From the Mayor's Desk - 10 May
11 May 2021
I was pleased to attend the opening night of the Warren Chamber Music Festival on Friday night. It was an extraordinary event with musicians and soloists of the highest calibre giving stellar performances.
Also in attendance was The Hon. Ben Franklin, MLC Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and the Arts. His posts on social media underlined what a great event unfolded over the weekend. “Tonight I had the privilege of experiencing some of the most magical and sublime musical performances I have seen for years. And it wasn’t at the Sydney Opera House or the Sydney Recital Hall. The concert was at the Warren Chamber Music Festival. Warren is a small town of around 2,000 people an hour to the west of Dubbo. But this evening it was the stage for a concert of national quality.”
Congratulations to the driving force behind the Festival, Frances Evans and her hard working committee. They can feel justly proud of their efforts in bringing such a magnificent event to fruition in Warren and on Saturday night in Collie.
Warren was alive on Saturday morning with a free concert at the WOW Centre and a large number of young sports people at Victoria Oval participating in junior Rugby League. Senior women’s and men’s Rugby Union followed in the afternoon.
On Friday afternoon prior to the Music Festival, Council’s General Manager, Gary Woodman, Council’s Infrastructure Projects Manager, Kerry Jones and I took the opportunity to acquaint Ben Franklin MLC with some of the projects in Warren that the State Government had either fully or partially funded with grants. These included projects at the Showground/Racecourse, the Warren War Memorial Swimming Pool, the Water Park, the Skate Park, Macquarie Park and the outdoor Netball Courts. We also visited the Library.
On Wednesday Gary Woodman and I will attend the Orana Joint Organisation (JO) of Councils meeting in Narromine. Discussion will centre around the future of the JO and models for a possible voluntary collaborative organisation that doesn’t have the legislative burden that exists with a JO.
Clr Milton Quigley
Mayor