In brief
THE Armidale Benefit Concert to aid victims of Typhoon Haiyan raised more than $13,000, according to organisers.
The concert attracted a large audience to the Armidale Town Hall on Friday evening, Armidale Dumaresq councillor Jim Maher said.
The money raised will go to the Australian Red Cross to be spent on emergency relief in The Philippines.
Grower’s reward
GODFREY Dol, who grows tomatoes and eggplant as part of a major greenhouse facility in Guyra, was last week honoured as a joint winner of the 2013 NSW Farmer of the Year.
Mr Dol, the technical and business development manager at Blush Tomatoes, shared the award with Dubbo Merino breeders Matthew and Cherie Coddington.
“The greenhouse facilities overseen by Mr Dol are state-of-the-art, highlighting how Australian horticulture is at the cutting edge of global research and development,” the judges said.
Cadets graduate
SIXTEEN students from Armidale High School have completed their NSW Rural Fire Service cadet program.
“These cadets have completed a 10-week course that has given them skills that will last a lifetime,” NSW RFS Inspector Tim Butcher said.
“As well as examining fire behaviour, the students have been taught essential fire safety techniques and gained an appreciation of the work our emergency services do every day in this state.
“This is the second year that Armidale High School has offered the NSW RFS cadet program to its students and it’s great to see genuine enthusiasm for this important community-based program.”
Extra patrols
ANOTHER Highway Patrol Officer will be deployed in the region after 30 additional positions were allocated across NSW this month.
It will take the New England Local Area Command’s tally of highway patrol officers to 19.
Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall said the location of where the new position would be based was yet to be determined.
The existing 18 officers are based in Armidale (7), Glen Innes (5), Inverell (3) and Tenterfield (3).
“The police do a fantastic job keeping our community safe and more Highway Patrol officers means better protection on our roads and additional law enforcement across the Northern Tablelands,” Mr Marshall said.
Book launch
MEG Vivers will launch her second book An Irish Engineer at Armidale Art Gallery on Sunday.
It details the extraordinary achievements of Thomas J Waters and his family in early Meiji Japan, with information supported by extracts from family journals and correspondence.
The book complements Vivers’ Castle to Colony, a text that traces the colonial adventures of Waters’ sister, Lucy Gray.
Both books have been published by CopyRight Publishing Brisbane and will be on sale at the launch. Vivers has been invited to Japan to give a speech about her research and findings.
