COUNCIL’S COMMUNITY SERVICES AT OPEN DAY

Orange City Council will hold an open day at the Community Services Centre, Giyalang Ganya, on Friday 12 May to celebrate Neighbourhood Centre Week.

Members of the public are invited to meet the team and discover the range of community services available such as aged care, disability support, youth services, road safety, migrant support, community development and children’s services.

Orange City Council’s Services Policy Committee Chair, Cr Mel McDonell encouraged everyone to come along and find out more about the community services Council offers.

“Many residents might not be aware of the wide range of community services Orange City Council provides and this is a great opportunity to come down, meet the team and find out more about the support you can receive,” Cr McDonell said.

Visitors to the open day can browse information stands about each service, win a prize in a game of bingo and enjoy a free barbecue, snacks, tea and coffee.

The RUOK Conversation Convoy will also be there providing resources to help locals support each other, as well as asking people what else they can do to support rural and regional communities through tough times.

The Open Day will be held from 10.30am to 12.30pm at the Community Services Centre, Giyalang Ganya, 286 Lords Place.

Neighbourhood Centre Week is held across Australia each year to celebrate the role of neighbourhood centres in our community. This year’s theme is Locals Connecting Locals.

PHOTOS BY HENRY DEROOY

Tractor Trek charity trivia night for Little Wings

The Central West Charity Tractor Trek held a brain-boggling night of trivia to raise money for patient transport charity, Little Wings to help keep the vital service in the air. The trivia night was also the launch of the Central West Charity Tractor Trek’s 2023 fundraising e orts. It took place at the Orange City Bowling Club on Saturday, April 29, where teams of eight battled it out to be crowned trivia champions.

Planetarium

√ 24 hour rescue helicopter service for Orange and region

√ $14 million for highway upgrades between Lithgow and Orange

√ Bat/hail netting funding for local orchardists

√ $1.2 million for CCTV in Orange, Bathurst and Wellington

√ 47 mobile phone towers and base stations across Calare

LAUNCH OF TEN4TEN 2023!

It was great to meet the fantastic group of students who are part of this year’s TEN4TEN program!

Run by RDA Central West, the program pairs ten hardworking and talented year 11 students from across the region with ten local leaders for a year-long mentorship program.

The launch of the 2023 program was a wonderful opportunity to congratulate this year’s TEN4TEN cohort and hear more about their passions and ambitions for the future.

This year, I’ll be mentoring Charlotte Roach from Molong Central School.

It looks set to be a very exciting year for the TEN4TEN students, with many events and trips to look forward to (including a visit to Parliament House in Canberra later this year!).

Australian Citizenship Ceremony

It was an honour to attend the Australian Citizenship Ceremony at Orange City Council Chambers last week.

Congratulations and a very warm welcome to all of our new Aussies!

And a big thank you to Orange City Council for hosting this terrific afternoon.

It’s great to be an Aussie!

Orange Lions Club Time Capsule To Be Unearthed

Congratulations

In 1973, the Orange Lions Club wanted to raise funds to give the people of Orange a ladies rest centre and bus shelter in Robertson Park. People were invited to purchase an envelope for $1.00 in which to place some items of interest, like photographs, stamps, coins, letters, or trinkets. These envelopes were then interred in a time capsule. Now, almost 50 years later, the countdown is on to dig up the two-meter tall capsule!

Purchasers were given a card and told to place it with their will, or in a secure place which could be located in 2023. This card gives authority to the holder to receive the envelope.

The capsule was buried in Robertson Park on 29 June 1974. Five decades

RETHINK NEEDED ON 60-DAY DISPENSING

The Federal Government has recently announced changes to medicine prescriptions, introducing a new 60-day prescription policy.

On the surface, the new policy looks okay and sounds positive. But when you strip it all back, this is the government trying to make some marginal budget savings by cutting the number of prescription fees it pays to local pharmacies.

My phone has been ringing off the hook with local pharmacists who are extremely concerned about what this change will mean for their patients. They are distressed that very vulnerable patients will now have access to double their usual supply of certain drugs, which could have tragic outcomes for some vulnerable members of the community.

They are also concerned that the new policy will create a medicine shortage later, on 29 June 2023, Orange City Council and the Orange Lion’s Club will unearth the capsule, with card holders able to claim their treasures on 1 July 2023. crisis. There are currently hundreds of drugs that are in very short supply that will be affected by this change. With people across Australia soon able to go to their pharmacy and receive double their usual prescription, immense pressure will be placed on already-stretched supply chains. Put simply, there just won’t be enough supply of key drugs which many people rely on every day, like medicine for blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes.

If you have a time capsule card, email the Orange Lions Club at olc.timecapsule@ gmail.com with the name on the card, card number, claimants name, claimants email and phone number. Alternatively, the information can be posted to the “Orange Lions Club Time Capsule” PO Box 499 Orange 2800. On receipt of your information the Club will send you details on how to collect the envelope.

For more information on the time capsule contact Shane Reddan at 0413 163 721.

This policy change will have a devastating impact on the services that our local pharmacists provide. They will be forced to look at cutting staff, slashing the services they supply for free to aged care facilities, and axing home delivery services.

I urge the government to rethink this.