special re-opening party is planned once the COVID restrictions are lifted.

The showgirl competition is synonymous with agricultural shows, and the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) has decided to revamp the program as part of its commitment to the future. With the program’s 60th celebration next year, it will be known as The Sydney Royal Young Woman of the Year to better reflect the spirit of the program in honouring young rural women and ensure the relevance of the competition.

The Sydney Royal Young Woman of the Year Award will apply to the state competition held annually at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and RAS hopes to see this change adopted at the local and Zone levels of the program.

RAS Showgirl Councillor Susan Wakeford said the refreshed program and new title would continue to foster and encourage the fundamental building blocks of the competition through involvement in local shows and communities whilst also resonating better with younger generations.

“Over the decades, the Sydney Royal Showgirl competition, thanks to ongoing support from The Land newspaper, has brought together thousands of young women and offered the opportunity for them to represent their local community, show society and industry, providing a platform to develop themselves personally, professionally, and as future leaders,” Susan said.

The professional development program, which encourages women to become leaders within their local community and rural NSW, has seen a decline in entries over the past 20 years, and the RAS hopes the new name will encourage more women to enter.

“At a local level, we already have some show societies making small changes to attract more entries. As guardians of the state competition, it is our responsibility to listen to those voices and drive positive change that will ensure the program’s future,” Susan said.

To learn about the history of the Sydney Royal Young Woman of the Year, visit the RAS website.

The guttering needed replacing. So, we went on a shopping spree which involved new guttering, gutter brackets, downpipe nipples, corners and downpipes.

When Ian climbed the ladder, he found that in order to pull the guttering off, he had to remove the first row of roof tiles all the way around the house.

There is a saying, a jack of all trades and master of none, and my husband was definitely a jack of all trades, but he was master of most. There was very little that he could not do.

Fast running out of daylight, he worked hard to finish replacing the guttering. All that was left was to replace the tiles. The ceilings in every room would have been ruined if it rained before the tiles were back in position. With it now too dark to continue working, we retired, hoping that the fine weather would hold till the job was done.

A different story greeted us in the morning with thick black clouds hanging about. Very aware that he had to have the whole job finished before the first drop of rain fell, Ian climbed the ladder to commence putting the tiles back. He vented his frustration at the seemingly impossible task ahead of him whilst I stood on the ground below and prayed.

In my Bible I had found repeated references to giving thanks in all circumstances and for everything. So, I began giving thanks to God for the threatening weather, for the vulnerable state of the roof and for Ian’s heightening anxiety.

I was immediately convicted with an unassailable belief that it would not rain until the job was completed, so I tried to assure Ian of this and kept repeating it.

Finally, the job was finished. As we walked up our driveway, the first drops fell. The deluge was such that the drains couldn’t cope, and the roads were flooded.

After a successful launch in 2019, raising over $34,000, the Pink Up Parkes committee are thrilled to start planning for this October to raise funds for the McGrath Foundation Breast Care Nurses.

“We need your help,” said secretary Marg Applebee, “asking for Expressions of Interest (EOI) from the community to be part of our committee.”

EOI need to be submitted by 12pm on Monday, 5th July. There is an EOI link on facebook and Instagram @pinkupparkes or hard copies are available at the Parkes Shire Library.

Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith OAM said: “Passionate community members who would like to support a fantastic charity are strongly encouraged to complete the EIO and get involved in this wonderful initative by joining the committee. We also encourage everyone in the community to start thinking about how they are going to ‘Pink Up’ their businesses, events, offices, houses, streets, etc this October to help raise

It costs around $140,000 to fund a McGrath Breast Care Nurse for a year. In Parkes, Di Green has been a McGrath Breast Care Nurse since 2011, also working in Forbes, Condobolin, Trundle, Tullamore, Tottenham and Peak Hill.

For further information email pinkup-parkes@gmail.com or contact Marg Apple-bee on 0418 611 053.

It is a sad bridge column this week as we bid our farewell to club member Liz Matthews who lost her fight against bone cancer last Thursday with all three well loved sisters, Susie, Candy and Maryanne spending much valuable time by her side.

Lizzie loved life. She was a bird lover, an animal lover, a people lover, a traveller and a great reader. Her knowledge of all things was amazing. And she took great enjoyment in encouraging others to build their knowledge and develop their particular interests. She was an actress, a singer, a reader of poetry and a language teacher of French and Japanese. She taught many hundreds of Parkes students. Lizzie enjoyed golf and bridge. She was a life member of the Parkes M&D and of the Air Tourers’ Club. She was a financial founder of the Parkes Dragon Boat Club and ‘God-mother of the Dragon Boat’ which is named The Lizzie in her honour.

She was a supporter and a volunteer of many causes with a love of the local community, always with her finger on the pulse of what was happening in the town. She was full of spirit and determination but she was also sensitive and caring. She always gave great advice and she had a way of correcting mistakes, spoken or written, on any topic under the sun. She also had an enormous admiration for anyone who could in turn correct her. Those people were very, very rare indeed. Her circle of friends was wide and she was loved by many and respected by many more. Her life was full and one of her favourite songs was Edith Piaf’s Rien de Rien – There is Nothing I Regret.

Lizzie left us too soon, with so much more to give.

Vale Elizabeth Matthews

By Beth Thomas

Musica Arioso, a performing arts studio in Parkes, entered 11 students in the vocal sections of the Forbes Eisteddfod taking out 10 first places, four second places, one third and 18 highly commended awards. Two piano students won a first and third place; while four students took part in the Speech and Drama sections with one first, one second and three highly commended places. The studio also won a first place in the Open Choir section.

 

It’s a huge challenge, but worth a try.

Kerryn and Deb Jones tried going plastic free in Parkes last year after watching a Four Corner episode about how recyclable plastics often don’t get recycled and end up in landfill.

“We decided to do a month’s grocery shopping completely plastic free to see what wasn’t a problem and what we simply couldn’t buy.

“Our first grocery shop was very interesting. There was a lot of…well we can’t get that… or that… or that…we can’t buy that any more… or that!

“Luckily, we like fresh fruit and veg, but even the watermelon, one of our favourites, was covered in glad wrap. We were going to have to buy them whole from now on and re-learn how to tell a good melon from a bad one without being able to see inside!”

The two sisters have not been able to go completely plastic free, but packaging is at the front of their minds when they shop and definitely plays a role in deciding what to buy. They are going to give the Plastic Free July challenge a go as motivation to try and find more plastic free options.

This is what they found the most challenging:
• Meat: find a sympathetic butcher who will put your meat in your container or in a paper bag. It was impossible to find free range chicken locally that is not wrapped in plastic;
• Biscuits: almost impossible, so they made their own;
• Nuts ‘n stuff: they visit a bulk food outlet to buy nuts, grains, dried fruit etc;
• Berries: always in plastic so they have to wait for the berry farm to open to pick their own. They’ve also planted some, but that might take a while;
• Yoghurt: make your own;
• Cheese: they found one shop that sells cheese in paper – unfortunately not in Parkes;
• Shampoos underarm and toothpaste: plastic free options are available, but mostly online or out of town;
• Loo paper: ‘Who gives a crap’ can be bought online in bulk to reduce packaging and freight. They use only paper-based packaging, environmentally friendly paper and give back profits to community projects.

Trying to remove plastic from their lives, have also made them realise how much of a concern all packaging is. Deb remembers how glass bottles were reused in her childhood. “You’d take them down to Or-bells on Bogan Street and trade them in. I think we’d have to go back to that at some stage. There needs to be a big shift in the way we package and it probably means going away from shiny perfect products we have become used to.”

If you’d like to try the Plastic Free July challenge by choosing to refuse single-use plastics go to the website for ideas and alternatives that can become new habits forever.

If going plastic free is too daunting or overwhelming, just take it one step at a time and start refusing plastic straws, stop buying bottled water, or using plastic bags for your fruit and veg.

“We really have to get into the habit of reusing and refusing,” said Kerryn. “If we really can’t do either, then recycling is the next best option.”