Citizen of the Year nominees
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Lisa Connors
Approximately four years ago Lisa Connors and Robert Pollock combined to establish the Friends of the James Theatre.
Since then Lisa has chaired the committee of the Friends of the James Theatre with the objective of restoring and refurbishing the historic James Theatre in Dungog.
The work is now largely completed due to the vision and drive of Lisa Connors who led from the front for the whole period.
She worked tirelessly in seeking funding for the restoration.
She applied for, and secured, NSW Government grants totalling at least $80,000 which was done with the encouragement and support of local member George Souris.
She also acted as liaison on the steering committee of the James Theatre Stakes which raised $17,000 for the project.
She successfully guided the planned restoration through the maze of requirements of the NSW Heritage Commission and Dungog Shire Council.
She was closely involved in setting priorities and personally sought and vetted quotes for the work to be undertaken and assisted with the renovations and upgrading as needed.
She tirelessly mustered and led teams of volunteers to carry out seemingly endless tasks from moving fittings and furniture around to painting the new work.
All of this had to be done within the requirements of the financial grants and she ensured that the governance standards were met at all times.
John Copus
John has been involved with many organisations over many years in our local community.
Many of these organisations play a significant role in our community.
He was Dungog Preschool treasurer during the late 1970s
Was involved in both the Dungog Junior Rugby League and Dungog Junior Cricket in the early 1980s
Coached junior tennis with James Hopson and Stuart Gardiner
Committee member of Dungog Swimming Club in the late 1970s and early 80s
Dungog Golf Club and veteran’s gold handicapper, currently still holds this position
Treasurer at Lara Aged Care for eight years, only resigning this year
Dungog Memorial RSL Club, treasurer for 16 years and still holds this position, is also a life member
John has been tireless in his efforts to the RSL Club.
Many hours and extensive commitment on a weekly basis is given voluntarily to ensure the success of the club both financially and managerially.
In addition he gives time willingly to other vital organisations and has managed to uphold all of these commitments through his illness which he experienced during 2014.
Peter Haggarty
Peter has been a member of the Rural Fire Service for 36 years as a stalwart of the Bendolba-Salisbury Brigade.
In July last year he was awarded life membership of the Rural Fire Service in recognition of his long and meritorious contribution, almost exclusively with Bendolba brigade.
This is the highest internal honour which the RFS can confer on one of their 73,000 volunteers.
Less than 1 per cent achieve such recognition.
Peter has always contributed to his local community as long as anyone at Bendolba-Salisbury can remember.
He is always the first member to arrive at the brigade shed when a fire call goes out and has been a very competent tanker driver throughout his service.
He acts as station officer for the brigade which entails cleaning, lawnmowing, minor maintenance, store keeping, replenishment of essential supplies, fuelling vehicles, repairing hoses and taking vehicles for a weekly maintenance trip.
Peter has given outstanding service to the brigade over an extended period of 36 years and his performance of duty has always been exemplary.
Lindy Hunt
Whatever Lindy Hunt does it’s never half-hearted.
She is brash enough to ring up Wayne Bennett and get him to come to Dungog – not once, but three times; being instrumental in helping to raise $22,500 for injured Newcastle Knight’s player Alex McKinnon or ringing large companies to get them to donate whitegoods and furniture to help set up a new home for Kerri Gorton whose house was burnt down.
Lindy has been the secretary of Dungog Junior Rugby League for nearly two years and in that time has left a very favourable impression on the committee, coaches, parents and players.
In the past two years Lindy has sourced nearly $50,000 worth of grant money for the club.
She seemed to know the right contacts to get former Dungog coach Wayne Bennett up to conduct a coaching clinic for the juniors on three occasions and to be guest of honour at a fundraising night for the club in 2013.
On his visit in February this year, he bought with him Alex McKinnon and it was only a few weeks after his visit that he was involved in an accident while playing league and was left a quadriplegic.
Lindy immediately went into overdrive and it wasn’t long before she had helped to organise a fundraiser in Dungog with Danny Buderous as the main guest speaker and Keith Onslow as the emcee for the night.
More than $22,000 was raised and eventually presented to the Alex McKinnon Foundation in early October.
Just prior to the fundraiser, Kerri Gorton lost her home and all her possessions in a house fire.
Not busy enough with a fulltime job, two children and a rugby league fundraiser to organise, she threw her energy into sourcing furniture and whitegoods for Kerri to use in her new rented home.
At the Knights presentation awards on October 9 she received the highest accolade in junior rugby league when she was named Volunteer of the Year for the Newcastle, Hunter and Upper Hunter area.
Janet Lambert
Janet and husband Ken moved to Vacy in the early 1970s and set about becoming part of the community.
Both joined the fire brigade and served on the school of arts hall committee for many years, spending hours in meetings and maintenance.
Janet qualified as a volunteer fire brigade member and after her retirement formed part of an all-female crew which was available at all times, but particularly on weekdays during working hours when many crew members were unavailable.
Janet has been active with the brigade in fire fighting, fundraising and administration.
Janet also joined the Vacy Red Cross and until relinquishing the position last year, was secretary for 27 years.
She was the main co-ordinating and driving force behind the many fundraising activities undertaken by that body.
Her efficiency and skill is match by her superb ability to guide, direct and get along with all the other members, by whom she was and is loved and respected.
The contribution she has made to the community in her years of selfless service cannot be overstated.
Colin Medcalf
Colin has lived in Clarence Town for the past 31 years but prior to this he joined the Air Force at Richmond when he was 18 years old.
During his time in the Air Force he was an air defence officer and he served in Malaysia during the Malaysian emergency in 1960-1962.
He also returned to Malaysia during the Indonesian confrontation in 1965-68.
He completed 29 years of continuous full service to the RAAF before discharge.
He then joined the 26th Squadron reserve for nine years, with a total of 38 years service to the Royal Australian Air Force.
Colin has been a member of the Clarence Town Lions Club for the past 14½ years during which he has served as president, treasurer and barbecue chef.
During his work with the club, Colin has been involved with charity days, the beautification of Clarence Town, supporting local community members and many more.
He has also been a member of the Clarence Town Anzac committee for the past 14 years where he has served in several roles from president to treasurer.
He has taken great pride in being parade commander during his years of service. He has now stepped down from this role but leaves it in great hands.
Colin has been a full bowling member of the Clarence Town Bowling Club for the past 30 years and during this time he has won every club championship, if not once, but several times.
He has also held positions on the club’s board of directors either as a director, or treasurer, a role he has been in for the past six year.
Col was also a member of the Clarence town Rural Fire Brigade in his younger years and during this time dedicated 10 years to being the town’s Santa Claus at Christmas time.
Lynette Moseley
Lyn Moseley has taught several generations of young people from Dungog and surrounding districts during her 31 years of service to Dungog High School as a home economics teacher.
During this time when her two children were young, Lyn involved herself in swimming club, cub scouts, netball and dance, as well as teaching at Sunday school regularly.
Lyn joined Dungog Shire Palliative Care Volunteers in 2006 and became a member of the management committee in 2009.
Three years ago she accepted the position of transport co-ordinator, a position she still holds today.
It is Lyn’s task to place the appropriate volunteer with the client and their family and to juggle their appointment times with car and volunteer responsibility.
Lyn has also been able to source funding to pay for fuel, this coming from the Cancer Council for the last two years.
Lyn has also been a team captain and taken part in the Dungog Shire Relay for Life for a number of years.
Four years ago she agreed to co-chair the organising committee for this event.
With her enthusiasm and organisational skills, we have seen a growth in team numbers and participation from within shire communities, business houses and schools.
Lyn has been a mentor for the Community Kitchen since its inception four years ago.
This is a program particularly for young mothers teaching good, healthy and economical family nutrition in a friendly, non-confrontational environment.
Cuppa and chat is also a group close to Lyn’s heart and for which she works tirelessly.
Conducted on Friday mornings it gathers together the socially isolated, the shut-ins and the lonely from within the community for morning tea and a chat, go on outings and have lunches and dinners.
She has also been totally committed to kids’ games, a program for children from kindergarten to years 6, and has now been running for five years.
It is run in blocks of four weeks, one afternoon a week after school and one full day in the school holidays.
Sports Award
William Fort
In 2013 William Fort attended Paterson Public School in year 6 and represented the Hunter Valley region at the state cricket championships in Bathurst in November last year.
He captained the side and they were runners up in the competition.
From this team he was chosen to represent NSW at the national cricket championships in Bendigo in January 2014.
Will was the highest run scorer for NSW, scoring 190 runs at an average of 47.5, with the highest score of 70 against Queensland.
He was the second highest run scorer for the whole carnival.
Presently Will represents Dungog in the under-14s representative side and is captain.
He has played representative cricket with Dungog since he was 11.
From this team he has been selected to represent Hunter Valley in the last two years at various carnivals.
During last year’s October long weekend he scored his first century in the under-14 rep competition where he retired 105 not out.
He was also captain for Hunter Valley in that game.
Broc Hunt
Broc Hunt was diagnosed as a chronic asthmatic at the age of 10 and it was suggested he take up swimming so he joined Peter Maytom’s squad team at the Dungog pool.
At the beginning of last year Broc started high school and participated in the swimming carnival, breaking four long-standing records.
He then went on to swim at Tomaree in the zone carnival and came first in five events.
Broc qualified for the regional carnival at Maitland in four events and came first in three and second in one. This meant he had made it to the state swimming carnival in four individual events.
At the state meet he qualified in the finals in all these events, leaving him in the top 10 swimmers in NSW for his age group and setting new personal best times for himself.
In the Dungog Swimming Club in the 2013/14 season Broc broke nine standing records for all freestyle events along with the 33 metre butterfly and breaststroke records.
Kenneth Russell
Ken Russell has been involved in and contributed to, a range of sports in the Dungog area for many years.
His sporting activities started when he was eight years old on the tennis court his father built at Monkerai.
Ken’s lifetime commitment to sport and its administration began in 1959 when he was elected president of the Dungog District Tennis Association.
During that time Ken won the Maitland open doubles, was runner-up in the Newcastle doubles and won six A-grade single championships in a row.
By 1967 he has won 22 A-grade championships.
And with all his sporting activities Ken did not just part-take, he also contributed. In 1962 he coached young players in tennis and consequently coached junior rugby league players, taking the under-11s through to their adult years.
At the same time Ken was having similar achievements with the Dungog Athletic Club.
Representing the club, in 1955 he won both the Port Macquarie and Taree medals for one mile and 440 yard events, the one mile, 440 and 220 yard events at both Gloucester and Newcastle.
He came first in the mile in Sydney and was selected to train for the Olympic team.
Ken was also involved with the Dungog Cricket Club and in 1955 moved up to A-grade. For the next 10 years he was the opening batsman for the Dungog Shire team and played in representative teams.
In his spare time he played rugby league for Dungog from 1955 to 1971 and represented the Maitland district 15 times.
Ken joined Dungog Bowling Club in 1969 and has been a championship player and dedicated worker for the club.
He has won more than 100 major championships including six in the Hunter District Bowling Association and two in the NSW state competition.
The Royal NSW Bowls Association awarded him a merit badge, select player badge and a super veteran badge.
Ken was elected to management council of the Hunter District Bowling Association, was selector for zone 6 and manager for all their games from 2002 to 2009.
He became a director of the Dungog club in 1986 and served for 18 years and again became a director in 2006.
For the last 10 years he has been a volunteer greenkeeper and groundsman and has been the club’s games secretary and selector, on and off, for 35 years.