Continuing on from last weeks column, today I am sharing more of a re-cap from 2024, highlighting our events and undertakings.

2024 was a massive year for Central West Lachlan Landcare over the Parkes and Forbes Shires.

It was a big second half of the year for us, with preparation for the October Homegrown Parkes even, lining up presentations with Buckwheat and Sausage Making.

We were thrilled to be able to contribute to the Tidy Towns application through Keep Australia Beautiful with Homegrown Parkes being entered in the Community Spirit and Inclusion Award. I was thrilled to be part of the presentation to our assessor along with Michael Chambers and Hannah Farrant-Jayet from Parkes Shire Council.

In September we welcomed Josh Frappell from The Regenerative and Kate Nixon from Macrocarpa Landscapes to present two workshops on Improving on Farm Biodiversity, with the support of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) in Parkes and Forbes.

These events are possible thanks to the shared work of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust and Landcare NSW under the Private Land Conservation Matters project.

Also under this project, we also welcomed Nathan Emery and Laura Watts from the Botanic Gardens of Sydney to provide two workshops with a focus on seed collection and banking.

We were once again so thrilled with the community support for Homegrown Parkes in October, with fantastic performances from members of the Parkes Music and Dramatic Society, Parkes School of Dance and Parkes Shire Concert Band.

In October we also caught up with over 300 Year 5 students from Parkes and Forbes Shires at Eco Day at the Parkes Racecourse. The next day then brought over 150 Kindy students from Parkes Shire to our Kindy Enviro Morning held in partnership with Parkes Shire Council at Kelly Reserve.

….and then we won! We won our category for the Tidy Towns Award….and Parkes Shire won the overall Award.

As a result of this win, Parkes hosts the 2025 NSW Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns Awards on 11 October, in conjunction with our Homegrown Parkes event…and we will also be entering the overall National Awards in May 2025!

I would also like to acknowledge Forbes Riverside Community Garden for their support over the past twelve months. We hold our Forbes Committee meetings at the Garden and work to share opportunities with them in return.

For further information on this article, please go to www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, twitter, facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare