I recently gave birth on Mother’s Day to my first child.

My husband and I could not be more appreciative of the support and service that was offered to us during our stay.

My husband and I would like to make particular mention of our wonderful obstetrician Dr Sujon Purkayastha and our midwives Bev Artiss and Maryanne Smith, who were attending at the birth.

Over the days I stayed in the unit, numerous other midwives cared for me, with particular mention to Maree Bullock, Di Hurrell, Kathy Staines, Celia Suddull, Lynn Wenham, Angela (agency midwife) and Anita (student midwife).

It would be remiss of me to not mention that I have previously worked with these wonderful women as a student midwife myself, and a lot of people asked me if I was comfortable giving birth at a hospital where I had worked.

My answer? Absolutely, and I would have no hesitation in returning to this wonderful service.

This service would not be possible without excellent management and Liz Simpson certainly runs a smooth operation.

The food services staff were polite and respected privacy when delivering meals and the meals were of very high standard for breastfeeding mothers.

The cleaning staff were also very flexible and worked around whatever time suited the mother.

Overall, my experience of the Goulburn Base Hospital maternity unit was fantastic and I hope by writing this letter to the editor that mothers of Goulburn and surrounds will choose to birth in Goulburn and utilise this wonderful service.

Hidden away at the former St John of God Hospital, now known as the Bourke Street Health Service, is the wonderful hydrotherapy pool, a resource built by the Goulburn community through fund-raising endeavours.

Hydrotherapy is the use of water in the treatment of all forms of emotional and physical rehabilitation.

The use of water for therapy has been around for hundreds of years, as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans, and forms an integral part in many traditional medicine systems.

Without a doubt, the pool is the best place to be for so many people who have need of particular exercise for a wide range of physical rehabilitation.

Not only that, the pool is of enormous benefit emotionally to so many, offering independence for all those who wish to design their own exercise regimes, helping to maintain fitness and mobility.

It is a place where gentle exercise is combined with supportive comraderie  and friendly encouragement, sometimes so necessary just after knee and hip replacements or unfortunate accidents.

Throughout the day there are so many different opportunities for consistent exercise and direction by physiotherapists.

Doing your own thing in the warm, healing water while listening to music is such a special encouragement to just keep on turning up and trusting that the support of the specially maintained water temperature will provide the impetus required when injury or physical demise has occurred.

People from our whole region use the pool constantly and love being able to utilise this truly beneficial community resource.

The manager of Gunlake quarry, Ed O'Neill, should view options other than his own about transporting his rock by road.

First he might like to read the Moree Champion newspaper of May 18 to see what can be achieved on costs by rail as against trucks.

Heavy vehicles on the roads are causing mayhem every day around Sydney on the busiest highway in Australia, the Hume.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared May 31 ‘World No Tobacco Day’. Bravo!

We've known about the link between smoking and cancer for more than 60 years, and any opportunity to remind people to quit is welcome.

But let's not forget that meat, which is much more widely consumed than cigarettes, can also be deadly. 

The WHO ranks processed meats as group 1 carcinogens.

Bacon, ham, and sausages are now in the same category as asbestos, alcohol, arsenic and tobacco as a major cause of cancer.

Red meat more generally is in the 2A ‘probably carcinogenic’ category.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that each 50-gram portion of processed meat eaten daily increases a person's risk of developing colorectal cancer by 18 per cent.

Research also shows that meat-eaters are about 40 per cent more likely to get cancer than people who eat plant-based foods.

Millions of people have improved their health and longevity by quitting smoking, and millions more would live longer and better if they gave up processed and other meats. 

And there's an added benefit: they would help end the confinement, torment and killing of billions of sentient creatures each year for a taste sensation that lasts no longer than a smoke.