Youth

Four young bike riders from the Upper Murray acquitted themselves well in Round 2 of the Australian Hard Enduro championships at Wattle Creek near Bathurst, on the weekend. Organisers said the future of Hard Enduro is looking very secure with the amount of highly skilled juniors making their way through the course.

Casterton local and Year 10 student at The Hamilton and Alexandra College, Sarah Crowle, is heading to New York City to perform under the bright lights of Broadway. Sarah auditioned at the Victorian Dance Festival, held in Melbourne during April, and received an invitation to attend the New York City Musical Theatre Summer Intensive program.

You’re invited to the launch of Miffy & Mack in Maldon - a book of cartoons for children of all ages by local resident Anita Sinclair.  With the support of Maldon’s Athenaeum Library,  Miffy and Mack will make their appearance at the Maldon Community Centre on Saturday 18 May, from 2pm to 4pm.

It takes the members of the Westbrook Trauma Teddies Group one year to knit 500 trauma teddies, making a heartfelt difference in the lives of local children experiencing trauma. This year’s teddy making has been assisted by a grant of $824 from Toowoomba Regional Council, which will cover the cost of purchasing fibre filling for 500 trauma teddies.

Narrandera Knights junior representative basketball teams enjoyed great success at last weekend’s Western Junior League finals series in Griffith. For a small association, Narrandera was well represented with six of the seven 2024 teams qualifying for finals where the U12 girls and U16 girls progressed to grand final matches.

On the 8th April students from Wilcannia Central School and St Therese’s Mission School were given the opportunity to meet with employers and training organisations, be informed about careers and discover practical ways to engage in immediate and future career opportunities at the Wilcannia Career Expo.

Hairy locals in Tennant Creek praised the follicle gods last week when the Deadly Hair Dude returned with his trusty scissors. Owned by hairdresser Gary Strachan, the Deadly Hair Dude provides the town’s only hairdressing service on a visiting basis.

Bec Greening. The first artist to use the Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery’s Emerging Artist space is young local woman, Meg Miles. Meg who completed Year 12 in 2023 has staged 13 works of digital art in her first solo exhibition.

It’s not often that applause breaks out during an ANZAC Day commemoration, but the stirring performance by members of the Bunker’s Hill State School Choir on Thursday morning last week drew such a response.

Natassia Soper. After years of delays due to the pandemic and its remote location, families are finally benefiting from the establishment of Lord Howe Island’s first preschool ... Director of the volunteer group and local mother Rachel McFayden spearheaded the push for a preschool, after seeing kids would start primary school without access to play-based early childhood education and care.

Jayden Hockey knows more than most about how to teach new drivers as he does it for a living. But even before he became a driving instructor he’d already had a hair-raising driving job as an ex-police pursuit driver. Jay spent nine years as a pursuit driver with the WA Police Force and the cars he got to drive came with some serious grunt ... So what’s some of Jay’s advice?  

While the big, elite events like Dressage and Jumping with the Stars and the Sydney Royal Easter Show were in full swing, the youngsters who could possibly feature in those events in the future were planning an assault on the Victorian State Mounted Games Championships.

Towong Shire libraries in Corryong and Tallangatta are showcasing a collection of local war heroes assembled by Year 6 students in the region, as part of an Anzac Day research project. Using digitised service records from the National Archives of Australia, students created informative posters ...

Murray River Council has supported skate clinics in Barham and Mathoura to celebrate Youth Week. The workshops were run by The Totem Collective, which was formed in 2010 and has worked to bring about positive change in the lives of young people through skating, creating and empowering.

There have been some new voices going live on air at local radio station 2GF recently as the business opened its doors and handed over the microphones to a couple of enthusiastic teenagers during Youth Week 2024 ... Among them was Paisley Padayachee, the 14-year-old daughter of popular breakfast announcer Misty Fisher...

Two karate prodigies from "The Dojo" Maclean are hard at work practicing techniques and perfecting new moves in preparation for the World Martial Arts Championships in Portugal ... Mr Wilks said 16-year-old Ruby Martini, who he has been training on and off for 10 years, and 10-year-old Joe Bougen, enjoyed success at three regional championships which continued to the national titles.

With BCG’s Young Farmer Network rapidly expanding, Senior Manager of Extension and Communications, Grace Hosking, is encouraging more young farmers to register now.  "In our role as the Vic Hub’s North West Broadacre  Node, BCG has brought together hundreds of young  farmers from across the region in recent weeks to build  knowledge, create networks and support each other through our BCG Young Farmer Network events...."

The Member for Barkly has called out Labor for its dereliction to support regional young people at risk after he highlighted the shocking cases of two Tennant Creek children who he says was failed by the NT Government. Mr Edgington, also the Shadow Attorney-General, says the children had a history of neglect and abuse and were allowed to escalate into violent offenders despite 67 child welfare notifications.

Nicki Barnet. Three of South Australia’s up and coming riders and their ponies have set off on the journey of a lifetime to the National Pony Racing Series Finals, which takes place at Royal Randwick in Sydney on All Aged Stakes Day on April 20. Supported by Racing SA, Cheyenne Crane and her pony Phoenix will represent SA in the large pony category...

Fletcher, who is a student at the Allora P-10 State School completed a biography on Aunty Flo Watson (OAM) in the "Yarning with our Elders" competition ... Over the 2023 Christmas holidays, QATSIF and their partners at the Australian Catholic University invited Queensland’s First Nation secondary students to have a yarn with an Elder and Fletcher selected Aunty Flo ... Fletcher’s biography was awarded first place ...

The 2023/24 National Pony Racing Series reaches its peak with a thrilling final at Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse ... Young riders, aged 9 to 15 years, representing Pony Clubs nationwide, will vie for victory ...

Jenny Pollard. A sparkling array of white tulle, classic dresses, debonair partners and two adorable attendants were the highlights of the 2024 Charlton Deb Ball held last Friday night as nine couples were formally presented against a striking Art Deco-inspired setting at the Charlton Hall.