It wasn’t that long ago that locals, especially those who’ve been here for a while, were unhappy that council had decided to axe the parade for the Festival of Fisher’s Ghost.
It’s true that the parade had been a big part of the festival for more than 50 years, and indeed some saw it as the glue that held all the other parts together.
But it’s also true that in the past 20 years attendances at the parade had been steadily declining.
It really should have been given its marching orders long before now, but the hope was that the decline was a temporary ailment.
It wasn’t, and everyone knew it, yet some complained when the decision was announced.
But it has galvanised council, especially the current mayor, the work hard to modernise the festival and make it as attractive as possible.
That’s the impression you get looking at this year’s program, which starts in a month.
As for the parade, well, thanks for the memories – we’ll always have those.
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Well done to the Oran Park woman who picked up a handy $768,000 in a recent Saturday Lotto draw.
The Macarthur resident shared the first division prize with six other winners, but she wasn’t complaining.
“I’m just at work and I noticed I received a text message and an email to call The Lott. I thought it was some sort of weird scam or spam, so I left it,’’ she said after confirming her windfall.
“Later in the morning I noticed there were a couple of missed calls on my phone, so I decided to call up and here I am finding out I won $760,000. Oh my god, I can’t believe it.
“I honestly haven’t had a moment to decide what I’ll do with the prize. It will probably go towards the mortgage and a holiday.
“A cocktail and a holiday somewhere sunny would be nice – it’s been a while since I’ve gone on holiday,” she said.
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Good to see Camden Council reward their young mayor Ashleigh Cagney for her excellent performance by re-electing her for another term.
Cr Cagney was first elected a few months ago after a surprise resignation from then mayor Therese Fedeli.
Cr Cagney received six votes and Cr Eva Campbell just two when the mayoral ballot was held earlier this month.
Cr Fedeli also received six votes to become deputy mayor between now and next September’s local government elections.
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Campbelltown MP Greg Warren introduced the NSW roads minister as Rockin’ Johnny Graham this week, when he came out to inspect work on a new bridge over the Hume Highway near Menangle Park.
It’s good to see Mr Warren maintain his sense of humour despite the fact he missed out on a ministry when the new Labor Government was elected in March.
Yesterday, Premier Chris Minns announced some more ministerial moves, but Mr Warren’s name was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing the Campbelltown MP at the Ingham Institute and Victor Chang announcement, we asked him about missing out again.
“It’s all good,’’ he replied, ‘’the Premier called me yesterday and explained the situation’’.
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Also attending the Ingham function was Liverpool’s notorious Liberal mayor Ned Mannoun.
He’s been in the news lately over accusations of nepotism in council appointments.
Mannoun denies the nepotism charge, but the fact is that Liverpool now has a Liberal mayor, two former Liberal MPs, one is council CEO, the other city futures director.
And just like his mayoral stint in 2012-16, the media unit under Mannoun includes staffers with Liberal party connections.
Surely an inquiry into Liverpool Council can’t be too far away, especially with an election due in 11 months
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A couple of weeks ago we rang Timothy Hewitt, the head of college at Broughton Anglican on Menangle Road, to discuss concerns from parents who have contacted the South West Voice over talk of changes to the school uniform in 2024.
Broughton Anglican has apparently changed the entire uniform at the last minute and it’s going ahead for next year for the entire school. Even the bags will be different, we were told.
So we tried to talk to the school to confirm, deny or clarify if any of these concerns were justified.
Thing is, if it’s true, the timing, what with the rampant cost of living, it’s not going to go down well with parents.
Then, as another parent pointed out, there’s also the waste of all those old uniforms.
Unfortunately, we are still waiting for Broughton to get back to us two weeks after we called them.
Goodness me! Uniform changes at a private school is news! This is a private business albeit receiving millions of dollars of taxpayers money. If you have a problem with the uniform, clients of the business take it up with the school. It is of no concern to anybody else.
So sad to see the Fisher’s Ghost Parade abolished. I took my grandsons in 2019 and they absolutely loved it. It was an iconic event and a great deal of fun. :(
Couldn’t agree more. The parade was great, especially for the kids!