Afour-legged furry friend starts school at CPS

Cobar Public School (CPS) has welcomed lots of new faces to the school this year, including one very cute therapy dog.

Alby, an almost two year old Labradoodle (half Labrador, half Poodle), has joined the CPS team after recently completing an intensive clinical training course with Therapy Dogs Australia.

Research has shown that therapy dogs in schools have many benefits for both students and staff.

As CPS did not previously have access to animal assisted therapy to support their students emotionally and academically, one of the school’s teachers, Edyn Maybury, volunteered to train her dog Alby.

Alby and Miss Maybury recently graduated as a certified Human-Canine Clinical Therapy Team.

Alby can provide companionship and emotional comfort to students, assist in practising socialisation, reduce sadness, stress, and loneli- ness, as well being used as a motivational tool for students.

Alby will be based in Miss Maybury’s MultiCategorical class while she is teaching, and he will also be able to visit other classes when Miss Maybury is off class.

As Miss Maybury is the only certified handler at CPS, he’ll be with her at all times when he is at school.

Alby will be involved in school events and assist Miss Maybury on playground duty.

To begin with, Alby will be working alternately two days one week and three the next. s not working, Alby likes spending time at home hanging out with his younger sister Scout (who also has aspirations of joining the Therapy Dog Team when she’s old

Alby also likes exercising at the Newy and s regularly at Gumnuts Café on Saturday mornings waiting for pats and has requested Puppachinos be permanently added to their

If you see Alby out and about, Miss Maybury welcomes you to come up and say ‘Hi’.

Service medal for local firefighter

Fire and Rescue NSW Cobar Station 256 acting captain, Alex Lennon, was presented with a National Emergency Services Medal on Monday night at the Cobar Fire Station.

The medal is awarded to persons who have rendered significant service during nationallysignificant emergencies in Australia.

Acting Captain Lennon received the honour in recognition of his firefighting efforts during the Black Summer Bushfires in the Blue Mountains in December 2019/January 2020.

Cobar Public School teacher Edyn Maybury with her very cute Labradoodle, Alby. The pair have recently undergone Animal Assisted Therapy Human-Canine Clinical Team Training and will use their skills to help students and staff at the school. ▪ Contributed

2 Marshall St | 6836 2102 | cobarrsl@bigpond.com

FRIDAY AT THE CLUB

RAFFLES & Black beer club

Weekend RAFFLES

Saturday 3.30pm

Meat Trays & Hot Chooks

Sunday 1pm

Punter’s Club: Alan & Whip to bet

The then deputy captain and the Cobar station’s Black Panther Bulk Water Tanker, were tasked, along with other Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters, firefighters from NSW National Parks and Wildlife as well as staff from the NSW Forestry Corporation, to defend the 130 year old Jenolan Caves House, which they did, successfully!

Bushfire control work carried out

Cobar, Euabalong West, Nymagee and Louth are among 21 towns and villages in Far West NSW which have been identified as in need of bushfire control work.

Crown Lands and the Rural Fire Service have been working together to undertake safety work in various outback communities as the normally dry and arid landscape has undergone significant vegetation growth following ongoing rain.

Crown Lands Executive Director of Land and Asset Management Greg Sullivan said ongoing wet weather linked to repeated La Nina weather conditions has seen many parts of the Far West’s normally dry and barren areas transformed with dense vegetation growth.

“It is quite a natural phenomenon as areas of red dirt transform into a green landscape, but with it comes an increased risk of summer bushfires that now need to be managed,” Mr Sullivan said.

Crown Lands has used aerial imagery to provide a bird’s eye view of vegetation growth further supported by on-ground inspections with the Rural Fire Service to assess and map strategic placement of fire breaks and fire trails.

Rural Fire Service Assistant Commissioner Jayson McKellar said that while wet conditions and green growth have been a welcome change for some communities they have also created increased risk as hot weather dries vegetation creating highly flammable fuel loads.

“This new growth is creating a substantial risk and so we have activated mitigation crews to work on strategic vegetation clearing and management for bush fire preparedness across many Far West communities,” Assistant Commissioner McKellar said.

“The crews will continue to maintain asset protection zones and fire breaks around towns and villages as well as ensuring fire trails are in good shape for response to fires.”