Two Parkes Shire students are among the winners of the 10th annual Anzac Writing Competition.

Bogan Gate Public Schools’ Marley Paton (11) won the primary school category for the north division with her beautiful poem called Poppies to Remember.

Charles Anderson (13) of Trundle Central School received a highly commended for the secondary category in the north division for his poem.

A total of 680 entries were received from 34 schools across the Riverina electorate, with the winners each receiving a book prize.

“I really wanted to enter the competition to challenge myself and to have fun,” said Marley. She said she believed it was important to remember Anzac Day in order to remember the soldiers and the other people who fought and worked as hard as they could to save and protect our country.

“My poem is about how the poppies make us remember the soldiers and the nurses who saved our country. I feel like we don’t always remember the nurses.”

Charles also entered a poem. “I tried to put myself into the shoes of a boy whose father was at the frontline and wrote to him about life on the farm.”

He said the competition was a great opportunity for students to reflect on the past. “It is good to celebrate Anzac Day so we can remember what they’ve done for Australia.”

Riverina MP Michael McCormack, who runs the annual competition, said the winners stood out among a quality field of talented writers.

“As Anzac services have been cancelled this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it is now more important than ever for us all to remember our ANZACs and invoke their resilient spirit.”

All winning entries can be found in the 10th annual Anzac Day commemorative booklet. The Parkes Phoenix will publish the two Parkes Shire students’ poems in the issue before Anzac Day.

If you had asked Musica Arioso six months ago if they would be a predominantly online business by Easter 2020, they would have laughed.

And then the unimaginable happened, a global pandemic, social distancing and the closure of non-essential services.

“We simply had to dive in boots and all. We are in uncharted territory with our chil- dren feeling the stress of our stress and the uncertainty of what lies ahead,” said Gail Smith.

Music is well known for its benefits of relieving stress and anxiety. While sporting clubs and events have been cancelled, and social gatherings are on hold, music has not been cancelled.

Musica Arioso are now bravely striding into the vast online world, and that is where you come in! With so much time at home, regular music lessons can help bring some structure to your day. You could discover a talent.

They are offering 30 minute online class- es for a range of instruments including piano/keyboard, ukulele, voice, recorder and guitar.

Contact Gail Smith on 0414 478 585 or email musicaarioso@gmail.com for information on how to book your time. After all, everyone deserves a little music in their life.

The Parkes Garden Club held its March meeting in the garden of Colin and Maureen Miller.

Maureen told us how her garden has evolved to the beautiful show garden it is today. She has established the front garden over approximately four years with an eclectic display of mainly natives, flowering perennials and lots of salvias.

Maureen has focussed on getting some shade trees established in her back garden together with some fruiting varieties including lemon, olive and an orange tree.

Colin told members about his absorbing hobby and amazing collection of model trains complete with tracks, stations and miniature scenery set-up.

One of our members, Del Baxter celebrated his birthday during March so we took the opportunity to sing to him and shared a birthday cake with him and Kath.

Future club meetings are on hold due to the current circumstances, but once restrictions are lifted, we will be in touch with all members to advise when and where our meetings will start again.

It is a good time to think about sowing some veggies for your family’s use, especially after the wonderful rain and before it gets too cold. Some easy to grow suggestions for winter eating are spring onions, celery, spinach, silverbeet and herbs.

On behalf of all our Garden Club members, I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the local and wider Australian doctors, nurses, medical staff and researchers who are working so hard to see us all safely through this most critical time. We are so appreciative of your work.

By Heather Harvey

For the first time in the 29 years of the Parkes Elvis Festival’s history, the reigning International Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Champion will be performing as the feature artist.

The organisers announced Taylor Rodriguez as the 2021 feature artist for next year’s festival to be held from 6th to 10th January.

“I am beyond excited to attend Parkes Elvis Festival! This will be my first time to Australia and I can’t wait to celebrate the life, legacy, and music of Elvis Presley. Let’s get ready to Rock ‘n Roll Australia!” Taylor said.

Taylor will perform four high-energy concerts backed by a dynamic eight-piece Elvis band at the Parkes Leagues Club.

Parkes Elvis Festival Director, Cathy Treasure, said: “We are so excited to be able to host Taylor’s first ever shows on Australian soil. His incredible showmanship and youthful energy will create a dynamic feature concert series that is not to be missed.”

Taylor became the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Champion in Memphis in August last year. This competition is held worldwide to look for the best representation of the legacy of Elvis Presley.

The 21-year-old hails from Lynchburg, Virginia, USA. Taylor fell in love with Elvis’s music at the age of six listening to Blue Suede Shoes and started performing at nine. He was one of the top five tribute artists at the age of 19, and then went on to be crowned the 2019 Tupelo Elvis Festival Champion, before taking out number one in Memphis!

Taylor has starred in many musical productions including the Million Dollar Quartet where he played Elvis Presley.

At the Parkes Elvis Festival Taylor will also appear in the Northparkes Mines Street Parade, Gospel Service and Renewal of Vows Ceremony.

The far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 crisis is devastating to our community. As President of the Business Chamber, I am proud to see how many of our local businesses have displayed such resilience and pivoted their operations so quickly to adapt to government regulations to ensure that they can still trade in some way, in an effort to keep their operation forging ahead to better times.

We as a community can’t control the situation, however we do have the power to shop local and support our local businesses through this challenge, and to look after each other. The more we support our businesses now, the quicker they will be able to get moving back to full strength again when this situation improves.

We all need to stay as positive as possible, something that Parkes is renowned for, and be ready to be able to move very quickly again when the tide changes. Let’s all make a pledge to keep supporting small local businesses throughout this period.

By Geoff Rice
President Parkes Chamber of Commerce