Under “Law and Order” Mr Anderson claims “$5 million for the new Gunnedah Police Station”- where is this new building?

Under “Transport” Mr Anderson states “Progressing the second Gunnedah Overpass”- by my observation he has been doing that for more than five years and there is still no such bridge.

By undertaking some simple maths using the figures Mr Anderson supplied I found that Tamworth Regional Council, with approximately 79.5%  of the population of the electorate received 96% of the funding “achieved” by Mr Anderson, while Gunnedah Shire residents, making up some 16.5 % of the electorate in terms of population, received 3% of the available funds and Walcha Shire residents, some 4% of the electorate in population received a paltry 0.5% of the funding.

We all know that the electorate is, unfortunately, named Tamworth but surely we should expect an equitable share of the funding as Tamworth already benefits significantly from its’ “big brother” status in the region. 

From a Gunnedah Shire perspective I did not find Mr Anderson’s claimed “achievements” of great benefit to our local community. 

Ellen Riley, 

Gunnedah

Unbelievable. There aren't many more excuses left that group 4 first division clubs can use to blame their declining player numbers on.

They have yet again targeted second division, a tactic they have resorted to for the last 3 decades, but still they refuse to look in the mirror or retrace their history to see what they have done or failed to do in the past that has put them in the position that they are in now.

First division clubs have always chased players from rival clubs thus creating groups of mercenary players willing to go to the highest bidder.

This obsession of winning a competition, by chasing players from other clubs, has resulted in less resources be put into player development, caused them neglect their local junior clubs and throwing loyal players on the scrap heap that have been replaced by imports.

Have a look at what happened to the under 16 minor league competition in recent years.

Group 4 second division has over the years have identified short comings within the group and targeted these for the betterment and development of rugby league.

I won't list all the things that have occurred in the past but will state that whenever second division clubs created something good or the number of clubs increased to a level where the first division clubs felt threatened, the rules were changed to maintain a restrictive control of these clubs.

People who play second division do so for many reasons. Some come from the local community, enjoy the relaxed social environment, have work commitments that restrict their training availability, near the end of their career but just want to play in a more social competition with their mates, etc.

Second division must be doing something right for other small town clubs from other groups playing in this competition.

The decline of first division has been ongoing and needs addressing but this idea is not the solution.

No second division club will want to play a first grade side and get be beaten by 50 plus points, they would be better off forfeiting and play the women in league tag with beer and BBQ following which is what the second division is all about.

Tongue in cheek solution, reverse first and second division names and any club that wants to drop back to second division can.

Tony Rankmore

I just thought I would let you know that there was a Gunnedah connection to the latest London incident where the people were run down at the mosque.

Tim Jones from Gunnedah was the first paramedic on the scene.

He was the first rapid response paramedic on the scene and had to deal with the initial chaos.

I am not sending this in for a story but to point out that there are a lot of local people doing good things on the world stage that no one hears about that the town should be very proud of.

Peter Jones,

Gunnedah

For many years I have been researching my family, however many records were destroyed and I am unable to find any details on the Francis family who lived in the Moree area.

My great, great grandmother Jane Francis (nee Dines) is buried at Narrabri Cemetery and her brother Arthur Francis lived at Burren Junction and The Moree Common.

Family history tells me that Jane Francis was an Indigenous child who was adopted by a British squatter by the name of Richard Dines.

My email address is deniserafter@yahoo.com.au and I would be grateful for any information.

Denise Rafter