Yoga, belly dancing, bridge, writing, posy making… senior citizens in the Parkes Shire celebrated life this week by staying active and healthy as part of the NSW Seniors Festival.

In keeping with this year’s theme, Love Your Life!, Neighbourhood Central organised a fun filled program with a diverse range of activities. “We opted for something different this year to encourage the younger members of the demographic to be more involved,” said Jenny Short.

That is why the week started with an ‘ohm’ when 17 senior citizens from Trundle, Tullamore and Parkes attended Monica Lea’s chair yoga class after Parkes Shire Councillor Pat Smith officially opened the festival.

“Attendees were keen and willing to try the poses, and really enjoyed savasana and relaxation at the end,” said Monica. She said some participants were interested in attending her ongoing Friday gentle class, while there were also some who requested her to start a chair yoga class. “It was lovely to be involved in the Seniors Festival.”

On Tuesday Beth Thomas and Suzie McNamara taught participants to play bridge. “They all really enjoyed it,” said Beth. “Some want to continue on with beginner lessons and hope to eventually join the Parkes Bridge Club. Suzie and I really enjoyed taking the two-hour class which extended into two-and-a-half hours.”

For those interested in writing their life story, Dan Fredericks from the Parkes Library offered some tips on writing to a group of 14 people, while Alice Milne from the Pink Orchid Florist offered a posy making class. The monthly lunch for Neighbourhood Central clients happened to fall in the festival week, and on Wednesday they were entertained by the newly formed Parkes Community Choir with a variety of songs, including a Zulu song from South Africa.

On Thursday Rosedurnate residents joined other senior citizens on a visit to the HARS Aviation Museum at the Parkes Airport. The week ended on a fun note with two belly dancing classes presented by Nicole Kennedy.

Neighbourhood Central’s Jenny Short and Beverley Drabsch were both very happy with the attendance and interest shown, especially by members of the community who were not clients.

It is the perfect time to reactivate new year’s resolutions of getting fit as autumn is just around the corner and more shared pathways have been completed around town. NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional Development John Barilaro was in Parkes last week to open a 1.3km stretch of pathway along Bushman Street. It forms part of a network of shared pathways that will eventually form a loop around the Northparkes, Pioneer and Spicer Ovals and Holy Family School.

The project, co-funded by Parkes Shire Council and the NSW Government’s Stronger Country Community Fund, is part of Stage 2 of the Parkes Active Movement Strategy to encourage residents to make healthy lifestyle choices.

“Projects like what we see here at Parkes really do breathe new life into regional parts of the state,” said the Deputy Premier. Parkes Shire Councillor George Pratt said “Council is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of the Parkes Shire by delivering a mix of shared pathways, cycling routes, outdoor fitness equipment and sporting facilities for our community to utilise and enjoy at no cost.”

According to Parkes Shire Council’s Director Works and Services Ben Howard a number of innovations were implemented to improve efficiencies, including trialling a new concrete canvas product. “The flexible, concrete impregnated fabric hardens on hydration to form a thin, durable, water proof and fire-resistant concrete layer. By using this particular product, we have reduced costs, construction times, environmental impact, and water usage.”

Construction on the Inland Rail is ramping up on the Parkes to Narromine section, with the construction contractor INLink taking possession of the existing track between Goonumbla to Narwonah.

The project team of 60 workers will upgrade the existing infrastructure to Inland Rail standard in preparation for heavier, longer freight trains from 2025.

The possession milestone follows the official sod turn in Parkes on 13th December last year marking the start of work on the 5.3km of new rail track which will join the existing Broken Hill Line to the existing rail track south of Henry Parkes Way.

Employers To Keep Records And Give Pay-Slips
It has come to our attention that a number of employers are not keeping employee records correctly, and giving employees pay slips with all the correct information for each pay period.

By not complying with the strict letter of the law (Fair Work Act, 2009 and regulations) employers are opening themselves up to large fines which could ruin a business.

Employee records kept by employers must:
• Be readily accessible to a Fair Work Inspector or the employee and be kept for at least seven years.
• Be in legible form of English.
• Not be altered unless for the purposes of correcting an error or indeed to be falsified.
• Contain rates of pay and broken down in gross and net amounts with any deductions, such as tax and super.
• Detail awards (including but not limited to penalty rates, loadings, etc.)
• Hours worked, whether casual or permanent or permanent part-time.
• Contain leave records.

Payslips must be issued to each employee within one working day of the pay day, even if the employee is on leave, and maybe in electronic form or paper copy. The payslip must include full details of the employer and date of payment, pay period, gross and net amount of pay (including hourly rate of pay if paid hourly), and details of loadings, bonus, allowances and deductions (including tax and Superannuation deductions).

Courts could fine employers up to $126,000 for individuals or $630,000 for corporations. If we at Matthews Williams can help you on any legal matter, feel free to call us.

The hilarious Birdman Rally in Melbourne will have a strong Parkes presence this year with teams from both local high schools entering a design by students to plunge into the Yarra River for charity. The Parkes High School team will aim to fly across the Yarra river with one student leaping off a four-metre platform for the first time on 10th March.

Nine Parkes High School engineering students started work on their design in the fourth term of last year and during the Summer holiday to get their ultra-light biplane with four wings ready for the event.

Inspired by local pilot with 60 years’ experience Neil Unger and their teacher David Warburton, the biplane is nearing completion with each wing measuring 8m wide, 3m long and 2.4m high. They have used bamboo, aluminium soft drink cans, fibre glass and metal fishing line and hope the total weight to be just under 30kg.

Neil, who has been to four rallies, made the suggestion to Parkes High to enter this year. “It is a great experience to get students interested in aviation as the industry desperately needs people.”

For the students it is a wonderful opportunity to put their engineering knowledge into practice. “I am very keen to see how it goes,” said one of the nine students Zane Pierce. For Will Bevan the experience so far has been great for gaining a lot of knowledge and experience on aeronautical engineering.

Parkes High School will be competing with Parkes Christian School in the school’s category. They will be judged on the distance flown, design features and materials used. The Parkes Christian School have been competing a couple of times winning the rally in 2017.

By Maggi Barnard

Are you over 60? Have you always harboured a secret desire to write your life story? Or learn to play bridge? Or have a go at belly dancing? Neighbourhood Central has cobbled together a week jam packed with all these activities for free (plus much more) in celebration of the NSW 2019 Seniors Festival from Monday, 18th February to Friday, 22nd February. Most activities will take place at Neighbourhood Central. See What’s On on page 6 for more information on the events, or contact Neighbourhood Central on 6862 3757.

Cutting Edge Technology In Eye Care
Parkes Eyecare Plus has invested in the gold standard of eye health testing that is available today – Optical Coherence Tomography or OCT. OCT uses optical ultrasound to look at the deeper layers of the eye underneath the surface of the retina. This enables optometrists to detect many eye diseases much earlier than with standard retinal photography.

This cutting edge technology allows more accurate identification and treatment of eye disease and conditions including Macular degeneration, Glaucoma, Diabetic eye disease and Optic nerve damage. As these conditions can cause vision impairment and even blindness, early detection and management can help to safeguard your vision into the future.

If you are over 40, or have a family history of glaucoma or macular degeneration, an OCT scan is essential in providing the best eye care possible.

The ornamental gates in Cooke Park have undergone a complete restoration almost 100 years after their installation in 1928. Council’s Heritage Advisor, David Scobie and contractors GC McCabe and Co restored the historic Venables Gates to their near original condition.

The work involved the repointing of brickwork, replacement of damaged lights and commemorative plaques, repainting of the ironwork and drainage improvements. “Through this work the original brass lettering on the gates was discovered, that had been painted over,” said Councillor Alan Ward, Chair of the Parkes Shire Heritage Advisory Committee.

“The Parkes Region has a proud and colourful history, and we are delighted to have preserved this piece of history for our community,” said Alan.

The gates were made in 1886 by Richard Venables and were located at the Australian Hall on Peisley Street in Orange. The hall was remodelled in the 1920’s, the gates were removed and sold back to Richard at auction.
At the time Richard was a resident of Parkes and he donated the gates to the Municipal Council. He was contracted to build the side gates to match the central pair.

The gates were officially opened on 18 November 1928 as part of the Cooke Park extension, which included the construction of the fountain and pond, garden beds and paths and landscaping.