April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness month. It’s about bringing attention to a life-changing disease which is on the rise and connecting people to critical resources. This month-long campaign focuses on an important part of Parkinson’s Disease awareness – educating everyone on the many symptoms which impact daily life and how to address them. Early signs may be mild and may go unnoticed. Symptoms often begin on one side of the body and usually get worse on the same side, even after symptoms begin to affect both sides. Signs and symptoms may include – tremors, trembling of hands, arms, legs, jaw and face, stiffness of the arms, legs and trunk, slowness of movement, poor balance and coordination and speech difficulty. The disease affects over 150,000 Australians, equating to one in 1973 people. Nearly one in 10 people with Parkinson’s are of working age and one Australian is diagnosed every 27 minutes, with up to 19,500 new cases annually. By 2050, Parkinson’s cases are projected to triple.

“Narrabri’s Cameron Park is a popular stopping place for travelling families heading up and down the highway,” a correspondent tells Topical. “The location and facilities are great, but the children’s play equipment needs some safeguards built on. Little kids can easily fall off the raised platform. It would be simple to add a bit of a fence on the platform to make it safe.”

The Anzac biscuit is closely associated with the Anzac soldiers who fought during World War I. The biscuits were sent by wives and women’s groups to soldiers abroad because they had a long shelf life and didn’t spoil easily during transportation. Soldiers consumed these hard tack biscuits as a substitute for bread. Unlike bread though, the biscuits were incredibly hard, so some soldiers even ground them up and ate them as porridge. Many early recipes for Anzac biscuits differ from the modern version.