The annual pilgrimage continues, this year for the 20th time - the North Sydney Bushcare people will be here again this weekend, September 6-8, to plant thousands of trees on local properties.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
To mark this, the occasion of their 20th year, an anniversary dinner will be held at Tulangi 887 Kenyu Road on Saturday night, September 7.
Local landholders who have hosted these wonderful volunteers over the years will be joining the North Sydney Bushcare people, old acquaintances and current participants will share memories and no doubt look at images of 20 years of dedicated environmental work.
Rest assured, these dedicated visitors have helped improve the Boorowa environment, whether it be on rural properties, roadsides or projects closer to town.
One thing is absolutely sure, we should be grateful and appreciative of their efforts.
WITS
After 10 years Mick's wife starts to think their kid looks kinda strange so she decides to do a DNA test, finding that the kid is from completely different parents.
"Honey," she says, "I have something very serious to tell you."
"What's up?" Mick replies.
"According to DNA test results, this is not our kid ..."
"Well you don't remember do you?" replied Mick, "When we were leaving the hospital, you noticed that our baby had pooped. Then you said, 'Please go change the baby, I'll wait for you here', so I went inside, got a clean one and left the dirty one there."
WITS
Alarmingly, educational standards in Australia are in decline.
NAPLAN testing in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 show a marked and worrying trend.
Year 3 results show improvement, in Year 5 grammar and punctuation shows decline, Year 7 decline is apparent in all areas apart from spelling with only a slight improvement in Year 9.
Investment in education has grown aiming at improving standards.
The opposite trend is apparent.
READ MORE: Adjustment will be felt: Word in the Streets
Blame includes curriculum content moving away from core basics and introducing politicised content.
Too much time spent on devices comes into the argument.
There is also a school of thought that for a period students with low university entrance scores were being accepted into teacher training courses.
A survey has shown involvement of Australian parents in their child's learning is much lower than the better performing nations.
James Morrow, writing on this issue made the statement, "With so much arrayed against excellence, it may just be that the only thing standing between mediocrity and our kids is us."
WITS
The idea that the be all and end all of school is to gain entry to university is not necessarily a good notion.
Are you aware there are many people out there with university degrees but not enough jobs that could be termed 'elite' to cater for all the graduates.
A young apprentice working at our place, on being asked why he didn't go to university, replied "I'll finish my apprenticeship and have a trade for life".
I wonder how many university graduates will find their path to vocational Utopia?
Our school system should be streaming students into academic, vocational and in some cases life support programs.
That young apprentice had the right idea seeking a trade course in preference to an academic course.
Good pay while training and no disillusionment with a huge HECS bill.
WITS
A little advice to our kids: Enjoy school, face the challenges and learn from your mistakes. Never be afraid to try something new... remember amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.
