Letters to the Editor Archives - Page 2 of 6

Editor’s Note

February 5, 2021 By Maggi Barnard

In his speech at the Australia Day celebrations, Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith reflected on the past year saying it was not all bad and that there were a lot of positive outcomes for the community. He mentioned how we had become closer as a caring community, how frontline health and other essential services staff had looked after us, how the business sector had adapted to new practices, a record harvest for farmers, all the infrastructure work completed, a drop in unemployment and increase in real estate. “We have a lot to be grateful for, especially when we look at what is happening around the world.”

It is helpful to take stock of all the positives in your life. It not only gives you perspective, but also helps to ease those hard times. Why not start a regular conversation around your dinner table with the family about what they are grateful for in their day?

Maggi

Editor’s Note

January 22, 2021 By Maggi Barnard

I was in the shop this week at the end of a tiring day trying to reach something at the back of the top shelf but it was just too far, even when I jumped… a tall stranger came by and asked what he could get for me. It was a small gesture of kindness, but it made me smile and instantly lifted my mood.

The year certainly started on a stormy note for Parkes, and with COVID remaining in the daily news headlines, it is easy to get discouraged about what lies ahead for us in 2021. Last year taught us about the value of kindness, and my hope is that all of us will aim to perform as much kindness as we can this year to make our community even better.

Please let us know about your stories of kindness. We would love to publish them!

Maggi

Christmas Thoughts

December 18, 2020 By Maggi Barnard

It’s time to lift our spirits, raise a glass to happiness.
For Christmas is upon us, when joys o’ertop our stress.
Time to embrace Santa, reindeer, snow and Christmas cards
(Though the greeny-greys and browns outside sometimes make it hard)
Time for harvesting, for gathering in
Be it grain, or the year’s ideals.
Though some deny it, many share the excitement that I feel.

Current happenings in our world we find a little fearsome
Package up your doubt and fears,
But don’t put them on the tree.
Place boxes holding Peace and Joy,
Or filled with Love to spare.
Then watch those first two slink away
They have no business there.

Welcome all our newcomers, it’s sometimes hard to do.
To reach out from our safe little world
When beset by changes new.
But new friends bring a richness
That may catch us unaware.
As we swap our knowledge, we may find It’s a privilege to share.

Be humble, but not servile. We should all feel satisfaction
When good comes from a word or deed
A comfort, a kind action.
It isn’t glory-seeking, it’s a case of “job well done”
The profit is the thanks you get – it comes back to everyone.
Nurture friends, and help them,
You will get the same from them.
Remember, times were also tough in the days of Bethlehem.

Enough lecturing – It’s Christmas time!
Leave behind all thought of stress.
What matters if it’s noisy? Christmas wrappings make a mess.
It’s time for joyous homecomings
Laughter, peace and simple fun.
My message to you all is… GOD BLESS YOU – EVERYONE!

By Heather Veal

Memories From Margaret

December 4, 2020 By Maggi Barnard

Looking back, my stepfather was one of the most highly principled men I have ever known.

I remember watching him one day and thinking there was no reason why we couldn’t get on. I later came to realise that this was my decision to love him.

During the great depression, as a young man and the eldest of a family of eleven living children, and being the only one with a trade, it fell largely to him to earn enough money to keep his family going.

He had an old two-stroke motorbike which used very little fuel and he travelled around all the engineering shops in the Sydney area looking for a days work. Eventually, he landed a permanent job, working a 12-hour night shift, seven days a week.

When I was young, he worked for the railways in the marshalling yards at Chullora and loved working on the big steam trains. He also loved driving one when he had to move it around the yard. He never wanted to work at anything else. Everything he did, he did well and could fix most things.

He loved his chooks too, and things weren’t good the day he came home from work to find his Rhode Island Reds staggering around the yard after Mum had dusted them with insecticide powder in order to eradicate lice.

Mum stayed somewhere else that night.

By Margaret Irwin

Letter to the Editor

November 20, 2020 By Maggi Barnard

Dear Editor

This week is National Skin Cancer Action Week, a time where we remind ourselves of the importance of good sun protection.

You may have seen the release of new Cancer Council data showing that one in four 25 to 44-year-olds are getting sunburnt on summer weekends. Many of us would have grown up with Cancer Council’s SunSmart ‘Sid the Seagull’ campaign that launched in 1980. The catchy ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’ slogan (now updated to ‘Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide’) has now become part of the Australian vernacular.

Many of us now have kids of our own, and Sid’s simple message still resonates. Although some things are different, it’s still the same sun. So, it’s important that adults remember to not only look after themselves, but that they are also role models for their children.

Walking the talk reinforces good behaviours for the next generation, ultimately saving lives – so when you put your sunscreen on, wear a hat, some sunnies, protective clothes, and play together in the shade, you’re teaching your kids a very simple but important life lesson: sun protection is for everyone.

This National Skin Cancer Action Week and all summer, remember that even though things may have changed since the campaigns of the 80’s and 90’s, it’s still the same sun, so don’t forget to SLIP on a shirt, SLOP on sunscreen, SLAP on a hat, SEEK shade and SLIDE on sunglasses!

Take care, Liz King,
Skin Cancer Prevention Manager,
Cancer Council NSW

Letters to the Editor

November 6, 2020 By Maggi Barnard

Dear Editor

My wife and I walk through a magpie nesting area and never get swooped on. The reason: we do not threaten them and we feed them when we can.

They seem to spread the word because we spend a lot of time in the bush and get the same result with different birds. I suggest people put food out for magpies and they will walk in peace.

Yours truly EJ Holt

Letters to the Editor

November 6, 2020 By Maggi Barnard

Dear Editor,

Voices 4 Riverina is a community-based organisation encouraging participation in democracy.

We hold Kitchen Table Conversations in all areas of the federal electorate of Riverina and invite people from Parkes to host a group of up to eight people in their own homes to contribute to a report being compiled gathering ideas, thoughts and visions about where they live.

All contributions remain anonymous and the final report will be presented to the current member so he has a wider appreciation of what concerns and interests his constituents.

Please call Pennie Scott on 0427 44 11 07 for further information and to register your interest to host a Kitchen Table Conversation. Voices 4 Riverina also has a Facebook page.

Yours sincerely,
Pennie Scott

Letters to the Editor

November 6, 2020 By Maggi Barnard

Margot Jolly weeding in PAC Park.

Dear Editor,

Jolly Good Show

Spotted while we were walking the other day was none other than Margot Jolly, down and dirty weeding a patch of PAC Park ground.

Margot’s answer to why do it was: “I know the council staff are always busy, so I thought I might lend a hand.”

What a great show of civic pride.

Bill Thomas

It’s A Pleasure

October 23, 2020 By Maggi Barnard

It’s a pleasure to look out on the day, All green and full of life,
Breathe it in and watch it play,
No longer taut with strife.
Wallow in the view,
Listen to its song,
See the blossoms burst on cue,
Enjoy as days grow long.
But don’t forget the recent past,
It wasn’t long ago,
We hid our eyes from summer’s blast
And prayed for the water to flow.
Rejoice in what we have right now,
The wounds were healed with drops,
Busy hands have steered the ploughs
And sown and grown the crops.
With mingled joy, relief and hopes,
Which is the human way,
Gaze upon the lush green slopes,
It’s a pleasure to look out on the day.

Kerrie Peden

Readers of The Parkes Phoenix are welcome to submit creative writing to this column for publication. Any writing form is welcome from poetry to prose to memoirs, preferably limited to about 300 words. Send submissions to editor@parkesphoenix.com.au.

How Did They Cope?

August 14, 2020 By Maggi Barnard

We hear, “Do not fear!” Though corona is here
It’s important to hold on to hope.
The lessons we adhere, Come from yesteryear
When we ask, “How did they cope?”
How in 1914, A war yet unseen
Engaged more than two nations.
The decade’s young blood, Spilled forth in the mud
Shaking the globe’s foundations.
For over four years, The world shed more tears
Until the fighting was through;
In the newfound peace, Surely death will cease,
Except now there was Spanish flu.
This flu had four waves, And filled way more graves
Than the years of the Great War;
While the 20s decade, Seemed like an upgrade
It ended how no one foresaw.
Stock prices degression, Saw a worldwide depression
29% were unemployed.
The nations arose, And fascism grows
Soldiers were again redeployed.
Humanity’s worst, Flowing out from the First
Saw the second war last for six years.
When it finally ended, some nations unfriended,
And Communism dominated our fears.
“We’re better off dead, than becoming a red”
Both sides feared potential invasion.
More fighting henceforth, ‘Tween South and North
The battlegrounds now were Asian.
The threat of the bomb, Gave way to dot-com
New tech became the new norm.
As we look to the past, How did the world last
From turmoil of 100 years
Humanity’s brilliance, Is birthed in resilience
As hope overcomes all fears.
So do not forget, it’s best not to fret
Smile and use plenty of soap!
Today’s scary mystery, will one day be history
The future asks, “How did they cope?”

By Dan Fredericks

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