UK Artist at Elvis: International ElvisTM tribute artist Ben Thompson has been an- nounced as the 2018 feature artist for the 26th annual Parkes Elvis Festival from 10th to 14th January next year. In his first Australian performance ever, Ben is ready to celebrate 50 years since the ‘68 Come- back Special, the Festival’s 2018 theme. He will appear in four high-energy concerts at the Parkes Leagues Club.

Fire Station Open Day: Take the family tomorrow to the Open Day at the Parkes Fire Station at 1 Court Street from 10 am to 2pm to meet your local fire fighters. Chil- dren will be able to see the fire engines and fire fighting equipment up close and get into small fire uniforms for photos. Activities on offer include fire fighting demonstrations, station tours and fire safety pre- ventions. Advice on installing or replacing smoke alarms, and preparing a home fire escape plan will also be available, as well as a free sausage sizzle.

Code Club at Parkes Library: Kids around Australia are not only interacting with tech- nology, but also learning to code and how to create with technology. On Thursday, 25th May the very first Youth Code Club will begin at Parkes Library.

High school students are invited to register their interest in joining the Parkes Code Club. It will run for six weeks on Thursday afternoons from 4pm to 5pm from 25th May to 29th June. The Club is supported by Code Club Australia, with the projects designed to be flexible and encouraging high levels of thought and creativity. Places are limited. High School students are asked to bring a parent or guardian to Parkes Library to register. Call the Library on 6861 2309 for further information.

Crossing safely: Holy Family students welcomed safety upgrades at their school crossing last week. The improvements were made on the Albert Street entrance to the school, enhancing pedestrian and motorist safety around the busy student drop-off and pick-up point. Council worked with the Roads and Maritime Services on the project. The improved crossing now features two blisters in the centre of the road, two crossing bollards and handrails, and 60m of traffic separators. Councillor Bill Jayet officially opened the new crossing, which coincided with National Road Safety Week.

It might not be possible to change the world, but it is possible to change the world for one person.

This philosophy is embodied by Brooke Lees and Dave Rathborne. The local duo founded Kusoma’s Promise, a sponsorship program to ensure disadvantaged children in a remote Ugandan village have access to education.

Brooke and Dave spent five months vol- unteering in Africa in 2015, a world away from life in Australia. They taught children in a remote Ugandan village during their placement with the charity Arise and Shine, and two years later they are ensuring those children are still receiving an education, albeit from the relative luxury of Parkes.

Brooke said their trip made them realise the impact education had on the community. “The ones who attended school were not only learning about English and maths,” she said, “they were learning life skills. We also realised that what we take for granted in Australia – the fact that every child just goes to school – was actually a luxury for some of these kids. If their parents couldn’t afford the school fees they couldn’t attend school.”

“So, we decided to start a little sponsor- ship program to help the kids at the school where we taught. We worked with the local community while we were there and designed the program.”

The result is Kusoma’s Promise, a program that provides sponsorship for children to attend the Arise and Shine school. So far they have attracted 193 sponsors who give just $15 per month to cover a child’s education expenses.

While there are many charities and organisations that do similar – and equally valuable work – Kusoma’s Promise’s point of difference is the scale. It is driven by two people’s compassion and the passion to make a big difference to a small community.

“We do it all on our own, so we don’t have any ambitions to go in and help every child

in Africa, or Uganda, or even the district for that matter,” Brooke said, “we just want to focus on getting it right at Arise and Shine.”

Brooke said their initial aim was to spon- sor 50 children a year. “In our first year we got to about 190, so we smashed our goal,” she said. “Something we’re really proud of is that in 2017 our first class of sponsored children went to high school,” Brooke said. Since the sponsorship program started, school enrolments have increased.

Brooke is keen to emphasise that unlike larger charities, there are no administrative costs in the Kusoma’s Promise sponsorship.

“I think what people really appreciate is that 100% of what people give to us goes to the kids,” Brooke said. “If you sponsor a child you know they are guaranteed to go to school as their fees are paid and then a small percentage of each sponsorship pays teacher salaries, buys school sup- plies, and some porridge for the kids.”

Managing Kusoma’s Promise program takes up a lot of their spare time; evenings and weekends are spent attracting new sponsors, bookkeeping and delivering correspondence.

It’s just one more sleep until the opening night of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

It’s the latest extravaganza to be brought to the Little Theatre by the Parkes M&D Society. The family-friendly stage production is jam-packed with musical numbers and special effects set to make it the talk of the town.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a raucous ad- venture about a magical car; packed with hijinks, histrionics and hilarity. It follows the Potts’ family escapades after eccentric in- ventor Caractacus Potts and his children Jeremy and Jemima discover that the old racing car he restored can fly. The evil Baron Bomburst hatches a plan to steal the car, but accidentally kidnaps Grandpa Potts. When the Potts family stage a res- cue, they find themselves at the mercy of the child catcher, so Caractacus enlists the help of new friends – and Chitty – to out- wit the dastardly Baron and save Jeremy, Jemima and Grandpa.

The all-ages production not only shares the joy of theatre with younger audiences, but gives talented young actors the opportunity to take to the stage. There are more than thirty juniors and teens in the ensemble cast, an impressive turnout that shows there is a strong local demand for artistic pursuits.

Like most stage productions, the chil- dren’s lead roles are played by an alter- nate cast. Jeremy and Jemima are played by M&D veteran performers Tom Buesnell (13) and Maia Hennock (12) for some shows, and talented newcomers Beau Shearer (9) and Anabelle van Wyk (9) for alternate shows.

The multi-talented Neil Westcott is wear- ing two hats for the production; he is di- recting the show along with fellow thespi- an Lyn Townsend, and is also treading the boards as Caractacus Potts.

But theatre isn’t produced by actors alone. A dedicated crew and talented band have been working tirelessly to create a dazzling spectacle that everyone will love.

By Raen Fraser