Frankie and Marion Johnston: It’s fantastic! You never know what you might find, and you can find everything you will never find anywhere else. It’s an eye opener for my grandson, who likes Mad Max and any army stuff. And when you don’t like it, you can always give it back to CanAssist.
Leon Dolan: The massive variety and good bar-gains, and I like all the old tech stuff.
Chris Symonds: It is like a treasure hunt – you never know what you’re going to find.
Ray Unger: It’s a good way of giving accolades to women who would not otherwise get recognition. People do a lot of work behind the scenes, and often the community does not know about it. This program helps to highlight how important volunteers are and that communities would not function without them.
Wendy Morris: It is a fantastic program. I’ve supported it for many years and have nominated several women. These women display loyalty to their families and communities to ensure the best for them. I really admire such loyalty. It is also good to see women acknowledged, that is why the words ‘hidden treasure’ is so applicable. I would really encourage people to nominate women. They keep our communities together and ensure services are provided equitably.
Pam Bell: It is an excellent way to recognise people who are the backbone of our community. People never look for recognition, but it is important to let the community know who holds them together. These women often don’t realise how much they do.
Peter Heath from Eugowra: It was wet, but very good! I was really looking forward to it, as I’ve done other parkruns around the Central West and in Melbourne. It is a challenging course, and might need some work in places, but it was very well organised. Congratulations to the organisers!
Emma Zammit and Amanda Hardie from the Blue Mountains: It is a great course and the people so friendly! The volunteers were just amazing. We’ve done all the parkruns in NSW, except the three other parkruns that also launched today. (Amanda’s mum lives in Orange and they decided to pick Parkes first of the new parkruns.)
Zarna Gould from Parkes: Even with the pouring rain, it was lots of fun. The volunteers did a great job!
Oliver Lord: How to use computers.
Ali Davis: How to draw a star and a ballerina.
John McConnell: How to draw a lizard and a snake.
Evie Flynn: I like drawing, but I would also like to learn to read and write.
Archie Westcott: I want to learn about letters and writing books.
Stephanie Flemming: We’ve already learned to count to ten and about lady bugs. I want to learn more about numbers.
Lorraine Parker and Liesel Walters: Lorraine: It’s inclusive and unites us all. Liesel: It’s long overdue as it unites us and brings us all together.
George Pratt: It should be left the way it is. They are trying to change too many things, and there are far more important things in the world to focus on.
Marg Applebee: It’s fantastic – anything to promote togetherness and reconciliation. Not that this alone will reconcile us, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Kay Craft: Being with family. This year I will be with my son and daughter in Sydney.
Mabel Larsen: Looking at Christmas lights around town. It is pretty cool – I enjoy it!
Liz Macraild: I enjoy the food! Our Christmas food is whatever we decide on. It usually includes links to friendships and places and might be a bit of Russian, a bit of German, and old Australian and Anglo traditions.
Emma Brown: Every year my kids fill up shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. It teaches them to think of others and how privileged they are to live in Australia. Otherwise we share the Christmas cheer with anyone and everyone. It is important to be kind all year long, but after this year it is especially important to look out for people over Christmas.
Debbie Gould: I enjoy being kind, and giving from my heart – not for the accolades and therefore prefer to keep it private and a secret. Things I would be doing include cooking for others, donating to charities like food and toys, supporting Christmas appeals, and buying ‘gifts’ for people in third world countries, like supporting kids to go to school, or helping them to own a goat. I also support Share the Dignity drive every year.
Marty Sammut-Paul (Regional Business Supplies): THINK LOCAL FIRST! Thinking local first and buying local supports Parkes businesses who can then invest in the community by employing local people and giving to community and sporting events through donations and sponsorship.
Chad Hamood (Griffins Leading Edge): Have confidence in your local stores to have stock! When you shop locally you see exactly what you get and you get it the same day! Under the current circumstances you are not guaranteed to get what you buy online, and delivery takes much longer.
Elissa Gillingham (Parkes Décor Shoppe): Support the local businesses who support your sporting teams. People are always asking for donations, but prefer shopping online.
Tracy Adams with Sophie (almost 5): Oh yes, we recycle all the time and everything we possibly can, including collecting bottles and cans to take to Return and Earn. We’ve got my mum into recycling as well, and she is excited about getting 10c for bottles. I am also trying to re-use items like refilling the fabric softener bottle, and repurpose items to make a fairy garden or other projects.
Tiffany Tonkin: Yes, we recycle at home, and ensure to put everything we can into the yellow bin. We also repurpose old clothes by either taking it to Vinnies, or using it for rags or other purposes around the house. I also make sure to buy ceramic pots for my plants that I can re-use, and I keep all the plastic pots to use them again. I have to admit we are hopeless at using the green bin at the moment and I would really like us to start recycling our food scraps.
Dr Stan Grant (snr): It is hard to explain, it means so much. To see our people recognised like this today, makes me so proud. This is my country (I grew up in Dubbo), and the recognition of our long history, culture and our people… it is really big.
Stacy Mader: It is about the acknowledgement of the traditional people of this area, as well as their knowledge of astronomy and to incorporate it into science in Australia.
Ralph Naden OAM: It makes me feel very proud and I hope that everyone will call The Dish by its new name of Murriyang, just like everyone adopted Uluru as the new name for Ayers Rock.