I hope the lovely autumn weather will hold and the weather gods will smile on president Col McPhee, secretary Brett Kenworthy and all the crew.

Brett would really appreciate all the voluntary helpers that can assist. Our local show could not happen without its team of volunteers.

The local show is an annual highlight for a town and district. Agricultural produce is a feature, but it is also a great place to catch up with friends and appreciate the loosening of COVID restrictions.

We hope the Royal Bathurst Show 2021 will be one to remember.

Please remember to take your fleeces in now for the wool section. All instructions can be had from the show office.

RESULTS from Sydney Royal Show have given recognition to the Gilmore family at Oberon, Rick Hoolihan's Glen Esk Corriedales at Rydal and Hollow Mount Merinos at Bigga and every award is a tribute to our farming industry.

Royal Bathurst Showgirl representative Steph Ferguson was a close runner-up in the Sydney event and she has been a great ambassador for our city and district.

RECENT RURAL NOTEBOOK COLUMNS:

COUNTRY people across our district have recognised an excellent achievement by young Bathurstian Reece Webster.

He took out the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW meat breeds sheep young judges state title at the Sydney Royal.

Reece is studying at UNE Armidale and has been showing sheep at Sydney Royal for almost a decade and judging sheep statewide.

He credited his Bathurst grandparents for much of his support. They operate the Cotties Run stud on the Oberon road and Reece has modelled his stud breeding skills from them.

CONGRATULATIONS to a couple of Bathurst residents.

Peg and Frank Farrell of Marsden Lane are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

They've been heavily involved in our city's business, school and sporting activities for many decades. Congratulations to great friends from lots of country people.

Birthday congratulations to Robert Rooke, who turns 80 today. A lot has changed in those 80 years, Rookie; 1941 models are now officially antiques.

MEDIA reports from store cattle sales at Leongatha and Yea in Victoria would match the sentiments of both buyers and sellers of cattle in our area during recent sales.

Quotes were:

THE years roll on and I can only wonder where the almost 30 years have gone since the first Rural Notebook column appeared in the Western Advocate.

The first copy mentioned the 180 million sheep in Australia, a four million bale wool stockpile and the end of many drought years.

At that stage, we operated under strict Australian Workers' Union rules - certainly no shearing work out of hours or on weekends and females in woolsheds were a rarity.

Sheep types have changed greatly, with most of the heavy skinned, leathery sheep being eaten long ago.

The girl shearers, wool handlers and classers, meanwhile, are some of the very best at their trade.

An unwritten law could say that a retirement age of 75 should apply to all office holders in public positions and that contributors to newspapers should hang up their pens if they're lucky enough to turn 80.

OUR nation's recovery from COVID restrictions is remarkable and it has happened quickly in spite of distractions in Canberra that are serious and need to be addressed out of the glare of the public spotlight.

A pause in the take-up of COVID vaccine is understandable, but it hasn't affected the streams of tourists to towns and country cities across the state.

The major hold-ups on highways linking the Central West to the Sydney metropolis must cause travellers to avoid the trip (in either direction) at times of heavy traffic.

All of our towns are obviously much busier than they have been in past years and candidates for council elections in about 20 weeks must be thinking hard of their policies when canvassing for votes.

Talks of major highway tunnels, a southern bypass of the Blue Mountains townships or a traffic light-free dual highway are each worthy of council and government consideration.

Surely the first essential is councils that work as a team and mayors of our Central Western region who can lead their teams and work with other mayors and both federal and state members.

Road access across the Mountains is an absolute priority for every resident.

WEEK 42 saw wool sales resume after the Easter recess.

By the end of the week, we had seen the Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) move down nine cents a kilogram to 1291c/kg and rise in US dollar terms by 0.8 per cent.

Super fine wool types were big movers with some gains of up to 60c/kg.

AWTA (Australian Wool Testing Authority) testing numbers are showing 15 per cent less wool of 18.5mic and finer have been tested so far this year.

One would suggest that this is due to the sensational grazing season that we are experiencing and thus the clip broadening up slightly and thus less supply of these finer wools.

On the broader end of the merino micron spectrum, these types eased for the first two days and then on the last day at Melbourne, these types firmed up and finished up to 20c dearer compared with the previous day's close.

Crossbred wools remain stagnant, with the poorly prepared clips receiving big discounts compared with the better prepared clips.

China is still the predominant buyer of Australian wool, with February exports up 64 per cent year on year.

Week 43 sees an estimated offering of 45,544 bales compared with only 24,974 bales in the same sale last year.

GEORGE had been bitten by a savage dog and diagnosed with rabies.

He asked the doctor for a pen and paper.

Doc told George he didn't need to write a will just yet, but George replied: "Oh no, doc, I just want to make a list of people I want to bite."

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"I ACCEPT that there are two sides to every argument," she told the divorce judge, "my side and the twit's."

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"ONE of the Ten Commandments said Honour your Father and your Mother," the faith teacher told the class of 10-year-olds. "Can anyone tell me a commandment that involves your brothers and sisters?"

One young girl was quick with: "Thou shalt not kill."