The program sends students to either Minokamo in Japan or Wujiang in China.

The students came to the Council Committees meeting last week and gave a presentation on their time overseas and the many wonderful things they experienced.

The Sister City exchange program is a great opportunity for local students to expand their horizons and learn about new cultures and see different ways of living.

The students who went to Minokamo this year were Georgia Benton-Bryant, Alexander Cameron, Emily Exner, Hamish Grant, Natasha Janetzki, Bailey Mountjoy, Sam Neave, Clare Noonan, Finn Palin, Emilee Talbot with chaperones Emilay Philmmachanh and Karen Hagan.

The students who travelled to Wujiang were Jackie Bayley, Emily Bell, Rebecca Kennedy, Claudia Morrison and Dominic Ambler with chaperones Craig Turner and Rebecca Jackson.

Thank you to everyone for being such terrific ambassadors for Dubbo and for sharing your wonderful adventures.

On November 25 the community of Wellington said no to domestic violence.

Students from Wellington Public School and supporters of the Wellington Domestic and Family Violence Collective walked together from the library to the Wellington Remembers Seat in Cameron Park.

The public school students also tied white ribbons on the fence in a show of solidarity.

White Ribbon Day is part of a global movement to end men’s violence against women with the purpose of engaging men to make women’s safety a man’s issue too.

I commend the community of Wellington on tackling the issue head-on.

I hope to see many of you at the launch of Smile! It’s Christmas at the Church Street Rotunda on Monday, December 5.

If you have been around the CBD lately you are sure to have seen the wonderful decorations that have been decking the city.

Many thanks to the Men’s Shed and the team at Westhaven for the wonderful job of making and painting the Christmas decorations. It certainly brings a lot of cheer.

The launch will start at 10.30am at the Christmas tree at the rotunda. There will be some very special guests in attendance and those are the people on this year’s Christmas CBD flags which feature 27 of our community’s Unsung Heroes.

We are proud to have these people representing our community during Christmas and the group of 27 illustrate what a diverse place Dubbo is with 12 different cultures and 8 community groups on display.

A new offering as part of Christmas in Dubbo is the Community Christmas Chill Out and Wrapping Zone.

Located at Dubbo Square the zone is a cool, comfortable place for shoppers to relax and have their gifts wrapped.

Community groups and charities will be doing the wrapping for a donation so come along and support a worthy cause while they take care of your gifts.

First up will be the women from the CWA on Tuesday 6 December and Wednesday, December 7 from 10am to 2pm.

Make sure you have your say on the Dubbo Street Tree Master Plan with the time frame for public submissions extended to December 2.

The plan is crucial to the future of Dubbo and Council wants all residents to have input on how their streets will look.

I would encourage everyone to submit their comments via www.dubbo.nsw.gov.au

- MICHAEL KNEIPP