Children's Week Celebrations

Children's Week Celebration, a special celebration of children is a nationwide annual event that provides an opportunity to celebrate the talents, skills and achievements of children. These events also aim at raising the community awareness of children's right to enjoy childhood.

I understand that Orange City Council celebrated this fun day at the Glenroi Community Centre on Tuesday 23rd October. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to attend as I was at Coffs Harbour with the Local Government Associate Annual meeting, more on this in my next post.

I visited the Children's week celebration with Council last year and brought along my son Tristan. There was certainly plenty of activity and fun with jumping castles, bubble blowing, dancing and sand play. If you were hungry there were no shortage of sausage sizzle and cakes.

Every day should be a celebration of life and even more so when you are young and looking at grown ups to set the scene. For this week I will celebrate children's week with my children reading stories, playing in the garden and having those special moments with a hug.

The future of our children is up to us!

Orange Business Awards- Orange Chamber of Commerce

The baby sitter was organised, food prepared, everyone was happy, time to leave home. My husband Paul and I called up to Orange Ex-services club to visit the Orange Business Awards. We have never been to one of these before. This year we made a big effort to support the event seeing as I am Orange City Council's Council representative in the executive committee.

The entry to the event was just lovely looking very colourful and of course the fashion in peoples dress is always nice to look at.

Congratulations to the organisers both at the Orange Ex-services club and Orange Chamber of Commerce. We had a superb meal, enjoyed seeing the awards being presented, the entertainment of singers and dancers and always enjoy the opportunity of meeting new people.

We are fortunate to have a great variety of businesses in Orange and through our own experience the personalised service that you receive from the owners and staff. The evening was a great way to show case those and recognise the people who have been nominated.

Well done!

Local Government Association Conference 2007

The Local Government Association (LGA) was held at Coffs Harbour this year and myself and several other Orange Councillors attended. Orange City Council had one motion put forward which was to support regional and rural people who need to travel great distances for medical attention. The request was to ask the Health Minister for some type of re-imbursement or a perforated card placed in the Isolated Patient Transport and Accomodation Scheme claim form.
Conference Opening of Business Session started with a presentation from the Hon Paul Lynch MP, Minister for Local Government. The remainder of the day concentrated on further presentations from various Ministers and Dr Graeme Pearman. Prior to lunch we adopted the standing orders received a presentation of the treasurers report, then commenced consideration of the motions.
The following two days continued with consideration of motions and several presentations. The LGA was very informative and of course allows you the opportunity of meeting with and networking other Councillors and staff members.
Orange City Council had a motion put forward to the Government asking for help with or some type of reimbursement of parking fees for patients that travel outside of country areas for medical help. The motion was voted on unanimously and we are now awaiting a reply and hopefully support from the Government and Health Minister.

Official welcome Sister City Timaru

Our recent visitors to Orange came from our Sister City Timaru. It was a pleasure to meet the visitors with fellow Councillors Gryllis and Davis. We heard about some recent projects they were undertaking and how they found Orange at this time. They were impressed with the friendliness of the community and said that they enjoy the colour and atmosphere of the city.
Always a pleasure to welcome new people to our beautiful city.

Orange Theatre Company- CATS

After receiving an invitation for Andrew Lloyd Webbers smash hit musical CATS a friend and I attended the production. We were entertained with a cast of people who performed an outstanding musical. This production of CATS showcased the talent of 30 local singers and dancers who dedicated themselves to this production for just over six months of rehearsal to bring this show to the boards of the Civic Theatre.
In addition they teamed up with the Orange Regional Music Conservatorium under the baton of Director Graham Sattler.
This was a truly memorable evening which had us glued to our seats. The production was vibrant, fun, colourful and very entertaining. It was a true credit to all the actors and musicians involved and just goes to show that the Orange talent can certainly compare with the greatest.
A brilliant night of entertainment!

Open Day at the O'Brien Centre Orange

This has to be one of those rare times that I was unable to attend an event. I was looking forward to the opportunity to speak with the people out there and of course Glenn Smith from the Black Dog institute. Some of our Youth here in Orange have been very supportive of this organisation and initiating events themselves.
Living with a mental illness and having support in place is essential. It can be a lonely journey otherwise and it is a time when people need to work together. I congratulate the people from the O'Brien Centre who run support groups for people, carers and friend's of those people.
In my nursing role I understand the importance of working together and supporting those in need of help.
Visit http://www.mwcag.org.au/ to find out more information