After more than two years of waiting, Ungarie has a new public swimming pool. The State Member for Murrumbidgee Adrian Piccoli and Bland Shire Mayor Tony Lord officially opened the pool. The original pool sustained major structural damage and was deemed unusable prior to the 2007-2008 swimming season. After intense negotiations between the Bland Shire Council and Ungarie residents it was decided to build a new 25 metre concrete pool. The project was worth $400,000 and funded by all three tiers of government with local volunteers ensuring the project was finished and the Ungarie Swimming Club reformed.

Rand

On Sunday March 14, the Rand and District Community Village Market and Fun Day will be held at the Rand Public School between 10am and 3pm. The Rand community invite patrons to attend the family day and enjoy free entertainment including the Scots School Band, belly dancers, the Singing Farmer and many children’s events. There will be a variety of stalls providing home-made cakes, crafts, plants, local wines and produce, olives, jewelry, home-made soaps, beauty products and more. Enquiries can be directed to (02) 6035 0230.

Crookwell

Recent advertisements by the Upper Lachlan Shire Council calling for expressions of interest in leasing land at the Crookwell Aerodrome has drawn interest from as far as Canberra and Sydney. Private plane owners, Aero-Clubs and Gliding Clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to maintaining their costs of operation in major cities. Many other towns in southern NSW have undertaken improvements at their airports resulting in more economic and tourist activity.

Ivanhoe

The NSW Government has declared the Central Darling and Cobar Shires as natural disaster areas following recent rain that caused damage to roads, fencing and other infrastructure. More than 500 kilometres of roads in the Central Darling Shire alone have been damaged and the Sandy Creek Bridge on the Kidman Way south of Cobar has also suffered substantial damage that will need repair. The mayor of the Central Darling Shire, Ray Longfellow said despite the damage, the rain has resulted in the best start to the season in a long time. It is not necessarily the end of the drought though, with consistent and more seasonal rain required to get the region out of eight years of drought.