The streets were lined with masses of people, the floats sparkled in the late afternoon sun and an air of excitement prevailed as the annual Christmas Parade set the tone for the festive season in Parkes last Friday.

The 30 float entries, including two ponies, the Rural Fire Service and a dragon boat, and 300 plus students marching for their schools created an ocean of Christmas colours as the procession flowed down the street cheered on by the crowds.

Some people remarked it was the biggest crowd seen in Parkes after the Elvis Parade in January each year.

“It was an outstanding success,” said Peter Guppy of Parkes Action Club, who organises the parade. “The Action Club
would like to thank everyone who put a lot of effort into their floats.”

Geoff Rice from the Parkes Chamber of Commerce, who judged the float entries, said they were all of a high standard. The TWW $300 voucher for best business float was awarded to McPhersons, and the school prize of $100 went to Parkes Christian School.

The Action Club also thanked the SES for doing an excellent job of crowd control, and the students for their exemplary behaviour. “The Parkes community is to be congratulated for supporting the parade and enjoying this great community event,” said Peter.

There was singing and partying in the street last Saturday as Parkes celebrated its 145th birthday. The informal birthday bash was held at Christmas Central in Clarinda Street and many of the town’s citizens stopped by to join the party.

Councillor Bill Jayet, surrounded by some very excited children, cut the huge cake and shared it with the crowd, while Sharon Klarner and Katrina Newham handed out party hats and whistles. Jenny Short took time off from Christmas Central’s free giftwrapping service to join the party.

“It was great to be able to play the big kid again,” said Bill, “and share such a big birthday cake on such a milestone event.”

Local busker and Parkes High School student Hannah Dun lent her amazing voice to add a beautiful touch to the atmosphere of the celebration. Hannah, who at 13 years of age has won runner-up in the Australian National Busking Competition for the last two years running, was delighted to accept Council’s invitation to sing at the town’s
birthday event.

The area of Parkes, first known as Currajong and later as Bushmans, began to flourish in 1862 with the discovery of gold. Then, 145 years ago on the first of December 1873, the town was renamed Parkes after Sir Henry Parkes, then Premier of NSW, and the main street was named after his wife, Lady Clarinda.

Happy Birthday Parkes!

By Beth Thomas

The future looks promising for Parkes as benefits of the Inland Rail Project are starting to flow to local businesses. With the Parkes to Narromine (P2N) section of the project due to commence in the near future, the joint venture INLink, engaged by Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) have started to mobilise in Parkes.

A broad range of opportunities are already available in the Central West, while there have been local procurement opportunities for a range of service providers such as signage services, personal protective equipment and furniture and office appliances in Parkes.

“It has been a long-term vision of the Parkes community to see our town as a national logistics hub and the Inland Rail project is the major link in the chain that will start to see this vision realised,” said Parkes Shire Council’s General Manager Kent Boyd.

According to ARTC Project Director Colin Ford INLink had very positive responses from the community with more than 380 expression of interest (EOI) registrations from local companies, partnerships and sole traders. “INLink have been working with them throughout the process to understand the kind of variable skills and opportunities to price work that is available.

“An extensive list of services will be required which will include, but is not limited to, concrete supply services, transportation, fencing, earthmoving, drainage, electrical works, concrete works, security and water bore drilling,” said Colin. “There will also be a positive flow-on effects for motels, retailers, cafes, restaurants and a range of service providers.

“We are looking forward to securing the right people and businesses who have the capacity, skills and experience to deliver the work on-time, on-budget and with minimal disruption to the community.”

JOIN NOW – Summer Reading Club Time!
The time has come for kids to visit the library and join the Parkes Shire Library Summer Reading Club for a fun time! Curious Creatures will take over your summer reading! The goal this year is to find a combined total of 1,000 Curious Creatures in the stories read over summer. There will be a huge party in February if this goal is reached.

EXHIBITION – Art Forged from Miscellany
15 – 31 December, Parkes Library
Official Opening: Saturday, 15 December at 10:30am
Art Forged from Miscellany is an exhibition that has grown from the desire to bring together a variety of experimental projects, encouraging artists and musicians to work in areas away from their usual techniques. The goal is for artists to explore sounds and musicians to deal in pictures made with words to create different and unique compositions. Poems were the basis for these experimental processes in soundscapes, accompaniment and animation. As much art is produced under stress it is hoped to create a freer release and generation of ideas. Artists involved include: Sean James Cassidy, Dustin Howearth, Jason (Nacho) Murchie, Matthew Cicchini and Jim Cassidy.

OPENING HOURS – Christmas and New Year
PARKES
22 to 26 December: Closed
27 and 28 December: Open 9am – 5pm
29 December: Closed
31 December: Open 9am – 5pm
1 January: Closed
PEAK HILL
25 and 27 December: Closed
1 January: Closed
3 January: Normal hours
TRUNDLE
27 and 28 December: Closed
3 January: Normal hours
TULLAMORE
Closed: 26 December
2 January: Normal hours

Shoulder impingement during swimming is largely due to dynamic muscle imbalances and biomechanical faults. Dynamic muscle imbalances can be addressed by strengthening exercises for the rotator cuff and scapular stabilisers, together with stretches for the muscles at the back of the shoulder.

One good exercise is to stand facing a wall with your arm raised to shoulder height and elbow straight. Hold a tennis ball to the wall by leaning through your shoulder and pinch your shoulder blades together. Roll the ball in small circles for 15 seconds first clockwise then counter clockwise until you become fatigued or two minutes, whichever
comes first.

Biomechanical faults can be addressed by correcting your swim technique. Achieving good symmetrical body rotation through the development of an efficient bilateral breathing pattern helps to avoid shoulder impingement
during the catch and pull through phase of the freestyle stroke.

If you already have shoulder pain it may be helpful to shorten your stroke and avoid the use of hand paddles. Hand placement during entry to the water should also be monitored. Instead of entering thumb first change your technique to enter with a flat hand or fingertip first. This is made easier by avoiding reaching across your midline. A
thumb first entry works the shoulder internal rotators excessively and when multiplied by approximately 3200 strokes per hour contributes heavily to the muscle imbalance of strong internal rotators and weak external rotators causing shoulder impingement.

Most swimmers pull through with a straight arm or dropped elbow. This loads the shoulder muscles excessively rather than utilising the larger and stronger muscles of the chest and upper back. Making these simple changes can help you achieve many hours of pain free swimming.

For the fitness of you
Linda Reilly

A drum kit made from recycled material, poetry in animation and digital interactive art are some of the thought-provoking features of an exhibition with a difference opening at the Parkes Library next week.

The exhibition called Art Forged from Miscellany has brought together a group of 12 poets and artists with the challenge of working in areas they are not very familiar with.

“I am mentoring a new artist, Tanjim Islam on 16th century painting techniques, and he is teaching me about animation in digital design – it is a share-share partnership,” said Sean-James Cassidy, curator of the exhibition.

Sean, who grew up in Parkes, is currently doing an internship on graphic design at SBS with Nathan Kopp (SBS graphic design FIFA World Cup), who is the assistant curator of the exhibition.

A main feature of this inspiring exhibition will be the Junkyard Drum Kit made from materials found at the Parkes Waste Facility. It is created entirely from garbage, conceived and built by collaborators from wide-ranging backgrounds. They include Sean-James Cassidy (artist), Dustin Howearth (Hollywood prop designer/sculpture),
Jason Nacho Murchie (sound artist) and Matthew Cicchini (drummer, English, philosophy major).

Sean said for the artists to have worked outside their area of skill have brought a different take and insight to the art form. “I am not a musician and found that I am getting better at rhythm and discovered its importance as a form of communication.”

Another exciting feature of the exhibition is the award-winning poem Blacksmith by local author Jim Cassidy. His recitation of the poem has been animated with video and music. Poems by Kerrie Peden (Director Parkes Community Choir) are also featured as animation art by Tanjim Islam.

The artists in the exhibition are members or supporters of Ub Ubbo Exchange – an international art group celebrating its 11th year of collaboration and support.

(See details of exhibition on page 9.)

The Parkes Library was ‘crawling’ with curious creatures on Tuesday for the launch of the Summer Reading Club.
Armed with magnifying glasses and torches more than 50 kids and adults got up close and personal with the little creatures  of Bushmans Dam under the guidance of Parkes Shire Council’s Environment and Sustainability Coordinator Michael Chambers.

Michael caught the creatures earlier in the day and had them swimming in containers in the library foyer for the kids to meet them. “I can see a leech,” and “There is a yabby” were some excited calls as they zoomed in on the tiny creatures. The challenge to the Summer Reading Club participants this year is to find 1,000 creatures in the books they read during summer. There is also a mystery creature hiding under a big rock in the library, and kids are encouraged to make a drawing of it.

Summer Reading Club is for all young readers birth and up. The Curious Creatures theme aims to encourage young
readers to discover new worlds as they explore and connect with a curiosity of creatures through their reading and a range of activities available at Parkes Shire libraries.

Children’s Services Officers Debbie and Sandie are really excited about this year’s Summer Reading Club. They have put in lots of preparation and are ready to start recording the creatures as participants discover them in stories. They will also be putting up the drawings of the mystery creature under the rock in the library.

If you did not attend the launch call into your Library at Parkes, Peak Hill, Trundle and Tullamore and sign up today!

Join the movement this festive season by buying handmade presents and homemade cooking. It is easy in Parkes as the Craft Corner has a good selection of Christmas cakes and puddings, as well as lots of handmade items, including Christmas table runners, serviettes and children’s dresses.

President Rosemary Mitchell was very excited last week with the arrival of a fridge for the shop to increase their selection of homemade items on offer to customers on a daily basis.

There are also a large selection of art, including beautiful creations by mosaic artist Sue Maddison, and many other handmade items. The shop is only closed on public holidays and will be open until 24th December for last minute shopping.

Ten members of a Rotary Club on the far south coast of NSW swapped the beach for the bush last weekend when they visited Trundle as part of the Adopt-A-Town initiative. The initiative encourages members of Rotary Clubs to visit drought affected communities in NSW and provide practical and financial support.

“We selected Trundle as Pambula’s population is around the same size,” said Pambula Rotary Club Youth Director Liz Bellette-Stubbs.

“We initially reached out in September to find out how we can help.” The Pambula Rotary members helped to paint the childcare centre, assisted with the Trundle Community Christmas Pool Party, met with local school students and distributed donations. They met with the Trundle Men’s Shed and hosted a dinner at the Trundle Services and Citizens Club, where they met members of the Parkes Rotary Club and locals from across the region.

The group stayed in Trundle’s hotel and purchased supplies locally where possible to support the business community. “The schools were welcoming and encouraging of our efforts, said Liz. “The preschool was so appreciative of our paint job. We went away with ideas for future events and hope to assist them in the future. We
couldn’t have had a better beginning to the sister town relationship.”

Trundle and District Progress Association Chairman Peter Kelly said: “We appreciate the fact that they reached out to us, offering practical and financial support in this difficult time, and are keen to build a long-term relationship between our communities.”

Parkes Shire Deputy Mayor Barbara Newton thanked the Pambula Rotary Club for their support. “The drought has a flow-on effect, not just for landholders, but the businesses and broader community, so it is important that we come together and support each other.”

“Positive initiatives, such as Adopt-A-Town, provide much-needed hands-on assistance, as well as some respite for the community.”

Traffic came to a halt in the Parkes CBD on Monday morning with business owners leaving their shops to encourage a crowd of over 100 people marching down Clarinda Street in support of White Ribbon Day. Parkes is one of many communities across the country taking a stand to end domestic violence with the aim of creating ‘an Australian society where all women can live in safety, free from violence and abuse.’

Many local groups, clubs, schools and businesses were represented in the Parkes march from the Parkes Arbour to Cooke Park where the participants listened to speeches led by Lionel Lovett’s traditional Welcome to Country.

Police District Chief Inspector, David Cooper pledged continued police support in the area of domestic violence and asked for the public to assist by speaking out in order to challenge and change this problem. “This is a community issue not just a police issue. What you know and what you do could save someone’s life,” said Chief Inspector Cooper.

Some frightening and sobering statistics were presented by advocates against domestic violence: One in four women has experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner; one in five women have experienced sexual violence; one in two women have experienced sexual harassment; and one woman a week is murdered by a current or former partner.

Deputy Mayor Barbara Newton entreated the public saying: “Don’t just stand by. Stand up. And speak up.”

By Beth Thomas