Port Macquarie Primary School pupils, Keith Williams and Richard Newman, have won state honours for their cricket ability.

The two boys were members of the North Coast XI which last week won the State Primary School Cricket Championship at Wagga.

Twelve teams, including three from Sydney, competed for a week before the North Coast side came out victors.

Keith and Richard have been congratulated on their effort.

Keith is the son of Mr and Mrs George Williams and Richard is the son of Mr and Mrs Terry Newman. Both families are well known Port Macquarie identities.

Caravan Park Upgrade

The managing director of Parkland and Properties, Mr A Parkes, said the chain of parks, including that [Caracamp] in Port Macquarie, was to be upgraded to satisfy the 150,000 caravan owners who take to the roads of Australia each year.

"Essentially, the caravan park business is under-capitalised and lacking sophisticated promotion skills. Major complaints were about unclean parks and toilets, insufficient facilities and lazy or authoritarian managers."

Sundowner - the group's new name - hopes to change all this.

Conservation Seminar

The University of New England held a seminar on conservation in Port Macquarie at the weekend.

Part of the time was devoted to a field inspection of various points around town.

Professor John Burton said that in the Hastings district all forms of local industry, including tourism, depended on the natural resources.

"Very careful" planning was needed to avoid a major conflict in time between the natural attributes and man's development and this needed a community effort.

"Do it yourselves", he said. "Don't expect the government and other outside bodies to do it for you."

High School principal retires

The retiring principal of Port Macquarie High School, Stan Condon, is known in the New South Wales Education Department as one of the most able administrators and educationalists within the state's secondary school system.

This was one of a number of glowing tributes paid to Mr Condon at a public function in the Catholic church hall on Monday night, to mark his retirement at the end of this school term after 42 year service.

Arranged by the Parents and Citizens Association, the function was chaired by its president, Dr N.E. McLaren.

In acknowledging the tributes paid to him, Mr Condon said "a good slab out of my life" has been given to education over four decades.

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