Baroness Gardner of Parkes is the only Australian woman to date who has been elevated to the peerage, and only the second life peer who has taken a name from a place outside the United Kingdom.

“It was a huge battle to get Parkes in her title and Trixie Gardner even had to get permission from the Queen,” said a representative of the Baroness who visited Parkes in January doing research for her autobiography to be published later this year.

The Baroness is the daughter of Greg and Rachael McGirr and was born in Parkes as one of nine children. Her sister is Clarinda who died at a young age and the fountain in Cooke Park was erected in her memory.

“The Baroness is very passionate about the Clarinda Fountain, and I am sad to report that it is not in a good state,” said the representative who preferred not to be named.

She said it would be wonderful if it could be restored to coincide with the launch of the autobiography, as the McGirr family was so important to the history of Parkes.

The family helped with the establishment of Memorial Hill and parts of Cooke Park.

“There is this wonderful dichotomy of history in Cooke Park with the new statue of Elvis on the one side and the Clarinda Fountain on the other. It would be great to have them match in stature with the fountain restored to its original state.”

The representative said if the Baroness, who turns 92 in July, was fit enough she might travel to Parkes to launch her autobiography here.

Trixie Gardner earned a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) in 1954 from the University of Sydney and moved to the UK in 1957. She was a councillor of Westminster City Council, Lady Mayoress (when her husband was Lord Mayor), in 1970 she stood for Parliament for the Conservative Party, and he was elected as a member of the Greater London Council (GLC).

A Parkes resident took the bold step of shaving her hair last week by taking part in the World’s Greatest Shave for the Leukaemia Foundation.

Fiona Mcgonigal, who lost a kidney through cancer last year, felt she wanted to give something back and decided to raise money by shaving off her hair.

Fiona was well supported by her friends at Currajong Disability Services with Trilbie Bermingham taking charge of the clippers.

“It felt really strange after all my hair came off, but I am now really happy with my new style.”

She plans to let her hair grow back, as she wants to do it again next year for the same cause.

Fiona aims to raise at least $1,000 for her effort and is almost half way there. “The fundraising is going really well, and I’ve received a lot of support so far.”

She would like more people to sponsor her so she can help to give families facing blood cancer the emotional and practical support they need. Donations would also help to fund vital research to help more people survive leukaemia, while improving their quality of life.

Fiona’s page is still open for sponsorships on the World’s Greatest Shave website.

Currajong Disability Services (CDS) Sewing Group has again been the fortunate beneficiary of a kind donation from a local community group – the Ladies Lounge Parkes.

Co-ordinator/Founder of the Ladies Lounge, Maree Mulligan, and her fabulous group have long been supporters of CDS. “We had been setting aside some money each meeting to donate to the CDS Sewing Group,” said Maree.

“Currajong is an important organisation in the community and we truly value them and the sewing group. “Today we are pleased to announce a donation of $110 to the Currajong Disability Services Sewing Group,” Maree said.

For CDS Sewing Group Co-ordinator Deitre Jackson, the funds are vital to enable the group to continue running and purchase necessary sewing supplies. “The generous donation will go to sewing and craft equipment,” said Deitre. “We will be able to purchase more cotton and other relevant items for our group to keep working,” she said. “It is these little but important community gestures that help organisations like us continue to survive and for that we are extremely thankful.”

Scots All Saints College is a premier, independent college with Christian values, offering quality co-education to more than 750 day and boarding students from prekindergarten to year 12. Set on expansive grounds of more than 200 acres, the college is centrally located within NSW across three campuses in Bathurst and Lithgow.

As a new college established in 2019, it has all the modern facilities within an innovative college of the future, combined with a proud history of over 218 combined years. The Scots School (1946-2018) and All Saints’ College (1874-2018) have enjoyed a longstanding reputation as leading schools of excellence. Building on a strong foundation, Scots All Saints College offers an inspired learning environment with positive pastoral care and student wellbeing programs within a friendly, approachable and supportive school community.

A junior school (pre-kindergarten to year 4) and middle school (years 5-8) is available on All Saints Campus, pre-kindergarten and senior school (years 9-12) on Scots Campus and pre-kindergarten to year 6 on Lithgow Campus. Boarding is available from year 5 onwards in four newly renovated boarding houses located on Scots Campus.

Contact the college on 6331 3911 or visit www.scotsallsaints.nsw.edu.au/TryUs

A third-year mechanical fitter was awarded the Lester Plummer Apprentice of the Year award at CMOC-Northparkes Mines recently. Matt King was recognised for being a quiet achiever who takes on responsibility, leads others and consistently strives to improve and develop his skills. Matt also received exemplary results at TAFE, with four out of
five assignments marked at over 95%.

“I feel extremely honoured to have received the Lester Plummer Apprentice of the Year award. During my apprenticeship I have been lucky enough to have worked with various tradespeople across site, who have positively influenced and developed my attitude, skills and knowledge,” said Matt.

The Lester Plummer Apprentice of the Year award was first introduced in 2016, in honour of friend and colleague, Lester Plummer, who passed away in 2015. “Lester worked at Northparkes for many years displaying a keen interest in the development of our apprentices,” said Stacey Kelly, Manager – People, Safety and Environment.

His caring and fun-loving nature, combined with his trade knowledge and skills, meant that he was a perfect match to mentor our apprentices.” Brandon Keep, Luke Wallace, Oliver Dagger and Steven Butler, who finished their
apprenticeships last year, were also recognised for their efforts at the employee pipeline event that welcomed new employees to the business. The employee pipeline includes apprentices, trainees, graduates, scholarship holders and work placement students.

“By building the skills of young people, we are able to build a community of talented and experienced tradespeople whose skills will benefit both Northparkes and the community in which we live and work,” said Stacey.

Modern Slavery

Late last year, the Modern Slavery Bill 2018 was passed Federally in the NSW State Parliament heralding a new statutory modern slavery reporting requirement for larger companies in Australia.

Reporting obligations relate to the steps taken to respond to the risk of modern slavery in the operations and supply chains of the reporting entity and its controlled entities. The reporting criteria are mandatory. It is crucial that reporting entities begin reviewing their supply chains and collecting data ahead of the introduction of reporting
obligations. The first reporting year will be 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020.

At its broadest, the term ‘modern slavery’ refers to any situations of exploitation where a person cannot refuse or leave work because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception. The Australian regime defines modern slavery to incorporate conduct that would constitute an offence under existing human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like offence provisions set out in Divisions 270 and 271 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

Modern slavery will encompass slavery, servitude, the worst forms of child labour, forced labour, human trafficking, debt bondage, slavery like practices, forced marriage and deceptive recruiting for labour or services. Entities will need to report if they carry on business in Australia with a minimum annual consolidated revenue of $100 million.

Entities in NSW will be obliged to report under the NSW Act if they have a turnover of $50 million. Corporate groups should obtain specific advice in relation to which entities are required to report and how joint reporting can work.

Once the Modern Slavery Act commences, a targeted regulatory regime will be introduced, under which large businesses will report annually. Those reports will be published on a public register.

Member for Orange, Phil Donato MP (left) handed over $28,050 in funding to Tim Watts of the PCYC last Friday
from the 2018 Community Building Partnership Program. The funding will go towards renovation of the foyer to ensure it complies with current workplace safety regulations, while the PCYC team are also modernising the space
to give it a more ‘youth friendly’ feel. “The PCYC is a fantastic place for young people to learn new skills, get fit
and make new friends,” said Phil. Councillor Ken McGrath (right) was also at the handover.