A leading co-educational boarding and day college will visit Parkes on 18th February to connect with past, current and future families and support local ‘buy from the bush’ campaigns.

After a successful first year, Scots All Saints College in Bathurst is emerging as a modern and progressive college catering to the needs of rural and regional families with affordable and quality education that is closer to home. “We simply want to reach out to communities in our traditional heartland and help them learn more,” said Director of Community Engagement & Market- ing, Mel Monico

“There has been great interest and support for the development of Scots All Saints College following the integration last year of two very longstanding and respected boarding schools, The Scots School and All Saints’ College, with a combined history in education stemming back over 219 years.”

“We are keen to listen to the needs of local families in education and introduce our leadership team including our new Director of Boarding, Anthony Le Couteur.”

“We warmly welcome families in the Parkes region to join us for an informal evening at Bent next Tuesday from 6 – 8pm.”

RSVP your interest to events@scotsallsaints.nsw.edu.au

Deb Hewitt and Indigo Kriedemann of Currajong Disability Services will support Fiona McGonigal in her entry into the World’s Greatest Shave on 12th March at Currajong in Parkes.

Fighting cancer by raising money for cancer research is an admirable way of dealing with the disease.

Currajong Disability Services participant Fiona McGonigal was battling kidney cancer last year when she decided to shave her head to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.

This year Fiona will be participating again in the World’s Greatest Shave on 12th March. Despite beating kidney cancer last year, she received the unfortunate news that the disease has returned on the left side of her adrenal gland.

“After such a great response last year, especially from everyone at Currajong, I felt compelled to give it another go,” she said.

While Fiona has her up and down days, nothing will stop her trying to beat last year’s initial fundraising target of $1,000.

“The funds are vital, but so too is aware- ness of cancer and different cancer types,” Fiona said. “Every day another 35 Australians are diagnosed with a blood cancer. That’s one Aussie every 41 minutes.”

If you want to support Fiona, contact Currajong Disability Services about how to get involved on 6863 4713.

Mal Smith, Sebastian Sadgrove with his painting and John Sarkissian at The Dish.

It is not all about space science and finding alien life at the Parkes Radio Telescope as a Currajong Disability Services (CDS) participant has discovered.

Sebastian Sadgrove’s artwork called the Blue Dish on display at the Visitor’s Centre has received wonderful feedback and will soon be immortalised with a plaque at a special event on 3rd April.

“It is a dream come true and hopefully I inspire others with autism and disabilities to achieve their goals too!” said Sebastian who donated his creation after The Dish started participating in World Autism Month turning it blue.

“The support shown to me and autism in Parkes and the Central West by the community and CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope has been phenomenal.

Operations Scientist at the Parkes Radio Telescope, John Sarkissian could not be more pleased with the initiative shown by Sebastian and CDS.

“We try to do our bit for the local community and were more than happy to support the idea to light the dish in blue,” said John.

Site Leader Mal Smith agreed saying: “We love supporting local groups. This is a unique painting and we love it!”

With World Autism Month fast approaching in April, Sebastian will be very proud to see his painting showcased at the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope for the cause of autism.

Parkes Headquarters Captain Vicki Williams (left) and Senior Deputy Captain Steve Chester (right) with Parkes Leagues Club Manager Luke Malam who handed over the $6,726.25 donation collected from patrons during the Parkes Elvis Festival in January.

The Parkes Headquarters Rural Fire Service received donations of almost $7,000 this week from the community.

The Parkes Leagues Club raised a staggering $6,726.25 during the Parkes Elvis Festival. Club Manager Luke Malam said local patrons and from afar helped to fill buckets with their donations of coins and notes. Luke said the coins weighed so much it took a car ride to the bank to have them counted.

“Donating to the local Parkes Headquarters Brigade was at the top of our list, as it means the local firefighters can continue the great work they do, protecting not only our community but those around us,” said Luke.

The Leagues Club has always been committed to supporting the Parkes Community and donates in excess of $50,000 each year to local sporting groups, charities and community organisations.

The second donation came from Centrelink staff. They love a mufti day, especially during the Elvis Festival, and raised $142 for a cause they thought was very important. This brought the total amount donated to Parkes Headquarters this week to $6,868.25.

Parkes Headquarters Captain Vicki Williams and Senior Deputy Captain Steve Chester could not thank both organisations enough. “Donations from our community mean so much,” said Vicki. “These donations will be wisely spent on the brigade’s new fire station to create a place that members can enjoy between incident callouts, and to assist with the training of current and new members.”

Parkes Headquarters members also collected donations during the Elvis Festival over two nights in Cooke Park and raised over $3,000. This amount was donated to Jenolan Caves Brigade as they had lost their station during the fires whilst serving their community.