With the the 24-hour news cycle and social media so easily taking centre stage in our lives, we can feel overwhelmed by all the bad news we are constantly bombarded with.

In contrast The Parkes Phoenix focuses on good news stories and once you start looking, there is literally an avalanche of positive things happening in our community. My most difficult task every week is trying to fit in all the wonderful stories that come our way.

So whenever you feel down and depressed by world events, just turn to The Parkes Phoenix to lift your spirits. Today we bring you once again a selection of what happened in our community over the past week.

As the school holidays start today, take time to do something special with your children. You will find a variety of holiday activities on offer for children and adults throughout today’s issue. Also take time to feel grateful for your kids and grandkids and all the joy they bring.

Enjoy Issue 57!

Maggi Barnard Editor

We all have a story to tell, but I think the older you get the more inspiring and mind- blowing your stories become. A few weeks ago I asked for accounts of the heat in 1939 and 94-year-old Keith Hayden from Narromine surprised me with a call on a Friday night with a detailed recollection of his experience. You can read it on page 9. He is a man of many surprises and we might run some more of his stories in the future.

We have a bumper edition of 16 pages today with lots of other news about events, achievements and places to visit. Our Just a Short Drive to Cowra feature on pages 6 and 7 will introduce you to a unique village in Australia. We also have a reader’s com- petition to win a voucher – make sure you complete the entry form on page 16 and drop it at Onnies.

As we celebrated International Women’s Day on Wednesday, let’s be grateful for all the women in our lives, whether they are our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, partners or best friends.

Enjoy Issue 53! Maggi Barnard Editor

Hurray it’s a week of celebrations: The Parkes Phoenix turns one today! Yes we have done it thanks to the wonderful support of our readers and advertisers. Thank you for all your encouragement and positive feedback we receive just about every day. See pages 3 and 6 for some reactions from readers and supporters.

We also celebrate seniors and women this week. See the seniors program on page 11. Apart from International Women’s Day (IWD) on Wednesday, we also celebrate the inspiring founder of the Phoenix Group of Newspapers, Cheryl Newsom, who has decided it was time to hand over the reins. Read her story on page 4, and there is more about an IWD event in Parkes on page 4.

With the cooler weather taking some pressure off us, we can make time this weekend to be thankful for the many blessings we have. Let’s be grateful for grandparents and what we can learn from them.

Enjoy Issue 52! Maggi Barnard, Editor

Dear Editor,

Thanks for the items you put in the Phoenix which I generally enjoy reading. You used to have a page of puzzles – suduko, cross- word, etc. It would be greatly appreciated by the number of people that I have talked to, if that could be re-instated.

Merren

Dear Merren,

We appreciate your comments in relation to the puzzles page, however in order for us to run this section, we require a sponsor for the page. If you know of any business that might like to sponsor this, please ask them to get in touch with us to discuss fur- ther.

Maggi Barnard Editor

On Tuesday Council hosted the biggest Australian Citizenship Ceremony yet in Parkes. Congratulations to all the new Aus- sies! My family and I became citizens just over three years ago on Melbourne Cup Day. It gives you a great sense of security and new meaning to be accepted into the lucky country and to be able to make a meaningful contribution to your new home.

We are starting up a Footy Tipping Competition if you would like to join in the fun! See details in Snippets on page 3.

Slow down this weekend and think of a moment that made you smile this week. I am grateful for my cats – they just melt my heart.

Maggi Barnard Editor

We have something in common this week: we survived the hottest day on record in Parkes! According to the Weatherzone website the temperature reached 45.9 degrees Celsius on Saturday. The previous highest temperature was in 2004 with 44.

And just to confuse our internal thermostats, Sunday night almost recorded the lowest temperature for February with 8.8 degrees Celsius – the lowest temperature was recorded in 1998 with 6 degrees Celsius.

There has been reports that similar conditions and hot temperatures were experienced in 1939. If anyone has a story from that period, please let us know.

We hope everybody took care to look after elderly neighbours and relatives, as well as animals during the heat. It is not yet over – we are getting close to 40 again today. So please stay vigilant, especially when work- ing with machinery that can spark a bush fire.

We start our new Bush Telegraph column on page 7 today for the communities of Trundle, Tullamore, Tottenham and Bogan Gate. Thank you to everyone who sent us contributions.

We hope you felt some love on Valentine’s Day. Take time this weekend to feel grateful for the love you have in your life and how it makes you feel truly alive.

I received a special gift from my garden on Valentine’s Day – a cactus (Echinopsis oxygona) that blooms only for one day, once a year!

Enjoy Issue 50! Maggi Barnard

We all have a song, poem or quote that melts our hearts.

I think Leonard Cohen’s ability to craft lines that can make you love, laugh, cry or despair is incomparable, and I want to share this with you for Valentine’s Day: “We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky and lost among the subway crowd, I try to catch your eye” – Stories of the Street.

It feels like we have just about recovered from the fun and excitement of the Parkes Elvis Festival, and it now it’s time again for celebrations. Tuesday is Valentine’s Day and we have a three-page Valentine’s feature, pages 6 to 8, with suggestions from retailers on what to get your loved one, or where to go for a romantic dinner. We also have quotes for the day and even love songs to play.

If love is not exciting enough, we are very happy to welcome readers from Trundle, Tullamore, Tottenham and Bogan Gate on board from today. The good news is the Phoenix is spreading our wings, which means The Parkes Phoenix will be available every Friday at the outlets as listed under Snippets on page 3. We would like to invite contributions of news from these towns we could include on a regular basis.

As in any relationship, we love getting feedback from our readers. Our electronic doors are always open, so let us know what you think.

Enjoy Issue 49!

Maggi Barnard Editor

Dear Editor,
It is well documented that a by-pass around small towns has a devastating effect on businesses relying on passing trade. We have great concerns with the proposed by- pass for Parkes.

It is easy to say towns get over it, and eventually some do, but it takes years to do so. You only have to go to Holbrook and Yass to see the effect.

Even if Parkes gets over it, there would still be people who lost their jobs or their businesses came under jeopardy. These are the people employed by the fast food outlets, caravan parks, motels, hotels, service stations, restaurants and the like. Maybe they will get over it by moving away. In turn this loss of population will affect school numbers and have a flow on affect to other businesses including Council and rates revenue.

As for why we need a by-pass, the RMS and large freight companies are pushing for bigger capacity trucks on the highways, making us wonder if they will support in- land rail.

Ratepayers/voters in Ballerdee Lane, as well as Thomas and Moulden Streets, and Shallow Rush area are set to be greatly af- fected by the proposed by-pass. We will be subject to all sorts of new impacts that will affect our lifestyles including property values, noise, pollution and maybe even jobs or financial security.

We would like someone from the RMS to organise a meeting for all affected residents to give us an opportunity to convey our concerns about this potentially life changing event.

Yours faithfully Mark Ross

(Letter shortened – editor)