THERE was no ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ end to this one though as Norm then lost his spare tyre between Krambach and the Wingham turnoff. After he hid his spare in the scrub, Norm recommenced his journey until five kilometres further on he blew two air hoses caused by the spare tyre apparatus swinging freely where it shouldn’t have been. After repairing the hoses Norm headed off again and when he finally made it to the abattoir he discovered one of his ‘passengers’ had gone down in the back of the truck and its leg was protruding outside of the crate.

AFTER unloading his load of stock Norm was homeward bound but when he pulled up to pick up his spare tyre he had to roll it 200 metres to a place where he could load it onto the truck. Just to top things right off by the time our ‘knight in shining armour’ reached Krambach and then Gloucester, both were closed down for the night meaning no tucker to ease a hunger that developed over a 12 hour period which Norm probably won’t forget anytime soon.

COUNCIL quartet Johnny O’Hara, Simeon Cross, Wayne Brennan and chief organiser Steph Sweeney enjoyed last weekend at the ‘big smoke’ where they played a couple of rounds of golf, a game of bowls and then went to the SCG to watch the Swans down St Kilda in the Aussie rules.

APPARENTLY Steph and Johnny gave their more favoured opponents a lesson at match play golf before ‘Simone’ and ‘Brenno’ bounced back to win the bowls. It was between the second game of golf and the bowls where all the fun began after Steph’s son Mitchell went to pick the boys up to transport them from the golf to the bowls.

AT about the same time Mitchell’s girlfriend Anna had pinched his car so ‘Mitch’ borrowed the vehicle of one of his mates to carry out his ‘taxi’ duties. No drama there except it is difficult to fit three people into a ‘mini minor’ but with some strategic manoeuvring they pulled it off. ‘Brenno’ who had secured the passenger seat (because in his own words he was too fat for the back) then suggested to Mitchell they take the scenic route to their next destination. To suggest there were some protests from the back seat would be understating the fact.

HERE at home the council social club held a ‘sports day’ at the Ex Services Club last Saturday where snooker, indoor bowls and darts were all played with one of the highlights a snooker game between Johnny Bell and ‘Stork’ Brazel. Investigations are on-going to determine if the dynamic duo will gain entry into the Guinness Book of records for the longest snooker frame in history.

AT that party it wasn’t all beer and skittles, mainly because there were no skittles, but after sinking a few of the others, Josh Eveleigh became a bit tongue tied when he suggested he wouldn’t mind trying his hand at being a ‘bull driver dozer’. Don’t worry Josh we know what you meant.

FORMER Walcha resident Larissa Levingston, currently living at Geelong, won a division of the ‘Ivanhoe Speed Shear’ a couple of weekends ago. Larissa is a seventh generation shearer who has been shearing in Victoria, South Australia and NSW over the past two years following in the footsteps of her father Peter who has been trimming a few woolly ones for years.

BIG Wigs of the Week: Ex Services - Ray Foster; Prime Meats - Margaret Welling; Mountain Motors - Anthony Michie; Newie - Wayne Brennan, Bob Watts, Victor Coulter (all picked the card); WVS - Sarah Nivison, Kate Laurie; West End Store - Troy Hawkins, Rebecca Jackson, Shannon Duck; Apsley - Bradden Jackson, Johnny O’Hara; Bowling Club - Tom Wicks, Natasha Haines, Barb and Rodger Jamieson, Willie Makeham, Johnny O’Hara, Cheryl Stackman and Di Byrne (all 14 points).

PAKINGTON Street dweller, Knight’s supporter and council rural supervisor Wayne Brennan is in for three weeks of sleepless nights after he picked the card at the New England Hotel last weekend and opened up what seems like an unbeatable 12 point lead in the biggest tipping competition in town. Unless something unforseen happens Brenno should collect the cash especially if he takes all the favourites from here on in-not that would be a hint or anything.

KNIGHTS supporter Kyle Goodwin could have hit the lead at the Bowlies had he taken his beloved Newcastle, but apparently that wasn’t the case and he could have been one of the WVS big wigs but ditched the Knights out there as well. Maybe Kyle’s recent knee operation had some bearing on his selections last week but I’m guessing not.

PRIME Meats tipster Willy Wicks who according to his workmates supports the West Tigers hit rock bottom last week when he failed to score a point. That would be all Willy would want especially after the way his team of choice have performed over the past few weeks both on and off the field.

DRAGON’S fan, Memorial Avenue resident and Ex Services club director Cynthia Ward found herself in a spot of bother recently while collecting wood on the family property at Kentucky. Luckily Cynthia had phone service when she realised one of her relatives had accidently locked her in one of the paddocks. A quick call to her father Thor released the tension although it was a little while later.

NOT that there is much chance of it happening, but Walcha Council could be looking for a new outdoor staff (well at least 20 anyway) if the syndicate formed last Saturday happens to pull off the big $70 million jackpot this week. Just a hunch but there is a really big chance all syndicate members will be lining up for work again next week.

AFTER being quizzed by a few local footy tipsters if I take the same teams in Bowling Club, Ex Services, Newie and Apsley competitions the answer is yes. But they might not necessarily be the same as the ones I take in the Walcha News, as the selections in the paper have to be in by Wednesday morning and things change before the other picks are registered. Pretty well every week there are one or two changes made and no, it is certainly not designed to influence anyone’s selections in the other four competitions.