From left, Marty Power and Paul McKeown from Gympie chat with other pilots at the ultralight fly-in hosted by the Lions Club of Inglewood at the Inglewood Airfield. Paul and Marty are both pilots with Virgin Airlines. They also conduct a recreational flying school at Gympie and flew their ultralight Drifter to Inglewood for the occasion. They were among the many pilots who paid tribute to well-known pilot and friend Wayne Fisher, who lost his life while test flying an aircraft in Lismore NSW in March this year.

PERFECT Autumn weather set the scene for more than 50 aircraft and pilots to attend the 24th annual Ultralight Fly-in at Inglewood on 27-28 April.
Pilots from as far away as Gympie, Caloundra, Boonah, Lightning Ridge and Moree flew in for the event, which was hosted by the Lions Club of Inglewood.
Traditionally the fly-in was held during the May Labor Day weekend but, with the change of the Labor Day holiday to October, it was decided to hold this year’s fly-in on the Anzac Day weekend.
Inglewood Lions Club President Stuart Parker described the weekend as a success.
“The airstrip was in excellent condition and facilities had been upgraded,” he said.
“Lions club members had provided hearty breakfasts and lunches for the visitors, while the usual three-course evening meal on the Saturday night had catered for 80 guests.”
Lion Parker said the function was organised by Roy and June Petzke in conjunction with volunteers from the Bracker Creek Rural Fire Brigade, SES and Lions Club members. Lion Parker congratulated and thanked the volunteers for their assistance.
He said the meal included a wide variety of delicious, mainly home-made sweets and had been thoroughly enjoyed by the visitors.
“The 2014 Fly-in would also be held on the Anzac Day weekend and if the comments from those present were any indication, it would be even bigger and better than 2013,” he said.
During the evening, tribute was paid to the late Wayne Fisher who, in recent years, had attended many of the Inglewood Ultralight Fly-ins.
He was a well-known and respected pilot and a friend to many of those present.
He lost his life in March this year in his home town of Lismore, NSW, when test flying a friend’s new plane.
Over a number of years Wayne had not only been involved in the development of ultralights, but had built 230 of the aircraft.
It was noted that he had been a leader in this field and would be sorely missed.

Southern Downs Steam Railway president and fitter John Brady, Murray Sondergeld and Garry Summerville were among many members who worked tirelessly on the C-17 steam engine.

MONTHS of hard work has paid off for members of the Southern Downs Steam Railway, who drove a four-carriage steam engine into Toowoomba from Warwick recently.
The journey was the first of its kind for the group and Warwick resident Bob Keogh was given the honour of driving the train from Warwick to Clifton.
The train, a C17 -971, was considered one of the most versatile steam engines in the Southern Downs from 1920 to 1970.The journey followed many hundreds of man hours working on the old engine to ensure it was up to the challenge.
The train ride was a part of Mother’s Day and attracted more than 120 passengers eager to experience the train’s maiden voyage to Toowoomba.
Passengers said they were extremely happy with the journey.
The train will travel from Warwick to Wallangara on Sunday, 26 May, at 8am.
To book tickets, phone 4661 3530 or 4661 9788.

Blankets needed: Warwick Red Cross volunteers Narelle Lowry, Jenny Stark and Christine McKinny are calling for warm items to help everyone pull through another cold season.

MANY families will experience cold nights this winter and Warwick residents are being asked to help out by making a heart-warming donation.
Warwick Red Cross is one of many places where residents can drop off any blankets or warm clothing to help ensure we can all fend off the dreaded flu.
Warwick Red Cross team leader Jenny Stark said the need was growing and shelves were bare.
“We always welcome donations from residents, particularly those warm blankets and warm clothing, which are in huge demand – we sold two blankets this morning,” she said.
Ranging in price and quality, Mrs Stark said the Warwick Red Cross offered good prices and each product was screened for quality.
While Red Cross prices have increased slightly during the past five years, Mrs Stark said help for those who needed it was still available.
“We assess each case individually,” she said.
“If someone is in a desperate situation, without money, we can offer help and guidance, but this is assessed case-by-case.”
Volunteers, as part of Volunteer Week this week, are also being urged to offer the Red Cross a helping hand.
“We always welcome new volunteers,” Mrs Stark said.
“You can gain a lot of retail sales experience, as well as customers services skills; making new friends and giving something back to the community.”
To make a donation visit the Warwick Red Cross at 2 Grafton St. To find out more about volunteering phone 4661 9916.

SCOTS PGC College students took part in the Western Front tour.

THE tour group of The SCOTS PGC College returned home after 24 days of travelling through Italy, Austria, Belgium and France visiting historical sites, magnificent basilicas, ancient ruins, impressive architecture, and world heritage sites while experiencing new cultures.
The tour group of 76 consisting of 41 students visited the Vatican, explored the Sistine Chapel, walked through the Colesseum and Forum in Rome, climbed the Eiffel Tower and went underground into the oldest salt mines in the world.
More importantly the choir and College Pipes and Drums performed at ceremonies and services at the Menin Gate Memorial, the Arc de Triomphe, played at concerts in Vignacourt and Villers-Bretonneux and marched to the Australian Diggers’ Cemetery at Bullecourt.
SCOTS PGC College staff member, Mrs Carmel Cowley said there was no shifting from their real purpose: paying tribute and acknowledging, as they stood on old battlefields and in war cemeteries, those brave young Australian soldiers who fought on the Western Front.
“I think the students fully understood they were there for a purpose and standing among the graves of men not much older than themselves, helped them understand the significance,” Mrs Cowley said.
Mrs Cowley wrote regular emails to the college community back home and here is a brief of what the students experienced:

Italy
After a year preparing for this trip, it is hard to believe we are actually in Rome.  We visit the Vatican and explore the Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, Hadrian’s Tomb and the Pantheon, which is the city’s only architecturally intact monument from classical times. The following day we undertake a walking tour through the Colosseum, the Forum, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. Words really fail to describe the sense of history as well as the architectural brilliance of the buildings we saw. There can’t be any more stairs left in Rome to climb. I think we did them all today. One of our group decided to wear a pedometer on this trip and last time I checked we had done in excess of 14,000 steps today. Needless to say, it is 9pm and nearly all the lights in the hotel are off.
Some of the students started to flag today under the pace however once it was explained that the whole trip was to give them a “Taste of Europe” and that the idea was to whet their appetite for travel, they found the energy to walk up (or down) another flight of stairs.
It should be noted that today was a red letter day – Mr Keevers was left speechless. He had finally run out of superlatives to describe all that we were seeing. He was heard to say he had texted his wife with instructions to put the house on the market as they were moving to Rome. History teachers make statements like this when they find nirvana.

Austria
While in Salzburg we toured the sights of “The Sound of Music”.  I hate to burst the bubble but the Von Trapp family did not live in that home you see on the movie. It was the back garden and lake of one palace, the facade of another as well as some clever studio work in the US. Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart and, as expected, his name features prominently throughout the city.
One of the trip highlights was a tour of the Hallstatt Salt Mines.  We travelled on a funicular to the mine and were provided with protective overalls to wear on the tour. To access the mine we rode on a miners’ train and slid down miners’ slides – similar to a very long, steep wooden slippery slide with nothing to hang on to other than the person in front.
We then crossed an internal mountain lake of crystal clear water. Down an even longer miners’ slide we continued on our guided tour to learn the history of salt mining in Austria. During World War II priceless works of art were hidden in the salt mines.
After the salt mines we were back on the bus to travel about 45 minutes to Werfen Castle for a guided tour. The kids were particularly interested in the torture chamber, complete with original tools of torture.

SCOTS PGC Pipe Band marching towards the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

France
The day we travelled to Paris we had breakfast in Austria, lunch in Germany and dinner in France!
We are here in very busy Paris, keeping very busy. College teacher Mike Keevers summed it up perfectly. In 24 hours he has seen the Mona Lisa, cruised on the Seine River, gone to the summit of the Eiffel Tower, marched with the choir and Pipes and Drums up the Champs Elysees (stopping the traffic) and stood under the Arc de Triomphe. We are all so very proud of our students. They looked resplendent in their uniforms and performed so well after so much preparation.
To stand and watch the traffic on the Champs Elysees come to a standstill (quite a feat in itself) and see our students march straight through the intersection was fantastic. For those of you who may be unaware, the students performed in La Flamme ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe yesterday afternoon.  Napoleon commanded that a memorial to French soldiers killed in battle should be built. The Arc de Triomphe was constructed over a period of 30 years as this memorial that houses the Flame of Remembrance. Every afternoon at 6.30pm, a ceremony of remembrance takes place following very strict protocols.  Our students were central to yesterday’s ceremony.
We have climbed the Eiffel Tower, marched down the Champs Elysees, toured the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles, roamed the streets of Montmartre, mastered the Metro rail system, cruised on the River Seine, walked through the Marais district, watched with interest the traffic negotiate five lanes through the Champs Elysees around the Arc de Triomphe and enjoyed coffees and pastries at small local boulangeries. However, it is with relief though that we drove out of this city of 10 million people – a little too busy for some of us!

Belgium
We head to Belgium today to commence the business part of the trip. To quote Sandy Dalziel, the bandmaster, “It is a wee bit chilly” in Ypres.  In preparation for our own appearance tomorrow night, a group of us attended today’s Menin Gate ceremony which commences at 8pm every night of the year to commemorate the fallen. The Menin Gate is a monument to the fallen who have no known grave.
The inscription on the wall of the Menin Gate reads: “Here are recorded names of officers and men who fell in Ypres Salient but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”
During World War I the longest and bloodiest of the battles were fought on the western front in Belgium and France. The Western Front ran in a long continuous line for 700 kilometres from the Belgian coast to Switzerland. Battles were fought for four years however the position altered little. In 1916 Australia entered the war on the Western Front. Australian troops won undying fame in the battlefields of France and Belgium during three years of war.
Some 46,000 of 60,000 Australians killed in the war died on the Western Front.
The beautiful old gothic city of Ypres was a symbol of allied assistance throughout the war.
Australian troops were active here from late 1916 until 1917.
Their principal involvement was in the 1917 allied offensive, including the battles of Messines, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Brooksende and Passchendaele. Ypres was re-built and today acts as a gateway for all those who come in search of the past and of the generation that perished “in Flanders fields”.
Our group spent two very enjoyable nights in the town culminating in our performance at the Menin Gate ceremony. A large crowd gathered for the nightly ceremony and our choir and pipes and drums performed well. The pipe band was so popular they gave an impromptu performance in the town square following the ceremony.
While in Ypres we went on a battlefields tour in the district and visited renowned locations such as Hill 60, Tyne Cot war cemetery and Polygon Wood cemetery, the cemetery where the remains of five Australian servicemen, found in the last five years, have been interred.
While we were there Sandy Dalziel piped a lament that was played when soldiers were buried during World War I. There are over 170 military cemeteries surrounding Ypres.
We are really enjoying the beauty of the French countryside, however it does contrast starkly with the history of the area.  As far as you can see there are rolling green hills dotted with villages, church steeples and woodlands. The landscape also includes over 100 war cemeteries. Cemeteries with row after row of white headstones, many carrying the same notation ‘Known Only to God’.  Each cemetery is immaculately maintained with flower beds along the length of the rows.
We visited a war cemetery in Pozieres where the Dalziel family honoured a fallen member of their family. Sandy and his daughter Abby played the pipes in a moving tribute to Sandy’s great- uncle while we stood in silence. Further along the road members of the Pipe Band paid their respects at the Pipers Memorial at Longueval.
At the town of Pozieres we were able to stand at a spot that was the same height as a German lookout. There was a 360-degree view to the horizon. It was no wonder they must have seemed invincible on occasion – they could see the Allied troops advancing for kilometres.
This part of our trip has been thought provoking for a number of our students.
Then at half an hour past midnight on Anzac morning our students leave their warm beds for their performance at the Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. There are no complaints. Our performance in this event is the culmination of so much practice and preparation.
The lights of the Australian National Memorial of Villers Bretonneux can be seen from quite a distance. Following the busyness of the trip, it gave us a moment, while sitting in the dark of the bus, to consider the real purpose of our time in Europe. It was time well-spent.
I know that on 25 April each year from now, our students will all stand with bowed heads and a much deeper awareness of the meaning of Anzac Day and the enormity of the sacrifice paid by so many.

THE Granite Belt indigenous community has taken the first steps towards the formation of an indigenous corporation based in Stanthorpe.
The Granite Belt Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Reference Group will focus on indigenous health, aged care, housing, youth and cultural awareness programs.
A group of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members and Community Development Services worker Diane Mitchell, said they hope the formation of the reference group will give the indigenous community more of a voice in local government.
“This is a service that is needed in our community,” Mrs Mitchell said.
“We’re hoping the group will inspire youth to become more involved and will also serve as a community hub for indigenous people within the area.”
The reference group hopes to secure a permanent location in which to operate and assist the Grantie Belt’s more than 100 indigenous school students who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
An upcoming function for the group this year will be the celebration of NAIDOC Week from 7-14 July.
This builds on the successful inaugural event held last year for NAIDOC week that took place at Stanthorpe’s Art on Davadi.
“This year’s NAIDOC will be a week of activities held across the Granite Belt, in the community and the local schools, culminating in a sharing of indigenous culture with the wider community held at the civic centre supper room on 12 July,” Mrs Mitchell said.
The events on the night will include live dance, and hip-hop performance from a local indigenous artist.
There will also be art activities and displays by local indigenous visual artists.
The reference group is holding a membership sign-up day taking place at Community Development Services Corundum Street Stanthorpe on 19 May from 11am.
Visitors are welcome to become members of the group, or if you are unable to attend please contact Maria De Vries on 0478 573 208 or Diane Mitchell at CDS on 4681 3777.

Scots PGC College students pay tribute to the fallen on Anzac Day.

LOCALLY and abroad, students from Scots PGC College hosted special Anzac Day ceremonies on April 25, writes principal Michael Harding.

WHAT happened on the morning of Anzac Day in Warwick, and what happened halfway across the world in France, represented a culmination of deliberate and persistent work to ensure students remain connected to the values of the past.
Clearly, it is not war that is the focal point of our services but rather commitment, sacrifice and service to family, country and God.
Very early on in my time here at the college it became clear that these values were strong and consistent in our history and I recall making the commitment to past students in 2004 that while I was principal, we would not forget this.
The way that the students, staff and college council have adopted this in so many ways, including the continual growth of our commemorative life, is something of which we should be very proud.
By the time you read this, the college will have shown its colours on centre stage at one of Australia’s most treasured commemorative services.
What an incredible moment for us all.
It was particularly fitting on Anzac Day that the Pipes and Drums at the college Dawn Service in Warwick were made up of past students.
What a wonderful symmetry.
Similarly, that past students, parents and importantly, past principal Mr Bonnell and his wife Beverly are able to witness our students on the international stage is fitting.

Scots PGC College students ready for the Anzac tour: Dominic Andersen-Strudwick, Christopher McCosker, Abby Dalziel, Kristian Stanfield Roche, Rylie Douglas, Aidan Ryan and Georgie Hackett.

EXCITEMENT is building around the Apple and Grape Harvest Festival next year from 7-9 March.
Four young contenders have already submitted their applications for the chance to win one of the coveted titles, including Festival Ambassador and Charity Ambassador.
By now Stanthorpe residents would have seen several fund-raising events which nominees have started.
However, Young Ambassador Director Liz Duell said more nominations were needed.
“Just a reminder that we still need more Young Ambassadors and all it takes to start off is a $200 sponsorship fee which can come from a region, a business, or a number of businesses,” she said.
Young Ambassador titles are open to both male and females between the ages of 18 and 35.
“Why not have a go and be part of the 2014 Apple and Grape Harvest Festival,” Ms Duell said.
“Entering the quest will give nominees a wealth of life experience as well as equipping them with confidence, meeting new people and the chance to win an overseas holiday sponsored by Harvey World Travel Stanthorpe.
“Coaching in public speaking, deportment and etiquette will be provided, in addition to the experience.”
To contact Ms Duell email ambassadors@appleandgrape.org

Hundreds of former students and staff returned to Maryvale State Primary School to mark 100 years since the school first opened.

By JONATHON HOWARD

PAST and present members of the Maryvale State Primary School community gathered to mark the school’s centenary on Saturday, 27 April.
A beautiful autumn day set the scene for more than 700 visitors, some from as far away as Victoria, who returned to rekindle old friendships and reminisce.
Official guests included member for Southern Downs, Lawrence Springborg, Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor, Peter Blundell, past principals Laura Watson and Alan Brooks, current principal Lynne Hubble, and centenary committee president Frank Roche.
Colourful displays of memorabilia were set up throughout classrooms which were lined with photographs, examples of school clothing throughout the decades, and samples of past student work.
Current students led guests in the Australian national anthem and entertained guests with several songs.
A market stall sold toys, craft and plants; with face painting and a colouring competition for children.
The event included a classic car display and farm equipment; as well as the Ulysses Motorcycle Club who brought along their bikes for display, and a presentation was made by the Maryvale Fire Brigade.
Afternoon tea was supplied by Maryvale Hall Committee, and the Maryvale State School P&C provided a barbecue lunch.

THE Indian Myna bird is devastating the region’s native biodiversity and Granite Borders Landcare will host workshops to teach landholders about control methods in Tenterfield, Stanthorpe and Glen Innes.
The workshops will take place on Friday, 17 May, and on Saturday, 18 May.
Experts will discuss why the birds are causing such devastation to biodiversity and how landholders can help control their population.
The workshops are part of a project funded through the Federal Government’s ‘Caring for our Country’ program.
Conservation experts Laura and Kevin Noble, from Clarence Valley Conservation in Action, will be guest presenters for the workshops.
They will share their experiences working with volunteers on the Northern Tablelands to ensure a regional approach to Indian Myna control.
The workshops will involve a discussion on bird ecology, how the Indian Myna came to be such a big problem and the various methods of control.
A trapping demonstration will be incorporated into each workshop.
The workshops are being held at the Stanthorpe Community Gardens on Friday from 2pm to 4pm, Tenterfield Landcare office on Saturday from 10am to noon, and Glen Innes Saleyards on Saturday from 2pm to 4pm.
To register, contact Granite Borders Landcare on (02) 6736 3500.