Roving with Roy

With time to spare it is always good to be in good company and in good company we were on a recent sunny afternoon before the demon wind hit our area.

John Furner invited us to see extensive modern renovations he has done internally to his home.

His kitchen would be a delight to any chef and wide windows give him unsurpassed view of the countryside toward Tathra Road and its rural area.

An outdoors-man from way back, John agrees we sure need that elusive rain.

Then along came neighbour John Rheinberger who made the coffee and we all recalled old Bega times.

John Furner always has the welcome mat out - call and say "g'day".

The old days

Kevin Tetley has been perusing old "Bega Gazette" papers at the Bega Pioneer Museum and he found some interesting figures.

The edition of January 30, 1886, it reveals that in the 1885 census there were in Bega, 300 births, 61 deaths and 55 weddings.

Bega's European population was 2,422 with 48 Chinese and the district's population was 7,360 with 146 Chinese.

The museum has rooms full of history and you are welcome at any time to browse and ask questions.

Red Cross donation

Those indefatigable ladies of the Bega Red Cross will give all the profits from the Red Cross tea rooms today, and the proceeds of the coin table, to the Bali appeal.

So why not drop in to the teamrooms in Church Street for a cuppa or a delicious lunch and help this very worthy cause.

Fishy tail

On the subject of yesteryear, can anybody tell us who chose the name "Carp" for the main street of our lovely and prosperous town?

Surely, with all of the beautiful fish in the sea and rivers they could have chosen a better fish name to adorn the street.

But it is too late now!

Top honours

Stephen Parbery, younger son of Dud and Thel of Bega, has qualifications some folk could only dream of.

Stephen is an official liquidator and a chartered accountant.

He is the immediate past president of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia, a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors, and a member of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) NSW Insolvency Committee.

His experience is widely recognised by government and business.

Stephen's areas of speciality are: major insolvencies, receiverships and administrations; advice to Government Ministers and Departments; consultant to major banks, trading banks and financial institutions; groubleshooting and media management in potentially controversial administrations.

Stephen had his own practice as an insolvency specialist before joining Prentice Parbery Barilla in 1983.

As a member of the national committee of the IPAA since 1996 and its immediate past president, he has been actively involved at the highest levels in insolvency reforms and best practice.

He advised the Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister, John Anderson, in relation to the voluntary administration of Ansett group, and acted for Treasurer Peter Costello and the Treasury in relation to the provisional liquidation of UMP/AMIL, the major medical defence organisation.

Over the years he lobbied strenuously for better protection for employee entitlements in insolvencies, efforts which in 2001 were rewarded by the Government's GEERS scheme.

Stephen is married to Christine, daughter of Phyl and the late Les Best of Pambula Beach, they have two daughters, Samantha (21) is a qualified pre-school kindergarten teacher and Amy (18) is studying first year commerce at Wollongong University.

Dud and Thel are mighty proud parents and grandparents.

Mud slide

Wapengo is awake! And it has been blowing gales out there as oyster-man Colin Wren well knows.

Colin tied his boat up overnight with the back of the unit facing into the wind.

Overnight the ferocity of the wind splashed waves over the punt, which filled with water and it sank!

It was a case of "all hands on deck" to do a refloat and clean up.

The moral to that story is don't turn your back on a big wind, meet it head on!

The long trail

Doug Roberts is an oyster gatherer at Wapengo too and he got some unexpected exercise recently.

Chortling along in his trusty ute without a care in the world Doug came to an abrupt stop.

Out of petrol! And still three kilometres from his plantation.

The only thing was to stride it out and would you believe it - not a single vehicle came his way.

Hair off

The Ward staff at the Bega District Hospital recently shed a lot of hair to raise money for Camp Quality.

Sponsors paid approximately $4,500 in sponsorship to see Paul Crome, Rob Graham, Sharon Donnelly and Max Plumb lose their head and facial hair in a good cause.

A special thank you goes to Dr Gareth Long and Jo Watson who paid for the privilege of shaving Rob' and Sharon's heads.

Farewell "Buck"

Together with his district mates we were saddened to hear of the death of Owen Buckley, a friend to all who knew him.

"Buck", as he was universally known, was a down to earth bloke, a hard worker who would have a go at anything, give a helping hand when the going got tough and bring happiness to all with his infectious laughter.

He was a steward at the Bega Bowling Club for years.

When told he would have to wear a bow tie he hesitated about taking the job - "never worn a tie in my life".

Such was "Buck".

Cheryl up in the air

What a challenge Cheryl Furnell of Bega has taken on.

Cheryl, daughter of Ray and Barbara Lovelock, is physically impaired and relies on wheels to get about - and get about she does.

Presently, Cheryl is doing a live-in course called "Wheelies with Wings" at Cooma airport.

Her dad knew of Cheryl's vision and jokingly said she should give it a go.

It was no joke to Cheryl - she applied and was accepted.

She accepted the challenge saying that although she had an impairment it did not mean she could not live.

The course runs over two weeks and includes flying theory and practice.

We will tell you more about this brave young lady later.