Zambian Choir: The Seeds of Hope choir from Zambia will perform in Parkes and Forbes next week: Forbes Town Hall at 7pm on 16th August, and Parkes Christian School at 7pm on 17th August. A gold coin donation is asked for entry. The choir is from the Grace Academy in Ndola, Zambia, which is an orphanage and school run by Seeds of Hope Children’s Ministry. It looks after almost 200 children and provides high class education. The choir will be accompanied by the founders of Seeds of Hope from Canada, Zambian carers and two Parkes locals who volunteer regularly at Grace Academy.
Seeds of Hope Children’s Ministry started in 1995 in reaction to the plight of children orphaned because of AIDS. This will be the first time for the Seeds of Hope choir in Australia. They will perform traditional songs to modern English songs. They will also perform in Sydney and in Western Australia.
Roadside Vegetation: Parkes Shire Council has received a $50,000 grant from Local Government NSW to develop a new Roadside Vegetation Management Plan for the next four years. Parkes Shire Council’s Director Infrastructure, Andrew Francis said the plan involved roadside vegetation assessments and mapping to capture and analyse ecological data to produce maps and GIS layers of roadside vegetation. Roadside vegetation provides many
benefits to the Parkes Shire, including the conservation of rare and important native plant species, provides a natural habitat for wildlife, acts as a biodiversity corridor for connectivity across the landscape and reduces the concentration of pollutants from vehicle emissions and noise pollution.
Parkes Day VIEW Club: The club will celebrate its 48th birthday in September. The birthday theme is Buttons and Bows and will be held at Bushmans Inn. Contact Pamela on 6863 4552 by Monday, 4th September. Over the 48 years the club has sponsored 1,200 schoolchildren in the Smith Family Learning for Life program. Publicity Officer Sue McLennan said: “We raise money for the four schoolchildren we sponsor currently by holding various events.
This month we will be holding the second yearly Trivia Night on Tuesday, 15th August at the Parkes Sports and Bowling Club. The entrance fee is $10, and includes a home-made supper, as well as chocolates for the winners.” The Club meets the first Tuesday of each month with guest speakers. The topic for 5th September is Senior Safety. All women are welcome to attend.
Morse Code: Parkes Reading Day takes place in Cooke Park next Friday from 9am with a range of activities. Members of the Morse Code Fraternity will be demonstrating sending telegrams in front of the Telstra Shop using morse code equipment similar to that used since 1854. The telegrams will be received at Beechworth, Victoria and Adelaide, South Australia using the same equipment for delivery by Australia Post. The demonstration will be done by Keith MacRae , Rhonda Wilson, Pauline Gosper and Peter Cannon from Parkes, Eddie Parrott from Peak Hill, and Peter Hack from Temora.