Changing Your Will
A will is a testamentary document. This means it takes effect upon your death. It appoints an executor (a person who administers and distributes your assets) and makes bequests (distributes your assets among beneficiaries). A will remains valid until it is cancelled by you or if you marry after the will was made.

Nothing is ever set in concrete, and thus, your will should be a living document. It should be changed or updated as circumstances change. The rules are slightly different in the several states, so you should get legal advice if you want to make such a will.

You can cancel your will at any time provided you are of sound mind. This can be done in many ways, some of the main ones are:
• You make a valid new will. By law this revokes prior wills when the new terms contradict the old.
• You make a valid new will and expressly revoke the old one.
• You destroy your will with the intention of revoking it.

Estate planning is an area of the law of great family importance. We at Matthews Williams are able to give you competent professional advice on all estate planning matters. If we can assist you on any legal issue, feel free to contact me or one of our solicitors or call into our office for an appointment.

By Allen Duggan
Senior Solicitor

In April 1957 Elvis Presley’s song All Shook Up topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks. In January 2019 Parkes is going to be All Shook Up for five days in a celebration of the 50s at the Parkes Elvis Festival.

“Every year we aim to make the festival bigger and better, and we have done it again with over 200 events,” said Parkes Elvis Festival Director Cathey Treasure at the launch of the program on Monday. More good news came from Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro who announced the NSW Government would continue its support for one of the country’s most iconic events for a further three years.

Cathy focused on some of the highlights of the festival saying: “We are very excited to have Ted Torres Martin from the US as our feature artist,” said Cathy. He will be doing four different concerts.”

The Wall of Fame recipient will be iconic Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist Russell Morris. “It is very fitting that he is our recipient in the year of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing as his 1969 hit The Real Thing was the theme song for The Dish movie.” Russell will do a special performance on Wednesday night. Fans of Phil Emmanual, who was inducted in the Wall of Fame this year, can look forward to a special tribute concert organised by his brother Darcy following the sudden passing of Phil earlier this year.

The list of new events and highlights is very long and includes a $1,000 prize for the best float in the Norhtparkes Mines Street Parade, more dancing in the street, a special Kombi display, international star Francine Bell at the Gospel Service, more fan interaction workshops, a dance workshop for kids by former Yellow Wiggle Greg Page, more free shows in Cooke Park and many more.

By Maggi Barnard

Lateral ligament sprains of the ankle are one of the most common sports injuries, and because they are so common they are often managed too casually and many go untreated. From a clinical point of view the problem with a lateral ligament sprain of the ankle is that they have a very high incidence of recurrence. Gribble et al, 2016, Attenborough et al, 2015 and Tanen et al, 2014 (references can be supplied upon request), found 30-50% of the athletic population and 20% of the general population will go on to suffer from chronic ankle symptoms. These symptoms are often
referred to as chronic ankle instability and include pain, swelling, laxity and instability.

The contributing factors to the development of chronic ankle instability include: not seeking medical attention for the primary lateral ankle sprain; and returning to sport when pain has decreased but function has not been fully restored. The absence of pain does not mean that you are ready to return to sport. Decreases in strength, range of movement, proprioception and balance need to be restored.

Doherty et al, 2016 found that exercise therapy when performed in high doses (5 x 30 mins per week for six weeks) reduced the chances of recurrent lateral ligament sprains in the ankle by 42% and bracing/taping reduced the risk by 62%. It is currently recommended that you brace or tape your ankle for every game and training session for at least six weeks.

The decision to return to sport after a lateral ligament sprain should be based on strength, balance and hop tests rather than time or absence of pain.

For the fitness of you
Linda Reilly

Community radio station 2LVR, Lachlan Valley Community Radio Inc, invites everyone to its open day on 23 September in Forbes. It was established in 1992 and is completely run by 28 volunteer staff, with the exception of one part-time office employee. The announcers provide 15 hours live programs each day reaching an audience of
around 30,000. Broadcasts are 24 hours a day in FM stereo. Programs are streamed all over the world on the web.

The overnight programs are produced by a volunteer, as well as local news, while national news on the hour comes by satellite from 2UE in Sydney. All local community service announcements are produced by volunteers and are
free of charge. The main source of income is from sponsors advertising on the station, plus government grants from time to time.

An annual member’s contribution of $10 is a further source of income with about 250 members currently.

As there is a lot of costs to keep the station on the air, there is always a need for volunteers to help out, or sponsors to advertise. Please contact the station if you would like more information.

By Kevin Dwyer

It is not every school day you get to ‘hug’ a python. This was one of several activities more than 70 students from Parkes and Forbes experienced for Schools Tree Day at Eco Day 2018 last week.

Central West Lachlan Landcare (CWLL) organised workshops and bus travel for school representatives from years 5 and 6 to be involved in a variety of environmental and rural activities.

Students were able to make NetWaste worm farms; soils with Local Land Services; see a Parkes Shire Council weeds
demonstration and talk; learn about recycled water with Parkes Shire and mascot Banjo; Eco Art with Ro Burns; and go on a saleyards tour with Cooper Byrnes from Langlands Hanlon.

The day finished with a hands on workshop by Paul Kirk (aka The Snake Man) and an interactive workshop with Chris Dart from Netwaste, helping students to reduce the waste that goes to landfill.

Paul allows the students to get up close with reptiles. He talked about snake safety and how to handle non-venomous snakes. They also learned what to do if they are bitten and then had a chance to meet some friendly pythons.

“We want the students to go away thinking about what they can do in their own homes and schools to make a difference and prevent needless wastage, and the connection between humans and the environment,” said Margot Jolly, CWLL Chairperson.

Local State Member of Parliament Philip Donato was there to recognise the support of the Parliamentary Friends of Landcare and participated with the students in activities. Philip was joined by Cr Bill Jayet from Parkes Shire Council and Cr Jeff Nicholson from Forbes Shire Council.

“Our imaginations can take us anywhere we want to be.” Morris Gleitzman, bestselling Australian children’s author and Australian Children’s Laureate for 2018-2019, was at the Parkes Library on Wednesday as part of a seven week schools tour around the country.

He held three sessions for primary and high school students from across the Shire and Forbes sharing stories, anecdotes and secrets of writing. He started off telling them that he used to have a big problem writing the first sentence of a story. “I would sit there for hours, until I discovered the secret to starting a story.”

He read the first sentences of several of his books to illustrate that the main character of any story needs to have a problem. “It needs to be declared in the first or second sentence of the story,” said Morris. Students were enthralled by his energy, passion and sense of humour, and asked many questions. One student even advised him “if he didn’t want to be an author anymore he could be a comedian”.

Home school student Annabelle Border said her favourite thing was his tips for writing. Morris’ books explore serious and sometimes confronting subjects in humorous and unexpected ways. His titles include Two Weeks With The Queen, Grace, Doubting Thomas, Bumface, Give Peas A Chance, Extra Time, Loyal Creatures, Snot Chocolate
and the series Once, Then, Now, After, Soon and Maybe.

His role as the Australian Children’s Laureate is to promote the power of reading to children. Morris’ visit to Parkes was supported by the Charles Sturt University Community- University Partnership Program – Head of Campus Small Grant Program.