The McLachlan Group will be holding its annual bull sale on North Logan Road in Cowra on 10th August at 1pm.
The sale will be the business’ fifth annual sale, and McLachlan Group’s Warren Miller expects it to be popular. The sale will have 35 Angus, 20 Charolais and two Polhereford bulls. Angus bulls are the most popular for beef, and Warren said these should sell fast.

All the bulls are grass fed, meaning they live longer, and produce better quality beef. “Our bulls are of the highest quality, which means our buyers get the best grass fed beef they can,” said Warren The past four annual sales have been hugely popular with bulls selling for about $4,000 each.

Grass has grown very lush after good rains  and has lead to very good cattle sales across the region.

Parkes Public School hops into Education Week today with the annual Jump Rope for Heart event for K-2. Parkes Public is the only school to have been taking part every year since the inception of the event in 1983. Families are invited to attend the fun filled session and stay on for a picnic lunch.

This year the school will be educating parents too with two maths workshops planned to provide strategies for parents to help their kids with homework. Primary parents will get their maths lesson on Monday at 5:30pm, while Infants parents have their turn next Friday at 2:00pm.

The annual open classrooms event is on Wednesday at 12:00pm with a picnic lunch for students and families at 1:15pm, followed by a whole school assembly at 2:00pm. A book fair held at the school last week was wonderfully supported by students and parents with nearly $4, 000 raised, and more than 70 families donating a book to the library. The book fair kicked off with a dress up day with the teachers turning up as Where’s Wally’s and Wanda’s.

Parkes Public also had to say farewell to Principal, Leanne Breaden last week. After 28 years at the school and principal for the past ten years, she is moving on to become Co-ordinator of the NDIS in the State Office in Sydney.
“We wish Mrs Breaden all the best as she begins her new role,” said Ben Smith, relieving principal.

Charmander, Rhydon, Snorlax, Gastly, Jynx, Pidgeot, Ponyta, Golem… Pikachu! There is a new language in the streets and parks where people roam and congregate while staring intently at mobile phones. It is the language of Pokémon Go, the hottest game on the app store right now with millions of people playing it all over the world, including Parkes.

Released earlier this month, Pokémon creatures are popping up everywhere in the real world and the idea is that you catch them. Players go to PokeStops to collect balls and other rewards, such as eggs, and Gyms where they can battle for a team against other teams.

One avid player from Forbes, Mitch Watson very soon realised the value of getting players together and started the Forbes and Parkes Pokémon Go Community on Facebook. In just over a week the group already has 230 members. “It is a good community of people and fun to get to know each other and go for walks.” Mitch has already clocked 100km in search of Pokémon.

Cooke Park has been one of the popular PokeStops in Parkes where lure modules are set up regularly. A lure attracts multiple Pokémon to the area for 30 minutes. Other players can see it on their phones and go there to catch Pokémon. On Sunday all three PokeStops in Cooke Park were lit up with lures and more than 80 people turned up to take advantage of it. On Monday about 30 people came and went while the lure was on in Cooke Park. “I have never seen so many people on a weekday in the park,” remarked one of the players.

Some Pokémoners were very excited when they managed to catch a rare Pokémon called Hitmonchan. Other rare Pokémon caught by players so far include a Dragonair and an Aerodactyl. Some of the players in Cooke Park on
Monday had over 300 Pokémon on the tally. It is apparently harder to play Pokémon Go in rural areas as you have to walk a lot more to find Pokémon. The more people there are, like in cities, the more Pokémon are around.

There have been many reports of people putting themselves in danger when playing. Mitch cautioned players to always be alert and stay safe while playing.

By Maggi Barnard

Troy Casswell has won the 2016 Central West Astronomical Society (CWAS) Astrophotography competition for the second year in a row. The astrophotographer from Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland was declared the overall winner with his entry called Smilin Orion. The image covers the entire constellation of Orion, which is rich in stellar dust and bright nebulae. The red nebulae are hydrogen rich clouds. The giant red arc is Barnard’s Loop, and is 500 light years from Earth.

Troy, who uses a Canon 60 camera, 135mm lens and an astro track tripod, enjoys astrophotography as a hobby. He said he got his first telescope for Haley’s Comet in 1996, but it was the solar eclipse in 2012 in Cairns that opened the door for him to a new world.

The astrophotography competition, with a total prize money of $10,000 and open to all amateur astronomers in Australia, received 250 entries. Dr David Malin, the worldrenowned astrophotographer, judged the entries for the 13th time this year.

The 2016 CWAS David Malin Awards were presented at a special ceremony at the AstroFest held on Saturday for the first prize overall, eight category prizes and ten honourable mentions. Dr Malin said he judged several similar
competitions around the world, and the standard of the Australian astrophotographers’ work stood up internationally. “There are some splendid examples of modern astrophotography among the finalists.”

Dr Pete Woden, Chairman, Breakthrough Prize Foundation, said he was very impressed with the work of the photographers. “Their work has given me an idea to enlist their help in detecting optical signals.” He said photographers were able to pick up flashes of laser light on camera. “These flashes could be from aliens sending signals to us.”

An exhibition of the best photographs was opened at the Parkes Observatory Visitors Centre on Sunday as part of the 2016 Astro-Fest. Parkes Mayor, Ken Keith, said it was the best festival yet and he was happy to see it going from strength to strength. All the winning entries can be viewed on the David Malin Awards web page at http:// www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/astrofest/awards/

The CWAS AstroFest team has produced a 2017 astronomy calendar of images from the shortlisted and winning entries. The calendar is available at the Parkes Observatory Visitors Centre for $19.95.

By Maggi Barnard

The Parkes Show Society is looking for young ladies aged 18 to 24 to be in the 2016 Showgirl Competition. All entrants will be presented to the Parkes community at the Presentation Evening on Saturday, 13th August at 6pm at the Parkes Golf Club.

The 2016 Parkes Showgirl will be announced at the official opening of the Parkes Show on Tuesday, 30th August 2016. Although the title might sound like it is another pageant, the Showgirl competition is not a beauty show. The most important quality of the Showgirl is that she must have a genuine interest in and some knowledge of rural NSW.

The competition encourages the participation and subsequent awareness of rural woman’s contribution and involvement in both local communities and rural NSW as a whole. Participation in the Parkes Showgirl Competition
opens up personal, professional and networking opportunities for the winner as they will progress on to the Zone judging in Cowra in February 2017, followed by The Land Royal Showgirl Competition Finals at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney.

The 2016 Parkes Showgirl will win approximately $1,500 in prizes donated by local businesses. Contact Lisa Bicket on 0427 652 262 for more information, or check out the Parkes Show website – parkesshow.org.au.