David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Rolling pins were tossed and bricks were thrown through the air at this year's 59th Stroud Brickthrowing Competition. It's an annual competition that started in 1960 when the brickmaking cities of Stroud in England and Stroud in the United States formed the competition. With the participation of Stroud in my electorate, the event is still going strong. International representatives from those countries were present, and Karen Hutchinson from the Stroud Brickthrowing Association said the competition was growing every year and the organisers were thrilled that, in its 59th year, an estimated 3,000 locals and visitors from nearby Newcastle and surrounding communities attended. Whilst I had no success myself in throwing the brick—I had three goes; it's my second appearance—it is now on my CV that I am an international brick throwing competitor. I wish them well in the future.

I was really pleased also to see that the work on repairing the tennis courts following the devastating floods in April 2015 is proceeding apace, courtesy of a federal government grant, with new tennis courts and new change rooms and facilities, and a new multi-purpose centre is also going to be built to replace the two buildings that were literally washed away along with most of the other showground facilities in that devastating flood in 2015. Congratulations!