Denis Smith WE must practise the distant early warning technique to raise awareness of coming events. Now that the COVID threat seems to be shrinking to manageable proportions we should turn our thoughts to the traditional show season and the need to present trotting/harness racing in one form or another - actual racing or exhibitions - at these traditional, annual fairs. In the not too distant past, trotting was the excitement factor at these gatherings, which were very heavily supported by exhibits of local farm produce and high class farm animals, all of which were presented with the same level of showroom shine as a new car.
Premium Content THE 2011 floods in Ipswich were not a first for Blair MP Shayne Neumann. As a boy living with his family in Trumper St, East Ipswich in 1974, he experienced the devastation inflicted on a city unprepared for such an environmental disaster. With his own house under more than two metres of water in 74, Mr Neumann s family fled to North Booval, only to be forced to evacuate a second time when the Bremer River rose there. He still remembers the vital contribution made by then-councillor Des Freeman and his wife Colleen in helping flood victims. The ability of the community to help its own is a theme that still resonates.