Last weekend I was so thrilled to attend the NSW Rural Women's Gathering at Walcha.

You may remember that the Forbes NSW Rural Women's Gathering bid committee applied to host the 2020 Gathering in Forbes.

At the Gathering, The Hon Adam Marshall MP, NSW Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW announced that Forbes would be hosting the 2020 NSW Rural Women's Gathering.

The NSW Rural Women's Gathering is an annual weekend event organised by local committees with support from the Rural Women's Network.

The organising committee makes key decisions, develops a theme and the weekend program. Each Gathering reflects the unique culture, industry, tourism and environment of the host community. The theme for Forbes Gathering is.....Forbes Rural Women's Gathering 2020: AMAZING Women With Vision.

Women's Gatherings are for ALL rural women including: farming women; Aboriginal women; women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; mining women; women in the fishing industry; women who live in regional cities, towns and villages; and coastal women.

The Walcha Gathering Committee set an extremely high standard for our Committee to follow, which is a fantastic thing! We were fortunate to be joined by actor Amanda Muggleton (who many younger people would know in her current role with Home and Away and others may know from her role in Prisoner and on stage). Honestly one of the most delightful and entertaining ladies to have as part of the Gathering.

The Walcha Committee had a connection with the Central West, with Anna Barwick (nee Unger) who grew up near Peak Hill, as one of the Committee members.

The Forbes Gathering will be held October 23-25. After the announcement last weekend, we were informed that one dedicated group of attendees have already booked their accommodation! We hope that this event will not only encourage, teach and enthuse women, but also bring a deeper appreciation of our beautiful part of Australia.

The Gathering is being held overlapping with the Orange National Field Days being held October 22-24. As part of the Gathering Commitment, we have a partner's program and the Field Day will be included on Saturday, October 24.

I look forward to telling you more about the Gathering in the year ahead.

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