Excitement is building in Parkes as tickets for the enormous celebration of musical theatre and opera at the Cooke Park Pavilion went on sale this week.

The major inaugural event called Overture will feature some of Australia’s favourite musical theatre performers on Saturday, 2nd April next year.

Headlining the impressive event will be Lucy Durack, one of Australia’s leading stars of the stage and screen, and the dynamic Josh Piterman, who has graced the stage in lead roles in both Australia and the West End in London.

Josh will be starring as The Phantom in the upcoming Opera Australia production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Sydney Opera House in mid-2022 onwards.

Lucy and Josh will be supported by other well-known performers including Central West’s own Jarrod Draper, who is currently starring in Moulin Rouge, and Billie Palin as well as other local and regional talent.

Tourism and Major Events Specialist Cathy Treasure said: “We are thrilled to be hosting an event of this calibre in our brand new pavilion. An event of this size with this breadth of talent is an incredible coup for Parkes. It will help position Parkes as the new cultural centre of regional NSW and we can’t wait to welcome visitors to the region to enjoy this calibre of entertainment.”

Overture will also give local students the opportunity to work and perform alongside the stars, and will include a massed choir of 150 choristers, featuring children and adults from across the Central West.

Music Director Nicholas Gentile will be conducting a 40-piece orchestra made up of professional and student musicians to ensure a truly unforgettable evening.

Visit www.visitparkes.com.au for tickets.

It’s a pretty familiar story for most residents of the Parkes Shire and further afield thanks to the movie, but the role The Dish played in the moon landing is not the only distinguished achievement of the finest single-dish radio telescope in the world.

The CSIRO’s 64-metre Parkes Radio Telescope was commissioned on 31 October 1961, and after 60 years of operation, it has been recognised as the most successful scientific instrument ever built in Australia.

“Who could dispute that over six decades it has racked up an astounding list of discoveries and achievements,” said Dr John Reynolds, head of operations CSIRO radio telescopes, at the official celebration on Monday.

“And it continues to thrive thanks to innovation, new technology and the boundless scientific curiosity of our astronomers, engineers and students.”

Early next year the Parkes Telescope will again be involved in serious space exploration by supporting new missions to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program that will put the first woman and first person of colour on the moon.

Last year the telescope became the only working scientific instrument to receive a heritage listing, and this achievement was also celebrated on Monday.

“The most famous dish in the nation will now be preserved and protected for future generations after being awarded national heritage status,” said Douglas Dr Bock, CSIRO Director of Space and Astronomy. He said it was an unusual listing as the telescope was old enough to qualify for the national heritage list, but remained young enough to continue to observe the universe 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the most advanced radio receivers in the world.

Traditionally such a milestone anniversary would have been celebrated with a conference, but under current COVID regulations people who have used this wonderful instrument from around the globe were asked to share some of their experiences by video.

Operations Scientist at the telescope John Sarkissian, who clocked 25 years of service with the CSIRO last week, said he was four months old in December 1962, “and 56 years later in this very room my colleagues and I tracked Voyager II as it crossed into interstellar space. It’s amazing to realise that in a space of a single human life time the initial space exploration of the entire solar system was completed and Parkes was there from the start!”

The last video played features an interesting interview with Rob Sitch, director of the movie The Dish. He said before the movie was made Australia’s involvement in the Apollo 11 moon landing had been for-gotten by 99.99% of Australians.

The proceedings on Monday, including cutting a beautiful cake, and the videos were live streamed and can still be seen on the website at Parkes Telescope 60th Anniversary | Australia Telescope National Facility (csiro.au)

Due to the current Public Health Order we are only able to permit fully vaccinated patrons in our libraries until 1st December. If this is an issue for you, please call us and we can arrange free home delivery of library materials. For bookings into any of our programs and events please call 6861 2309.

STORYTIME AND RHYME TIME

Storytime and Rhyme Time are back! Storytime is aimed at children aged 3 – 5 year and is on Wednesdays at 10:30am. Rhyme Time is aimed at babies to 2-year-olds and is on Thursdays at 10:30am. Bookings are essential with limited spots available.

HISTORY PARKES BLOG

Check out our latest history blog titled The Dish – Celebrating 60 years of the Parkes Radio Telescope at www.historyparkes.org

STOP DROP & ROLL YOUTH GAMES GROUP

Want to make some friends? Learn something new? Or just have some fun? Our Youth Games Group for ages 13-25 meets the second Friday of every month in the Marramarra Makerspace Studio from 4-6 pm. Next games meet will be Friday, 12th November.

TEENY TINY ART FESTIVAL – COMING SOON!

Get ready for the Teeny Tiny Art Festival – coming to the Parkes Shire from 11th –18th December! This fun festival will include an exhibition of postcard sized art, creative workshops, happenstance art around the shire, and a soiree event celebrating our local artists and cultural groups! A fun Happenstance Surprise Art workshop will be held on Saturday, 20th November. Contact Roxanne at the Parkes Library on 6862 9101 to register your interest or go to the Festival Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PCAFestival

 

January next year is not going to be dull and boring but bright and pink!

As the Parkes Elvis Festival was moved to April, the Pink Up Parkes committee decided to move into the void in January with more opportunities to pink up our town!

“We hope that the decision to move to January will provide more opportunities for holding events,” said Chairperson Carolyn Rice.

The Pink Up Parkes Committee made the decision with the welfare of the community as the highest priority. They want the community to be able to participate and raise awareness for The McGrath Foundation funding 170 breast care nurses in communities right across Australia, who have supported over 95,000 families since 2005.

“We are in particular looking forward to once again hold a successful Pink Up Parkes Dinner and Auction,” said Carolyn. “During our inaugural year this was a significant contributor to the fundraising efforts of the month. It was also an opportunity to acknowledge the amazing work that The McGrath Foundation do, particularly in regional communities. We are very fortunate to have a McGrath Foundation Nurse working in the Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shires.”

Start planning how you will be ‘pinking up’ in January, let the committee know to help promote what you are doing. There will also be first, second and third prizes for shop frontage displays. Let the committee know of any items for the auction in January.

Information is available at https://www.facebook.com/PinkUpParkes/, email pinkupparkes@gmail.com.

Pink Up Parkes will also be supporting the new Overture event celebrating opera and musical theatre to be held in Cooke Park on 2nd April 2022.

The library service is back to normal hours in all branches. Our home delivery service is still available in Parkes for members who wish to continue getting their books delivered.

Author-Rised is back in person at Parkes Library on 5th October, our Book Clubs will be resuming during October, and we are hoping to bring back our Friday Flicks later in the month.

While closed we have been busy ordering lots of new books, DVDs and magazines, including the latest Stephen King, Diana Palmer and Kathy Reichs titles.

In mid-October we will be launching a range of board games that can be played in the library and a range of titles that can be borrowed. Pass the Pigs, Uno, 5 Minute Dungeon, Catan, Quirkle, Citadel, Exploding Kittens and many more.

CELEBRATING 60 YEARS OF THE PARKES RADIO TELESCOPE

To celebrate the 60-year anniversary of ‘The Dish’ the Parkes Shire Library and Cultural Centre, in collaboration with CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope team, are hosting a competition and exhibition in the Parkes Shire and a Junior Design Challenge.

To celebrate the 60-year anniversary of ‘The Dish’ the Parkes Shire Library and Cultural Centre, in collaboration with CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope team, are hosting a competition and exhibition in the Parkes Shire and a Junior Design Challenge.

• For shire residents 16 years and over we have a competition and exhibition in five categories: Art, Writing, Dramatic/Performing Arts, Music, and Dish Painting of model dishes for the miniatures-painting minded.

• For shire residents 5-15 years we have a Junior Design Challenge where your imagination can run wild, designing and modelling your own Dish out of everyday items.

Don’t miss out on the chance to get involved in the celebrations and go in the running to win some fabulous prizes. For more information and to enter, head to The Dish Reaches Milestone of 60 years on our website or drop into the library to pick up an entry form. Hurry entries close 15th October!

We have been ‘All Shook Up’ by COVID-19, but the good news for Elvis fans is that the 2022 Parkes Elvis Festival is movin’ on to 20-24 April.

The annual major event was scheduled to take place from 5-9 January 2022, but the Festival team have been monitoring the situation with the safety and well-being of the community, artists, fans, staff and businesses first and foremost. The current risk, regulations, lockdowns and border restrictions have forced the organisers to make the decision to delay now rather than continue with planning for January surrounded by such uncertainty.

“We had the community’s health and safety at the forefront when making the decision to delay,” said Parkes Shire Mayor, Cr Ken Keith OAM.

“This extra time will help to ensure that vaccination rates are high, and life is returning to post-covid normality.”

Festival Director, Cathy Treasure said: “We are determined to make 2022 a memorable Parkes Elvis Festival for all to enjoy safely. Naturally the entire Festival family is disappointed that we can’t go ahead with our traditional January date. However, rest assured we are working behind the scenes to deliver an incredible April event to celebrate in true Parkes fashion and continue the tradition of delivering a highly successful one-of-a-kind Festival.”

Accommodation providers in the Parkes and Forbes Shires have given the assurance that January 2022 bookings will be carried over to the new dates in April or alternatively to the 2023 festival.

“There is no need to rush and make contact now as accommodation providers have reserved the April dates for existing bookings. If fans are unable to come in April they should contact their accommodation providers to make alternate arrangements,” said Cathy.

Parkes Chamber of Commerce President Geoff Rice said the Chamber and business community supported the change of date and looked forward to welcoming fans to Parkes in Autumn.

“After such a long period of time in lock-downs, we feel Christmas and New Year will be a time best left for loved ones to reunite, and hopefully plan a trip to visit our town with confidence for the Festival in April 2022”.

The ticket launch date will be moved to 15 November in line with the new Festival dates.

“The new date is prior to the Anzac Day long weekend to give visitors another reason to stay longer and enjoy what the region has to offer,” the Mayor said.

The 2023 Parkes Elvis Festival will return to the usual date in January to celebrate its 30th anniversary from 4-8 January.