All registered voters in the Orange State District, which includes the Parkes Shire, will have to go to the polls for the third time this year in the NSW State by-election on Saturday, 12th November to vote for a member of the Legislative Assembly. The seat of Orange became vacant when National MP Andrew Gee won the federal seat of Calare in the July election.

A field of seven candidates is contesting the elections with Forbes resident Dianne Decker the only candidate from outside Orange. The other candidates are Scott Barrett for the Nationals, Philip Donate for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, Janelle Bicknell for the Greens, Scott Munro an Independent, Bernard Fitzsimon for Labor and Kevin Duffy Independent. Dianne is standing for the Christian Democratic Party.

Dianne, who served as a Forbes Councillor for 16 years, said the biggest issues she would be focusing on were council amalgamations, flood proofing the Newell Highway to Parkes and West Wyalong and health. The Parkes Shire Council has endorsed a priority list, based on community consultation and strategically important issues, to
canvass with the candidates.

“These issues are important to our community and we strongly support calls to all parties to take local council and community issues seriously, and commit to improving our sector,” said Mayor Ken Keith. Council has identified the following priorities for the Parkes Shire:

Parkes heavy vehicle bypass, Parkes southern ring road, NSW Fire Brigade Station, freight rail and Parkes National Logistics HUB, increased short-term funding for Roads, Parkes Rural Fire Station – new shed, telecommunications upgrade, Parkes CBD Vibrancy Project, decentralization, Agriculture Value Adding – Parkes Demonstration
Project, Bells Line Expressway, Parkes Regional Airport Business Park, education standards and resources for regions.

Around 350 Parkes locals took advantage of Sunday’s picture perfect weather to get out into the garden, and quite a few even got into other people’s gardens- with a ticketed wrist-band of course. The Parkes Open Gardens were a splendid way to spend a sunny Sunday, with several of the town’s most beautiful and most interesting gardens opening their gates to the general public.

For some visitors it was an opportunity to indulge their curiosity, for others it was an exercise in inspiration-seeking, and plenty of visitors simply went along to enjoy the spoils of their neighbours’ hard work. But it wasn’t just the blooms drawing a crowd. Devonshire teas kept the volunteers busy as visitors took the opportunity to enjoy the
sumptuous refreshments amidst the tranquil setting of Trelawney, a 1920’s homestead 12km out of town, that has been in the same family for generations. A craft and millinery stall had some fascinating items for sale.

Of course Elsie Mahon’s town cottage attracted a crowd, with many coming to admire her landscaping, and leaving with a hand-made sculpture, mosaic, or pottery work of art. The iris bulbs were a popular seller. Another favourite was the Blackstock’s labyrinthine garden that is as much a work of art as the many sculptures hidden within it. The succulent gardens proved to be a popular favourite among the visitors, but the creations made from recycled metals
were truly something to behold.

It was a splendidly successful day, despite most of the gardens being subject to significant hail damage in Friday’s storm. The Open Gardens was organised by the Parkes Quota ladies as a fundraising venture and they are hoping to have raised around $5,000 for charity. The lucky winner of Elsie McMahon’s Bird Bath raffle was George Ward from Alectown.

The Railway Hotel’s Hart Bar will be hosting a Melbourne Cup luncheon on Tuesday. For $42 you will get a two-course meal, glass of sparkling on arrival, sweeps and lucky door prizes. The live coverage from Flemington
and Sky 1 will be on the big screens so not a minute of the action will be missed! This package is available in the Railway Restaurant too. Limited spaces are available and bookings are essential.

Serious punter? You will almost feel trackside with the massive screens and latest technology in the NEW TAB. Food will be available from 12 to 3pm and there will be sweeps and a lucky loser’s draw! No bookings necessary for seats in the front bar or TAB.

Ellie and Bernie Hetherington’s property was a battle-zone after Friday’s storm. The Hetheringtons operate a community garden and nursery from their property to raise funds for CanAssist. The storm tore through their property last Friday, upending some trees and ripping others in half. During the brief tornado-like storm tree-trunks, branches and debris hurled around their place. “We’ve lived here for 48 years, and have never seen a storm like it,” Ellie said. “It was really quite frightening.”

A tree fell against their house, many of their shadehouses were destroyed or torn apart, the chook pen was knocked
on its side, and their terrified ponies were trapped in their stables by fallen timbers. The poor creatures were so traumatised they couldn’t be coaxed back in. The huge hailstones left dints in their house siding, and even punched sizeable holes in the laserlite roofing. Remarkably a fallen tree narrowly missed their new glass-house, but still damaged fences.

With branches, wood, and debris everywhere, it was impossible to walk through their yards. This was a problem as they were meant to be one of the gardens open to the public on Sunday. But instead of visitors, they were swamped
by helpers. Neighbours Bec and Dooley Thomson came by to offer a helping hand.

After a quick inspection they realised it was a huge job, and put out a call for help on Facebook. Shortly after about 20 people rolled up their sleeves and helped Ellie and Bernie restore their treasured garden. Dooley carted loads away in his tip truck, and another neighbour turned up with a bobcat and started clearing the back paddocks. “I can’t get over the generosity of people,” Ellie said, “They were all young people, too. It would have taken us two or three months to do what they did in one day.”

By Raen Fraser

Parkes will get into the Christmas spirit on Friday, 2nd December when the Christmas Parade returns to the town’s streets after an absence of three years. “Back by popular demand,” said Peter Guppy of the Action Club, the organisers of the event. The Parade will start at 6pm and will be followed by the Parkes Upmarkets and Christmas Movie Night in Cooke Park. The Parkes Lights Up event when the Christmas light show will be turned on, will take place on the same day.

The Action Club invites all school children to dress up in their Christmas clothes, as well as businesses to dress and enter a float into the parade. The floats must be decorated in a Christmas theme. Entries must be received no
later than Friday, 25th November. “Let us get together to make this parade one to remember and an occasion our Parkes families will look forward to in years to come,” said Peter.

The parade will start from Cecil Street onto Short Street, up Clarinda Street and down Welcome Street. Peter said the idea was not to close Clarinda Street so as to allow businesses to carry on as usual. Address all Parade enquiries to parkesactionclub@gmail.com or 0448 166 016, and all Upmarkets enquiries to parkesupmarkets@hotmail.com.au or chamber@parkeschamber.com.au

Aurora College, the state’s first virtual secondary school, is a new and unique option for students in government schools in NSW. To be eligible for enrolment, students must also be in a NSW Government school classified as rural and remote. Aurora offers selective classes in English, Mathematics and Science to gifted and talented Year 7-10 students. Students are chosen in the same way as students in all other selective classes in NSW government schools.

The college also gives Stage 6 high school students the opportunity to study subjects not available in their school
Aurora provides a mix of online and residential school classes twice per year. Students connect with their teachers and classmates through a virtual learning environment comprising of web conferencing software, a learning management system, and a range of cutting-edge online communication and collaboration tools.

Aurora has a strong science and mathematics focus. Mentoring opportunities and master classes are key features of the learning experience. They offer students expanded career options through innovative partnerships with business and with scientific, cultural and tertiary education institutions. Call 9886 7560 if you have questions
or visit www.aurora.nsw.edu.au.

The Northparkes Mines Emergency Rescue Team (ERT) won three events at the Victorian Mine Rescue Competition in Bendigo last weekend. The national competition was held for the 23rd year and attracts teams from mines
across Australia. Northparkes came first in fire, ropes and theory, and second in first aid.

The team was also ranked first for safety across the three days and team captain Jamie Pope was placed third for his leadership during the competition. Other members of the 2016 Northparkes team were Travis Beaton, Wayne Logan,
Linda Snyman, Jack Medlyn, Mat Allan and Brooke Lees. Northparkes Managing Director Stefanie Loader said: “Our consistent success at this competition reflects the team’s hard work to stay at the leading edge of emergency response practices. We are enormously proud of our competition team, only three of whom had competed before.

“Our congratulations go to the winning team from Evolution Mining. It’s great to see another company operating in NSW’s Central West bring home the trophy,” Stefanie said. This year’s competition took place in the Bendigo region at Newmarket Gold’s Fosterville Gold Mine. Teams competed in a number of challenges demonstrating theoretical
and practical mine rescue skills.

Northparkes Manager People, Safety and Environment, Angus Wyllie said: “Zero harm operations is our approach to all we do, and our ability to respond to emergency scenarios is a critical part of this. Competitions such as this allow us to practice our skills and benchmark ourselves against others in the industry. It’s great to know that our ERT is always ready to assist us and others in times of need. “ Northparkes has sent its Emergency Response Team to the competition for the past 20 years, and was named overall winner in 2009, 2014 and 2015.

It’s not often that you are given an opportunity of a lifetime twice, but local vocal trio Amitie are once again preparing for this year’s Rock The Boat cruise. The ladies were both thrilled and extremely proud to be asked by the promotors to return this year as part of the entertainment line up on Rock The Boat 6. “We worked very hard in the lead up to last year’s cruise and we received some amazing feedback from both the audience and the other artists,”
said the trio.

Christie, Shev and Christa have been in rehearsal mode for over three months, meeting weekly in a backyard shed, fine tuning their performance as well as adding in new material to go with this year’s cruise theme. Rock The Boat 6: A Salute to the Sixties, sails on 6th November from Brisbane on Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship Legend of the Seas. A seven night Rock ‘n Roll festival on the South Pacific stopping at the glorious Isle of Pines and Lifou along the way. This year’s cruise boasts the biggest international lineup of headline artists ever assembled on Rock The Boat. These legendary acts from the UK and USA, come from what many consider to be the golden age of Rock ‘n Roll. Acts include Chubby Checker, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap, The Fortunes, The Searchers, The Troggs, Brian Poole and Chip Hawkes, P J Proby, Badfinger, and The Pacemakers – all hosted by Glenn A Baker.

Amitie will perform daily throughout the cruise in various venues around the ship. When not performing they are treated as guests. Once Amitie return to Parkes they will go straight into preparations for the 2017 Elvis Festival. They will be performing throughout the festival period. Follow Amitie on Facebook for details.
By Shevaun Brown