Year 11 Parkes High students got into the driver seat of a truck on Tuesday using virtual reality technology.

An immersive road safety exhibition, presented by SafeT360, made Parkes its first stopover on a state wide tour to educate young road users how they can share the road safely with trucks.

“Our goal is to save lives,” said Marketing and Engagement Coordinator Kayla O’Brien. “Statistics show the 16 to 25-year-old age group is the most overrepresented group of drivers involved in crashes.”

Developed by the Australian Trucking Association, SafeT360 is an interactive custom-built road safety exhibition that uses virtual reality and interactive messaging all packed into a real travelling truck and trailer. The exciting exhibition came to Parkes and Forbes on the request of Melanie Suitor, Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer at Parkes Shire Council. Melanie feels there is a real gap in driver education about trucks, and wanted students to learn from the exhibition.

“I learned new things about trucks and the four blind spots,” said Year 11 student Tyler Cole. “It was a cool experience to put on the virtual reality goggles.”

Nathan Eric was impressed with the exhibition. “There is a lot of information about trucks to ensure the drivers of cars do not end up in really bad accidents.”

By Maggi Barnard

The Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) recently brought a family from Congo, Africa to Parkes for a visit.

The Byshimo family recently settled in Australia, and found their way to Cowra with nine other families. They wanted to have a look at Parkes, and were especially excited to visit the iconic Parkes Telescope.

The Congolese families have become a success story in Cowra with most of the young people attending school or working, while several adults have found jobs, and attending TAFE classes to learn English. One family is in the process of purchasing a house.

The families were connected to Cowra by Emmanuel Musoni, Executive Manager of the Great Lakes Agency for Peace and Development (GLAPD), with help from organisations like Rotary, local churches and Cowra’s Neighbourhood Centre.

Emmanuel was a refugee, raised in a camp in Uganda until he was 16 years old. This has led him to be strongly committed and passionate about advocating for better settlement and integration of refugees and migrants who are yearning to call rural and regional Australia home.

Many African people are looking to rural areas of Australia to resettle. They can offer a wide range of vocational skills in aged care, childcare, engineering, trades such as metal fabrication, and agriculture.

The ABC recently aired an Australian Story, called A Field of Dreams, about the Mingoola community on the NSW-Queensland border who encouraged and welcomed Africans. The community has been invigorated by their presence.

Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) was formed to enable Australian Rotarians, Rotary Districts and Rotary Clubs to assist disadvantaged communities and individuals through humanitarian aid projects.

Their match up started with a meeting on the tennis court and last week Laurie and Ann Jamieson celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

“It was a private tennis court located where the car wash is today,” recalls Ann smiling at Laurie sitting across from her in their Parkes home where they’ve lived since 1979.

They moved to their Middleton Street house after 24 years on the farm at Brol-gan. “I never thought I would marry a farmer,” said Ann, who grew up in Parkes and qualified as a dental nurse after school.

“Within the first two years on the farm we had a drought and a flood,” said Ann who gave up her job to help Laurie work on the land.

“I miss the animals, especially my pet pig called Erk, the quietness and our neighbours. It was a good place to bring up our daughter Helen.” Memories of getting bogged on their way to the ball, and trying to drive a truck still makes her laugh.

Her fondest memory is when Helen came into their lives. “She is a wonderful person and we are very lucky to have her nearby in Orange.” Helen worked as a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald before moving with her journalist husband and two children to Orange.

As for Ann and Laurie’s secret to their enduring marriage – Ann says it is all about helping each other in any way you can, doing things together that you both enjoy and treating each other as equals. Laurie says ‘no comment’ with some mischief in his eyes.

When Ann was diagnosed with a rare cancer 20 years ago, it was Laurie who stepped up and cared for her. “The doctor calls my recovery a miracle. I think it also helped that I was doing so much sport all my life.”

As in a tennis match, they take turns to ‘serve’ and it’s Laurie who spoils her with breakfast every morning at the moment.

By Maggi Barnard

The St George’s branch of the Anglican Women’s Association held a meeting to plan their upcoming Flower Show and Market Day on 24th April in the hall on Church Street. At the meeting members shared their collections of salt and pepper shakers and the stories behind these, with much laughter, over an afternoon tea. On the photo are (L-R) Olive Copper, Dee Melville, Shirly Westgatth, Betty Somers, Lorraine Parker, Jan Tanswell, Norma Garment, Carol Corbet, Cheryl Thompson, Marg Klien and Vivien Cunningham.

If you love baking biscuits then a new competition hosted by the Parkes RSL Sub Branch is just for you!

The Anzac biscuit has stood the test of time and making them has become a popular tradition Australians use to commemorate Anzac Day.

The Parkes RSL Sub Branch is running an Anzac biscuit baking competition in the lead-up to Anzac Day this year.

It is a state-wide competition, hosted by sub branches, with Parkes’ returned servicemen and women excited to see locals taking part.

Entries have opened in Parkes and residents of any age from across the shire are invited to enter, get creative and cook up a storm.

The competition will be judged in an adult and a junior section, and participants can submit more than one entry. All entries need to include nine biscuits for judging.

If the cooking itself isn’t enough to entice you, there are some pretty sweet prizes up for grabs for the best biscuits.

The winner of the adult section will receive $200 and the Keith Woodlands Memorial Trophy, and qualify them for the district final. The runner-up will receive $100. The competition is being conducted at three levels – local, district and state.

The junior winner will receive $100 and runner-up $50.

The competition will be conducted under the rules of NSW Health and conditions applicable to Covid-19.

Entry forms are available at the front reception desk at the Parkes Services Club.

The entry fee is $5 and all biscuits must be delivered to the Boulevard Room at the Services Club between 10am and 11.30am on Saturday, 17th April.

For more information contact Parkes Services Club on 6862 1966.