A well known Parkes teacher was a surprised recipient of a Rotary Award at the Rotary District Conference held in Orange recently. Parkes Rotary Public Relations officer David Hughes presented Lionel Lovett with a Certificate of Commendation for Vocational Excellence.

Lionel said the award was a bit of a shock. “Rotary invited me to the dinner, but I had no idea that I was up for an award,” he said. “I thought I was going to be a guest at the dinner because I had made a small contribution to the Rotary project at the arboretum. It was one of those things that I like to be a part of, I wasn’t expecting anything for
it,” he said. Lionel is best known for his work with schools in Parkes, where he has been teaching school students Wiradjuri language, customs and history for more than a decade. He has previously been honoured with a Nanga Mai Award, and was named the 2014 Parkes Shire Indigenous Person of the year.

Lionel’s skills are many and varied. Alongside teaching Wiradjuri, he coaches the Little Goannas dance group, works as an artist, performs Welcome to Country for official events, and is heavily involved in the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group. “I really love to be involved in projects, particularly when there’s a cultural aspect to it, and aboriginal inclusion,” he said. “But it’s not just me, there’s a lot of other people I work with who are also doing great work.”

Lionel is currently planning the next project with collaborator Sean Cassidy. They envisage creating an indigenous art installation around the water tower on Bushman’s Hill, which would incorporate the Aboriginal history and serve as an extension to the Wiradjuri Amphitheatre.

By Raen Fraser

Simple ideas are often the best, even when it comes to making a tough school playground friendlier. The buddy bench is one such idea to promote inclusion and friendship. Thanks to the Buddy Bench Initiative of the Currajong Autism & Special Needs Group primary schools in the Parkes Shire have received a buddy bench each last week with
the help of the John Holland Group.

Peak Hill Central School was the first to install their bench, donated by Forefront Services. “It is a fantastic idea and the kids enjoy using it,” said Assistant Principal, Sarah Browning. According to Deb Collier and Angela Wilson, facilitators of Currajong Autism & Special Needs Group, the initiative started early last year as a dream to provide a buddy bench for every primary school in and around Parkes.

“When Warren Monks of John Holland heard about our dream, he gave his employee Jodie Goonrey the huge task of
finding local businesses and suppliers to donate benches.” It was a huge team effort with Whitney’s Welding & Bobcat Hire building 10 originally-designed, double-sided benches; members of the group hand-painting the
benches TTT Signs providing the signs and donation plaques.

The buddy bench is a place for kids to sit, and send out a visual signal to other kids that they would like friendship, or somebody to play with. This visual signal makes children conscious of this, and is usually enough to prompt them to extend a hand.

By Maggi Barnard

Ten local writers attended the launch of the Parkes chapter of Skywriters at the Library last Wednesday. Many more scribes are interested in the project but were unable to attend. They will each seek celestial inspiration to pen a work of up to 3,000 words, and many had already found their muse.

The Skywriters Project aims to connect communities of regional writers across inland NSW, and is just one of a dozen groups scattered in the 700km array from Canberra to Narrabri. The groups support writers to create a short piece of any genre that is inspired by our southern sky. The project will run for two years, providing feedback and editorial support to the writers, who will see their finished stories published online or in an anthology.

Mayor Ken Keith joined Dr Merrill Findlay and the Library’s Shelley Buckle and Dan Fredericks at the launch. While Merrill was delighted with the interest – which has been strong across the groups – she was not surprised by the regional talent. “Inland NSW used to be the heart of literary culture in Australia,” she said, “but now that hub has moved to the coast and the cities. Skywriters is a chance to challenge those urban stereotypes of inland Australia.”

The Skywriters’ cluster is part of a galaxy of projects called the Big Skies Collaboration. It is a collaboration between regional writers, artists, and astronomers with the shared objectives to explore the intersection of art and science. The various creative works produced will be inspired by the big skies of inland rural Australia. The project will also feature Wiradjuri cultural astronomy. The project will conclude in 2019, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Mission – an event that is just one of Parkes’ own sky stories.

By Raen Fraser

Three-year-old Ava Garland of Forbes was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in June last year. Within hours of having blood test results Ava started intensive rounds of chemotherapy at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney. Ava is the youngest of Andrew and Kathy’s five daughters. Kathy and Ava had to remain on site at Westmead for the next eight months, which meant the close knit family was forced to live in four different locations until January.

Scarlett was boarding at Red Bend, Polly, Willa and Olivia moved to Orange with their aunt and Andrew stayed at home to run the cropping enterprise. Ava has mostly responded well to treatment and returned home with her mum in January to begin 18 months of home chemotherapy. The family lives over 50km out of town and with Ava’s regular checks and hospital visits it is a juggle to manage family activities while maintaining Ava’s care. A group of friends have come together to organise a concert to raise funds to support the family as Ava continues her journey through leukaemia. Opera for Ava will be staged at Red Bend Catholic College in Forbes on Saturday, 8th April from 2pm.

Mezzo soprano Dominica Matthews from Australia, soprano Kathleen Moore from Canada and sensational tenor Diego Torre from Mexico will be performing, accompanied by talented Forbes local Barbara Bruce on the piano. There will be something for everyone, with well-known arias from classical operas including Rigoletto, La traviata
and Carmen, and popular pieces from musical theatres such as Phantom of the Opera, Sweet Charity and Les Miserables.

Tickets cost $85, and includes drinks and canapes, and can be purchased from Hazell & Field in Forbes, or via email at opera4ava@gmail.com. For more information contact email or on facebook.com/opera4ava/