On September 3 the Orange Private Hospital section of the Bloomfield Medical Centre was revealed to be twice as big as planned.

The hospital will now occupy two floors, instead of one, of the seven-storey BMC Tower on Forest Road and include space for seven operating theatres, 34 ward rooms and six high-dependency rooms, with plans to open the facility next Easter.

On October 8, a plan to re-zone the former Orange abattoir site and farming land to create a 450-lot housing development was been lodged with Orange City Council.

The Rosedale Gardens Estate, on Clergate Road would ultimately have one and two-acre housing lots with open space, but the biggest construction news for the month was announced 10 days later.

A $685 million expansion of the Cadia mine was announced on October 18, building a new panel cave plus plant expansion has already created 100 jobs in the planning stages, leading to "hundreds more jobs" in the construction stages.

Orange will benefit from increased demand for housing for the staff and flow-on effects for retail shops. A further $185 million expansion is also planned for approval in 2020.

The construction boom wasn't all good - on October 6 the total amount owed to people caught in the GreenBuild Group/Wentworth Homes collapse increased to $2.236 million, according to the latest update.

A list of known creditors has been sent out to tradespeople, home owners and other bodies affected by the collapse of the Orange building company which went into voluntary liquidation on August 15.

Initially the amount owed to 47 creditors was listed at $629,000.

However, the latest list, dated September 23, said there were now 64 creditors owed $2,236,461.

Orange and Central West building companies including plumbers, kitchen and cabinet makers, concretors, tilers, roof frame and truss suppliers and electricians are on the list.

On the sporting field, one of Orange's brightest young stars took another step up the ranks of Australia's cricket ladder when Phoebe Litchfield signed with Sydney Thunder on October 10.

The 16-year-old Kinross student made the most of her call-up, too, hitting her first half-century alongside Alex Blackwell and more than holding her own on the national stage.

She made 26 in her debut and then a record-setting, unbeaten 50 in her second game, before heading back to English class for period one on Monday at school.

As one talent spread her wings, a favourite son came home as on October 5 Orange CYMS were bolstered with the news Dan Mortimer would be returning to captain-coach the club in 2020.

The former NRL star has been out of the game for a year, but will link with his brothers and return to his junior club.

While on the NRL, many from Orange jumped aboard the Jack Wighton bandwagon as the Lucknow local and Raiders five-eighths lined up in the NRL Grand Final against the Roosters on October 6.

While Wighton's Raiders couldn't overcome the Roosters, a horde of fans, young and old, made the trek down to Sydney over the long weekend.

Meanwhile on October 19, the Mudgee Dragons announced they'd be appealing three years' worth of suspensions handed down after the Group 10 grand final.

Mudgee premier league team manager Mick Condon will also have to successfully complete a referee's course prior to attending rugby league games in Group 10 again in 2021.

Dragons prop Tom Shearman was banned until the end of the 2020 season and fined $1000. The bans were upheld.

On October 27, police launched an investigation into a fight which occurred at a touch football game at Waratahs.

Meanwhile, the Central West donned their berets on October 30 and hosted France in Parkes, going down in a close, fiery clash.

The Rams had the chance to salvage a draw after the siren at a packed Jock Colley Field on Wednesday night but halfback Chad Porter couldn't bring his kick around from the sideline as France scored a 22-20 win.

On October 9, Wentworth Golf Club members supported a memorandum of understanding set to be drawn up ahead of a potential amalgamation with the Orange Ex-Services' Club.

A meeting of more than 200 people, including members of both clubs, agreed to take the next step in the process that could ultimately lead to the Ex-Services' Club running the Wentworth golf course.

Wentworth general manager James Bale said once the memorandum was drawn up Wentworth members would then vote on whether to amalgamate or remain as a standalone club.

On October 24 Orange City Council announced it would ask for community comment on whether to grant A Day on the Green $60,000 to secure the event for at least the next three years.

A report to councillors on said $160,000-worth of work was needed to prepare Heifer Station for the event, including the required two hectares of viewing area and capacity for 10,000 people, seven hectares of parking space, a level stage area with the ability to cater for semitrailers unloading stage equipment and areas for artists.

It proposed $40,000 this financial year and $10,000 in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 financial years to help stage the event at Heifer Station, taken from the former Evocities budget and major event sponsorship money.