Community service honoured

(Photo: Stuart Carless)

FIFTEEN people who have served the Bega Valley community in a voluntary capacity over a long period of time were honoured this week in Bega.

The Bega Valley Shire Council administrator, Mr Rod Calvert, presented Bega Valley Shire Medallions to six women and nine men at the Bega Valley Regional Gallery on Wednesday.

Recipients are Pat Thogerson (formerly of Candelo), Jim Eadie (Bega), Phil McGrath (Eden), Evelyn Hines (Pambula Beach), Allan Whiter (Eden), Ron Stafford (Kalaru), Bryson Banfield (Springvale), Fay Troy (Bega), Yvonne Hawke (Wyndham), Hugh Kinkead (Bega), Joy Masterson (Wandella), Howard Hutton (Tura Beach), Betty Koellner (Tathra), Robert Anderson (Wolumla) and Col Blacka (Wolumla).

Mr Calvert said the recipients had helped make the Bega Valley Shire a better place in which to live and thanked them, on behalf of local residents, for their contribution to the community.

“We do appreciate what you have done and are doing for us all,” he said at the ceremony.

Mr Calvert, who introduced the Bega Valley Shire Medallion last year, said communities were successful, happy, united and strong, not basically because they had good roads, fine public buildings, effective administrative structures and a good football team.

He said it was also because they had people who bound them together; people who provided leadership and guidance; people who provided love and care; people who were prepared to work beyond their own interests for the good of their community; people who had e a vision of the way things could be better and who were prepared to o something about it.

“We are fortunate to have many such people in the Bega Valley Shire,” Mr Calvert said.

“We are even more fortunate to have some of them with us today.”

He said the Bega Valley Shire Medallion was intended as a way of saying thank you to those people “who have contributed so much to the community, people who so often are not properly thanked for their service”.

He said it was also intended to encourage people to think of themselves as much as residents of the Bega Valley Shire as residents of a particular town or village.

“While I have no problem with people identifying themselves as Bega-ites, Tathra-ites, Eden-ites or Merimbula-ites, I think it is important that we recognise that if this part of the world is to succeed, to progress, to thrive, we must all work together and take pride in our shire.

“We are a little part of a big world and we need to work together.

“Inter-town jealousies and rivalries must be put aside if we are going to thrive and prosper in the future,” he said.

A total of 24 people now have received the Bega Valley Shire Medallion with the first nine recipients announced in September last year.

Mr Calvert said the amount of interest being shown in the award had been due very much to the efforts of the Bega Valley Shire Medallion working group - Edna Duncanson, Norma Allen, Mary Cocks and Bruce Hetherington.

“Their combined experience and knowledge of the shire and its people is immense and they have brought all this knowledge and experience to bear in a very useful way,” he said.

“They have continued to serve the community beyond the call of duty and I wish again to record my appreciation of their efforts,” Mr Calvert said.

Pat Thogerson

Pat Thogerson and her husband Poul, lived in the Bega Valley Shire for nearly 40 years before moving to Tasmania last December.

Pat was involved with a number of organisations locally, including Tulgeen, Bega Valley Arts Council, Friends of the ABC, the Breast Cancer Support Group, the Bega Environment Network Centre and the Tantawanglo Protection Association.

She also served on Bega Valley Shire Council.

Pat has been described as a truly committed conservationist and a tireless worker for Aboriginal reconciliation.

Jim Eadie

Jim Eadie of Bega has served the community for more than 50 years.

He has been a member of the Bega Town Band for 52 years, received the Queen’s Medal in 1980 for long service to the NSW Volunteer Fire Brigade and helped raise $100,000 for new equipment in the Bega Hospital’s High Dependency Unit.

A talented sportsman with trophies for cycling, football and surf lifesaving in the 1940s and 50s, Jim has also dedicated thousands of hours to local sporting organisations.

He was a foundation member of the Wallagoot Lake Sailing Club and helped start the George Bass Surf Marathon.

He was an examiner and judge for the Surf Life Saving Association of Australia as well as Far South Coast Branch Superintendent.

He is a life member of the Tathra Surf Life Saving Club and the Far South Coast branch.

Jim was president of both the Bega District Jockey Club and the Bega Rugby League Football Club for many years; club delegate to Group 16 Country Rugby League for three years and vice president of Group 16 for three years.

He was made a life member of Group 16 in 1999 and continues to make an enormous contribution as senior vice president and management sub-committee member.

Ron Stafford

Ron Stafford has served the community, unselfishly, for more than 50 years.

Ron was involved with the Tathra Beach Reserve Committee for 40 years, donating building materials and trucks for cartage during numerous working bees and enabling the caravan park to be developed into what it is today.

He was also instrumental in securing funds to assist with the preservation of the Tathra Wharf.

He has been an active member of the Jellat Jellat Bushfire Brigade for more than 50 years, helping to fight the disastrous 1952 bushfires in the Bega Valley and making his employees and equipment available in times of emergency.

Ron was a member of the Lawrence Park Trust during the 1950s and 60s; foundation president and long-serving member of the Tathra and District Historical Society; and a foundation member of the Bega-Tathra Conservation Society.

He has worked as a collector for the Salvation Army and was a member of the Jellat Jellat Primary School committee from 1956 until the close of the school in 1974.

Ron also helped establish the Wallagoot Lake Sailing Club, has been a stalwart of the Tathra Rugby League Football Club, demonstrated his brick-making skills at numerous festivals and fun days and, with the help of his wife, Doreen, taught young people the basics of old time dancing, enabling them to participate in debutante balls.

Bryson Banfield

Bryson Banfield is well known throughout the region for his community work over the past 20 years.

He was president of the Bega Pre-School for four years, president of Bega-Tathra Mini Soccer for four years and a group leader of the Bega Scouts for two years.

He was president of the Bega Small Bore Rifle Club for two years and secretary/manager of the Buckajo-Springvale Bush Fire Brigade for six years, president of the Far South Coast Hockey Association for six years and a member of the local Apex Club for 18 months.

Bryson is particularly well known for his involvement with the Lions Club of Bega and the construction of the town’s multi-purpose walking and cycling track which has been described as a wonderful community asset.

Fay Troy

Fay Troy of Bega spends hundreds of hours every year helping people less fortunate than herself.

Her efforts are particularly inspiring when you consider that she overcame polio as a child, raised a large family and worked until retiring age.

Fay has assisted with remedial reading at Bega West Primary School for the past seven years and has taught scripture at Bega West and Bega Primary for the past five years.

She worked as a Tulgeen volunteer for six years, teaching clients how to cook and budget and also taking them shopping.

She has volunteered one day a month for the past four years at the Bega Valley Regional Gallery.

Fay has assisted a local cancer patient with her rehabilitation by taking her walking four times a week for the past year and for the past four years has worked as a respite carer for an intellectually disabled man and for a woman on a dialysis machine.

She also takes several elderly people to church.

Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson has been involved with a number of different organisations in Wolumla over the past 40 years including the school, the hall committee, the church and the Recreation Ground Trust.

His service to the community through the town’s Rural Fire Service Brigade is particularly commendable and last year saw him awarded the prestigious National Medal.

Bob has been a member of the brigade since 1956, spent 17 years as captain and is still deputy captain.

He has gained respect over the years for his personal energy, his quiet leadership and his ability to steer the Brigade through difficult times.

Col Blacka

Col Blacka has been a member of Wolumla’s bushfire brigade for 40 years and has served as vice-president.

After moving to Wolumla from Bega in 1960, he helped establish the Wolumla Public School P & C Association and served as secretary for almost 10 years until his children moved on to high school.

He has been on the Wolumla Hall Committee for almost 40 years and has served as secretary for more than 30 years, a position he still holds.

He has been a member of the Kameruka, Bega and Merimbula Parish Councils and has been a warden at Wolumla’s Anglican Church for more than 30 years.

He has also been a long-standing member of the Wolumla Recreation Ground Trust, helping to turn a block of land into a quality sporting facility enjoyed by hundreds of people every year.

Col also played a major hand in last year’s restoration and rededication of the Wolumla War Memorial and was president of the committee behind the project.

Joy Masterson

Joy Masterson has lived and worked in the Wandella region all her life.

She has been a dedicated member of the Cobargo Show Society for more than 25 years and has been a needlework and craft judge at numerous agricultural shows.

She has also been a member of the Cobargo Horse and Trail Riders Club, the Bermagui Surf Life Saving Club, the Bermagui Country and Western Club and the Bermagui Historical Society.

She is particularly well known for her efforts in relation to the Wandella Hall and has been secretary/treasurer of the Wandella Hall Committee almost continuously since 1968 and has been a driving force behind its restoration.

She has organised numerous fundraising functions and other activities at the hall and is currently working towards the erection of a memorial plaque in the hall grounds for veterans of the first and second world wars.

Betty Koellner

Betty Koellner has lived in Tathra for the past 70 years and, according to her nomination, few women, if any, have done more for the well-being of Tathra residents.

Betty was involved with the Tathra Surf Life Saving Club for many years, filling executive positions but also training young Nippers and then taking them to compete in Sydney and Gosford.

She was president of the Tathra Hall Committee for 20 years and managed all the bookings for the hall between 1960 and 1980.

She also played a major role in the restoration of the Tathra Wharf organising numerous fundraising activities including a fun park on Andy Poole Drive between 1977 and 1984.

She was the first president of the Tathra Country Club, has been involved with Tathra Meals on Wheels for the past 20 years and the St Vincent de Paul

Society for the past 15 years.

She has been president of Legacy, the Tathra Public School P & C Association, the Day View Club and the Catholic Church’s care group.

She has also been a member of the Tathra Area Committee, has organised indoor bowls for Tulgeen people and has helped with the daycare group at the Tathra Retirement Village.

Phil McGrath

Eden’s Phil McGrath was nominated for his efforts in getting the Eden Historic Cemetery Committee off the ground after three attempts.

Evelyn Hines

Pambula Beach resident, Evelyn Hines, was nominated for her work with the Imlay District Nursing Home’s Op Shop in Pambula.

Allan Whiter

Allan Whiter has been a prominent member of the Eden community for many years.

Yvonne Hawke

Yvonne Hawke’s community involvement has been described as “prolonged and wide-ranging” in the Wyndham community.

Hugh Kinkead

Hugh Kinkead was nominated for his work with the Merimbula Hospital Auxiliary over a very long period of time. He is now 96 -years of age.

Howard Hutton

Howard Hutton of Tura Beach has served the community over a long period of time unselfishly and with little fanfare.

Our picture shows medallion recipients with the Bega Valley Shire Council administrator and Medallion Working Group (back row, from left) Ron Stafford, Col Blacka, Phil McGrath, Robert Anderson, Howard Hutton, Rod Calvert (administrator), Allan Whiter, Jim Eadie, Bryson Banfield, Yvonne Hawke, Edna Duncanson and Mary Cocks (working group), Hans Thogersen (on behalf of his mother, Pat). (Front row) Norma Allen (working group), Betty Koellner, Joy Masterson, Hugh Kinkead, Fay Troy and Evelyn Hines.

(Photo: Stuart Carless)