These schools give a hand up to lots of keen young workers, give excellent tuition and put them in a position to gain work references.

The details of attendees and dates of work days are yet to be finalised, but this column will give contact names and phone numbers as soon as possible.

Wool industry jobs are not for everyone, but they are well paid, have regulated hours and most of your workmates are pretty good company.

Lots of girls work in the woolsheds, some of them are shearers and all of them are very good at their jobs and neat and tidy with the wool.

A CHEERIO call to one of our district's best shearers, Dallas Cosgrove.

Dal has had a battle with a health problems, but is well on the way to recovery.

He is always a great mate to work with, shearing around 200 every day and laughing at all of us.

You have been missed, Dallas.

INCLUDED in the Queen's Birthday Honours List was an Order of Australia medal to well-known Bathurst lady Margaret Hargans.

Margaret has been a long-time volunteer at Bathurst Show Society and a host of other valued causes.

I'm sure many Western Advocate readers will join me to congratulate one of our most respected citizens, Margaret Hargans OAM.

I NOTE the passing of Marian Webster of Rockley, who leaves us with a host of happy memories.

Marian served several terms as an Evans Shire councillor and her commonsense opinions were always appreciated.

She will be missed by her many friends across the district.

NEARLY every day, I'm told of the strong political bias that is displayed by ABC reporters and commentators.

Much of the discussion centres on evening shows: 7.30; Media Watch; Four Corners; Q&A.

From my little corner of the world, it seems that television programs that discuss politics won't attract many viewers unless they favour one side and, of course, "good news never makes a paper sell".

Early morning ABC programs give us 5am news, early AM, rural news, Central West news, market reports and rainfall reports.

Living in a democracy lets us watch Sky News if we don't like ABC programs and neither opinion will change our world while we sleep.

YANCO Agricultural High School just outside Leeton has an enviable record of educational achievement by its rural students.

The recent establishment of a small Merino sheep stud at the school has created much interest as the foundation ewes were sourced from the Toland stud at Violet Town, Victoria that has been a leader in the change of focus from extra heavy wool cuts to genuine dual purpose sheep that can grow top quality wool.

The Toland brothers took portions of the Bindawarra stud flock at Omeo to continue their separate studs.

Victoria Department of Ag sheepo at Bairnsdale, Murray Elliott, was the guiding influence for the Bindawarra stud from its formation in the 1980s.

WITH less than 70 days to local government elections, we are hearing rumblings of possible candidates and several tickets being mentioned.

The age-old rule of "if you think you can do it better than them, don't let fear stop you; put your hand up" should apply in every instance.

From my view, if a Bathurst election was held this weekend I would expect councillors Bourke, North, Christian, Aubin and Hanger to top the poll in that order.

I may be very wrong and candidate numbers will certainly change, but voters usually support councillors who stick to their guns and don't chase rainbows.

Bathurst Regional Council is one of the largest businesses in our region and deserves strong leadership with a council that will work as a team.

Perhaps candidates who won't support teamwork might be better suited to some other type of voluntary work.

QUOTE of the week goes to Sister Robyn McNamara at Gilgandra convent, who told her young grand-niece: "My sister and I used to ride to school on a dinosaur."

Australia All Over listeners all over our nation heard this little tale and it keeps us young at heart.

WEEK 51 of the Australian wool selling series once again opened with a surge as spirited bidding from China, Europe and India continues.

By the end of the week, we had seen a 55ac/kg or nearly four per cent rise in the market and 2.5pc rise in US dollar terms as we saw the Australian dollar weaken against the US dollar.

Fine merino wool continues to be in strong demand with 18 micron and finer lifting up to 90ac for the week and thus dragging 18.5 to 20.0 micron up 70ac.

Broader than 20.5 micron was also dearer, however, there was not as great a rise in these microns, most probably due to the larger supply than normal due to seasonal conditions, increasing average micron overall.

It seems that the world is awakening from the pandemic and merino wool is in vogue as consumers want to get out and about.

Sportswear and "on the skin" apparel is very popular.

Wool will come out of the pandemic in a much better space in the eyes of the consumer.

It's clean, green and a magnificent fibre.

April Australian Bureau of Statistics export figures show an increase of 623pc to India in April 2021 compared with April 2020 and 519pc into the Czech Republic for the same months.

The crossbred side of the market is slowly improving. In the last three weeks, we have seen a lift of around the 30ac/kg clean mark; let's hope that with current merino price levels, this continues to head north.

Week 52 of the series sees an estimated offering of 34,600 bales in Sydney and Melbourne.

DAD noticed two boys playing backyard cricket with a shiny red Kooka ball.

"Are you sure it was lost?" he asked.

"Of course it was," Jimmy replied. "We watched all the Oberon team looking for it."

***

"WHY do you call George the Exorcist?" she asked.

"Every time he visits our house, all the spirits seem to have gone," she was told.

***

AS we near another Census: the cockie read the question "length of residence in Australia" and answered 34.25 metres.