WHEN Western Sydney University announced it would be suspending all courses at the Lithgow campus from the beginning of this year it was a development not unexpected but nonetheless disappointing.
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"Hopefully it's just temporary" was the optimistic wish of many but reality has sunk in with a meeting of various bodies in something of a 'think tank' to toss around possibilities for future use, even if in the eventual short term, of a magnificent facility.
Before WSU entered an agreement with council to lease the old library building - the Hoskins Institute - for a dollar a year peppercorn rental it was anything but magnificent, neglected for years, even before the library relocated.
The university spent millions transforming the landmark site into a high class modern educational facility.
But the lofty ideals of pathway courses to more formal academic studies never a attracted the hoped for enrolments, both locally and across the region, in numbers to remain viable.
Only nursing attracted worthwhile numbers.
So what now? Perhaps some day the situation will change in Lithgow's educational requirements. Until then no one wants to see such a facility sitting idle.
Council owns the building and clearly benefited from the university investment but SWU still holds a lease until 2032.
NOTE: Lithgow University of Notre Dame facility does not face enrolment challenges. It provides rural medicine training for final year medical students from the main Sydney campus near St Vincent's Hospital.
Their fond memories
LITHGOW lost two well respected prominent citizens at the weekend and the community will be poorer for the loss Mary Craig became a household name in a bygone era with her upmarket Mary Craig Fashions boutique located in the vicinity of today's Telstra Shop. She and her late husband, Bill, also operated a taxi service and ran cattle on their property at Bowenfels. She also became a home town 'media star' with several years as the busy social columnist for the Lithgow Mercury, attracting a huge following.
Then we lost John Barlow, best remembered for his tireless efforts fund raising for charity organisations and revelling in his reputation as a ''master barbecue cook'.
His charity work with Lithgow Lions and with the RSL sub branch earned him an Order of Australia Medal in the Australia Day honours list. In his earlier working life he was the manager of the Lithgow branch of the Commonwealth Bank and a country hotelier. Both will be sadly missed.
Your support is needed
IT'S that time of year again when people of goodwill should be considering what they can do to ease the plight of those less fortunate - men, women and children - who suffer the most in the winter chill. Make no mistake, the need is real in our community as 'real' Winter tightens its grip.
Support organisations are again seeking donations of blankets, rugs and warm clothing for children and adults. While you're snug and warm take time to consider the needs of those for whom Winter is a real misery. The need is real and the need is now.
On camera
GRAFFITI vandals are currently demonstrating their mentality all over town but when they left a stupid scrawl on the Tatts Hotel wall in Gallery Lane it was in viewing distance of security cameras.
Wonder if anyone ever checks these things. Meantime, other dopes were out and about in Lithgow's Hassans Walls Road Friday night spattering parked cars with eggs. Really clever!
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