Orange City Council's Family Day Care scheme is looking for local residents who want to offer child care in their home.

Family Day Care is a unique form of childcare where you can provide professional care in a family environment.

You need qualifications in child care, but the opportunities are available for people of all ages.

Family Day Care is a popular system that offers child care throughout Australia.

You can :

• work from your own hours from your own home
• work while caring for your own children
• have a great earning capacity

• Full training provided in-house
• Ongoing support from professional team in running your business

This resource page has some general information about getting started in Family Day Care.

To find out more about Family Day Care in Orange, ask for a prospective educator pack by calling call Orange Family Day Care on 6393 8670

or email familydaycare@orange.nsw.gov.au

EXHIBITION: Bathurst artist Peter Wilson sets up ahead of his exhibition opening on Friday.

The latest Try2Wheels event will be held on Wednesday 29 March.

Try2Wheels is a series of lunch-hour events, to be held near workplaces around Orange.

You come along, get a free sausage sizzle and expert advice on what sort of push bike would suit you to ride to work.

Orange residents will have more opportunities to support the work of the Orange Regional Museum with a new ‘Friends of the Museum’ group set to be formed.

The chair of a new interim committee that’s been working on the new project, Cr Neil Jones, has welcomed the decision to form the new group.

“Since it opened in November, it’s been fantastic to see so many taking their first steps inside the new museum,” Cr Neil Jones said. “As the next step, the establishment of a ‘Friends’ group will help the museum deepen its connections and build awareness. The friends group will seek to support the museum to fulfil its role in the community and raise public awareness of its activities and collections.”

Cr Neil Jones

An interim committee has been working closely together over recent months to establish the new community based group. The interim committee has drawn representatives from :

• the Orange Regional Museum Advancement Association,
• the Orange and District Historical Society,
• the Orange Regional Museum Fund Ltd,
• the Orange City Council Museum Community Committee and
• the Orange Regional Museum.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of many weeks of hard work by a small group of community representatives to develop the necessary background information and protocols to form this group. It’s been important to get the new group off to a good start, and so the committee has worked very closely with the museum to ensure that the Friends group can support the museum and bring together interested members of the Orange community."

“The regional gallery has had a very active friends groups for some time, and I’m expecting it could be a model of what the new friends groups could explore,” Cr Neil Jones said. “It could be fund-raising events to help acquire new objects for the museum. It might be other activities that help lift the profile of the museum in the wider community. There could simply be the social benefits of mixing with like-minded people.”

READY : Orange residents are keen to be a part of the new 'Friends' groups. Pictured (l. to r.) at the announcement of the new group are Phil Stevenson, Marie Hammond, Museum Director Brad Hammond and Elizabeth Griffin.

Director of the Orange Regional Museum and Orange Regional Gallery, Brad Hammond, said the development of the new support group is a very positive step.

“Orange City Council and the museum staff are very pleased to see the formation of this group,” Brad Hammond said. “Community input and support is vital for the future of museum.”

“For the last couple of years, the ‘Friends of the Gallery’ group has brought a high-profile speaker to Orange, like this week’s speaking visit by Shakesperian acting legend John Bell. I’m looking forward to close cooperation with the new friends group and seeing what kind of projects they might explore.”

The benefits of becoming a ‘Friend of the Orange Regional Museum’ include:

• Discounted (25%) entry to all ticketed Orange Regional Museum events and programs
• Priority booking for all bookable Museum events and programs
• Invitations to all exhibition openings and special events
• Free entry to Wentworth Mine
• Access to member exclusive events
• Email or posted (if requested) copy of Orange Regional Museum’s quarterly newsletter

The public launch of the Friends of the Orange Regional Museum will take place on Wednesday 5^th April from 5.30pm at Orange Regional Museum.

Members of the community are invited to attend. RSVP to Jessica Dowdell at museum@orange.nsw.gov.au or 02 6393 8444 by Thursday 30^th March.

The long-awaited re-opening of the Huntley Road entrance to the Bloomfield hospital campus has happened after the completion of major upgrades to internal roads.

The 1.4 km road upgrade was completed by Orange City Council with $638,000 joint funding from :

• Orange City Council ($224,000)
• Orange Ex-Services ($175,000)
• Health Infrastructure ($160,000)
• Mission Australia/Cockrams ($80,000) Cockrams are currently building a new accommodation facility for Mission Australia in Huntley Road. The new facility is alongside the Huntley Road entrance.

PROJECT COMPLETE : Representatives of the project's funding partners check out the upgraded roads on the Bloomfield campus.

The roads upgrade project included upgrades of Park Road (from the first entrance gate in Forest Rd to the Ex-Services Country Club) and Transport Drive (from the Huntley Road gate to the sporting oval).

City of Orange Traffic Committee chair, Cr Russell Turner said the project was a great example of government, business and community organisations working together to deliver improved infrastructure.

“Apart from patients, hundreds of staff are working every day at both the Health Service and the Bloomfield Hospital, and this road upgrade is going to make a significant difference to the task of getting people to and from work safely and conveniently.”

“With the completion of the internal road upgrade, the long-awaited re-opening of the Huntley Road entrance can happen”, Cr Russel Turner said. “This will give another access point for hospital staff, and take the pressure off other gates on Forest Road.”

“These internal roads were never built for large traffic numbers, however the works undertaken will ensure these roads play an important ongoing role in the safe and efficient movement of traffic within the site, to the point where the Huntley Rd entrance can be re-opened safely”

OPEN AGAIN : Mayor John Davis talks with Member for Orange Phil Donato, after the Huntley Road entrance re-opened today.

Mayor John Davis has paid tribute to those who pushed for the re-opening of the Huntley Rd gate.

“When he was the state MP, now Member for Calare Andrew Gee campaigned solidly for the Huntley Rd entrance to be re-opened, along with other local residents, and the Orange community will now benefit from that work,” Cr John Davis said.

“The improvements to the internal roads balance the previously completed upgrading of the Huntley Road entrance which includes a dedicated right turn lane into the Bloomfield campus and improved visibility for motorists exiting the site.”

The internal roads on the Bloomfield campus will continue to have a 30 km/hr speed limit. The section of Park Road closest to the first Forest Road gate will be marked for one-way traffic so that cars leaving the campus will use other exits, including Huntley Road and the main Health Service entrance.

Orange Ex-Services Club CEO Cameron Provost said the project was a good example of partnership.

“Both members of the club and the wider community are regularly using the sporting facilities on the Bloomfield campus,” Cameron Provost said. “It’s great that the club can work with other organisations to deliver better long-term infrastructure.”

Western NSW Local Health District’s Director of Corporate Services, Jeff Morrissey said he was pleased that the Huntley Road works have been completed.

“The reopening of the Huntley Road will improve the traffic flow throughout the Bloomfield Campus, which will benefit patients and clients of the Orange Health Service and other providers residing on the campus,” Mr Morrissey said.

Mission Australia General Manager of Aged Care Jill Bicknell welcomed the work.

“We are proud to share in the cost of these long-term infrastructure costs,” Jill Bicknell said. “The road upgrades will enable ease of access to Mission Australia’s Benjamin Short Grove, Orange’s new aged care facility for the homeless and disadvantaged.”