NSW

A muscled up NSW Police Force’s Raptor Squad will now have permanent bases in regional NSW, expanding to the state’s Northern and Southern regions to target and dismantle organised criminal networks. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the launch of the Raptor North and Raptor South squads will deliver an extra 30 staff, comprising investigators, Operations Support Group (OSG) operatives, and Traffic and Highway Patrol officers, to build on NSW’s crackdown on organised crime and criminal networks.

We are thrilled to announce that Festival of Small Halls is heading out on their Autumn Tour 2023: Port Fairy Folk Festival to Lake Gkula and we would love it if you would join us again ... There are 18 communities across Victoria, ducking into New South Wales and South Australia, flinging open the doors of their halls and welcoming you in this March and April.

With lightning-fast hands, Jaydyn Coggins stacks cups faster than eyes can focus – the former Barham, now Adelaide resident has a Guinness World Record under his belt. Cup stacking is a sport in which competitors race the clock to stack up cups in set formations and pack them up again.

Ali Bohn. Travelling three hours a day, five days a week for six years to attend secondary school in Echuca might seem more than a little daunting for many students, but for Harry Coughlan, he looks back on the last six years and feels that every minute of travel was worth it. The Koondrook local graduated from Echuca’s St Joseph’s College last year with a 95.3 ATAR score, affording him the opportunity to enrol and be accepted into his first course preference of bio medicine at the University of Melbourne.

Locals will be able to make a day out at Narrandera water tower under plans to build a picnic shelter, barbecue area, playground and toilet, thanks to $660,000 from Round Five of the NSW Government’s Stronger Country Communities Fund. Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said the new playground would be an extra reason to visit and spend time near the iconic artwork on the Narrandera water tank.

Jeff Hanson. Jake Myers created history at Summernats 35, winning his second Burnout Masters crown. Tearing up the asphalt in his 1966 Mustang, known fondly as S1CKO, in front of the 100,000-strong crowd in Canberra earlier this month, Myers didn’t disappoint, defeating winner of both the Masters and Championship at 'Nats 33 Rick Fuller and his new ride FULLONX, ahead of Michael Pratten in SPASTIC.

If you have driven a header, seen a header or seen a picture of a header, you are welcome at the annual Header Drivers Convention in Narrandera on February 3. Main organiser of the event for the past 20 years, Neil Seidel, said the night was a great opportunity for farmers or anyone interested in a good night out, to tell lies about the harvest just gone...

Out now!

Out now!

As the first anniversary of the floods approaches, residents are still wondering about buybacks, retrofitting and land swaps. They are still waiting to make decisions about their homes. The NRRC has not let residents know the options available to them.

There will be pumpkins. Giant ones and they’ll be weighed at 9am on Saturday, January 21 in Kyogle at the Summerland Giant Pumpkin and Watermelon Festival in Stratheden St ... There are cafes and clubs in Kyogle offering special dishes as part of the festival and right through January.

Rodney Stevens. A development application for an Artisan Food and Drink premises in the former Grafton Brewery has been lodged and council are calling for public submissions on the proposed development. The application, lodged with Clarence Valley Council CVC by Rick Firth is for the “Establishment of an Artisan Food and Drink Industry comprising of a brewery, distillery and roastery within an existing industrial site.”

Emma Pritchard. Clarence Valley residents are being encouraged to hop into action this month to help prevent a devastating pest from spreading further across the region by participating in the Great Cane Toad Bust 2023. An annual national incentive, the event aims to raise awareness of the invasive species, to help control their numbers, educate communities to correctly identify them, and to ensure any cane toads captured during hunts are humanely euthanised.

Rodney Stevens. They’re the eyes in the sky saving lives – drones – and Yamba Surf Lifesaving Club is fortunate to have some of the latest technology and highly skilled pilots controlling these amazing aircraft. Chances are, if you went to Yamba’s Main Beach or the Yamba Ocean Swim over the holidays, you would have seen a drone, monitoring swimmers’ safety and alerting lifesavers to any problems.

Out now!

We have three members that have been nominated for Life Membership and one that has been nominated for the "Royal Agricultural  Society of NSW"   "Agricultural Show Award". This award is  given to "Individuals  deserving acknowledgement for the enormous effort and support they give".

The first Australian athletes to qualify for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships have visited the course in Bathurst on 16 January 2023, just over a month out from the event ... "Bathurst is known for adrenaline-fuelled sporting achievements, and the World Athletics Cross Country Championships will be right at home at Mount Panorama with more than 500 athletes competing from 68 nations": Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional NSW and Member for Bathurst Paul Toole.

State-of-the-art colourised laser technology has been added to Fire and Rescue NSW’s (FRNSW) fleet of drones, giving firefighters the ability to more accurately identify bushfire threats. Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience Steph Cooke said the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors will help firefighters to better manage fuel loads by mapping bushland density.

The show with the biggest quick shear prize in the world! And so much more, including Noah's Pig Racing coming for the first time. See the full 2023 Schedule.

Additional items of entertainment that will be running are Fashions of the Show, best dressed couple, best dressed lady and best dressed male. To be judged at 11.15 am in front of the main pavilion. Cash prizes. A best Mullet competition!

They say justice never takes a holiday, neither does crime it seems. Sadly, our sleepy safe community has been rocked by a wave of burglaries and vandalism. The not so jolly criminals appeared to get the jump on Santa with an early morning shop visit to Barham IGA before Christmas.