Prue Fleming is Citizen of The Year

PRUE Fleming’s invaluable contribution to the community was recognised during the Australia Day celebrations at Foster, when she was announced as the Corner Inlet Citizen of the Year 2012.

Prue’s long term involvement in the fundraising activities of the South Gippsland Hospital Auxiliary, most recently as Vice President, her support and organisational skills in preparations for the Prom Coast Seachange Festival, her participation in FAMDA over many years, and her tireless efforts as a committee member and Steward of the Foster and District Show were all mentioned in her citation.

Not only has Prue been invaluable as a committee member for the Show but she has been a marvellous exhibitor, culminating in her winning the Mary McDonald Trophy in 2009 for earning the most points across all sections of craft and cooking.

Her citation also praised her long involvement in the local Uniting Church, saying it had been much appreciated by all those to whom she has shown such care and love.

A very worthy recipient, Prue’s nomination was supported most vigorously and enthusiastically by each of the community organisations with which she is involved, all of whom are convinced she will represent the Corner Inlet community most admirably.

In accepting her award, Prue said that she was truly honoured to have been nominated and was very grateful to all those responsible for her nomination.

Fish Creek CFA’s Mick Dorling, last year’s Corner Inlet Citizen of the Year, was at the Australia Day celebrations to pass the baton to Prue.

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS

Two community service awards were also presented at the Corner Inlet Australia Day celebrations. They went to the very deserving Pieter Berghoef and Eva Hendrie.

Pieter has, on behalf of many organisations including the Toora Lions Club, raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years. This quiet achiever has for many years been actively involved in all facets of the Lions Club, and along with his wife Sylvia has been a driving force behind the Toora Uniting Church. There is barely a committee in the area which Pieter has not been a part of, and his dedicated efforts in assisting the community are much admired and respected.

Eva Hendrie is much admired for her work with the Uniting Church, the Welshpool Red Cross, Junior Red Cross, Welshpool Memorial Hall Committee, the CWA and South Gippsland Hospital. Selflessly generous and always ready to assist those in need, Eva has been involved with Red Cross for over 50 years, organising Music Days at Welshpool and running Junior Red Cross, and has spent countless hours baking for charity. Eva has raised thousands of dollars for charities such as Orana, Vision Australia and the Bible Society.

Already the recipient of a well-deserved OAM, Eva has now been given recognition on a local level for her dedication to the Corner Inlet community. She expressed her gratitude, adding that she derives a great deal of enjoyment in what she does, therefore finding that it requires very little effort.

Corner Inlet Australia Day committee chair Margaret Haycroft officiated as MC and did a splendid job ensuring the day ran smoothly. She commented that in such a relatively small community it was wonderful to have in attendance two local recipients of the Order Of Australia – Eva Hendrie and Ros Bryan (who received her OAM in recent years for her work with the RSL). Ros Bryan was there with other local members of the RSL.

Stan Tindle, president of the Fish Creek RSL, raised the Australian flag at the start of the official proceedings.

COMMUNITY EVENT OF THE YEAR

The award of Corner Inlet Community Event of the Year was presented to the Prom Coast Summer Festival, incorporating the Sea Days Festival, the Show ‘n’ Shine and the Tour de Garage.

Gratefully accepting the award on behalf of the organising committee was Lyn Lucas, who with her team of helpers worked so hard in organising the festival.

Presenting the award to Lyn, South Gippsland Shire Councillor Jeanette Harding said that with so many elements to the festival, it was quite an undertaking to pull everything together in order to bring this wonderful event to the community and to the general public.

Lyn had only been made aware of such recognition earlier in the day and was almost speechless with surprise.

The theme of this year’s Corner Inlet celebrations of Australia Day was the National Year of Reading and, with the assistance of the Friends of Corner Inlet Libraries, the indefatigable Marg Haycroft organised a range of activities around this theme. Children were invited to make ‘hot dog books’ and book bags. This continued through the afternoon, along with lots of storytelling.

The celebrations were held on the lawns outside Foster Museum and plenty of people took the opportunity to visit the museum. Members of the Fish Creek and Toora RSL branches presented an impressive display of books and war-time memorabilia, and there were fine examples of weaving and knitting to admire at the Foster Wool Group stand.

Appropriately for the literacy theme, guest speaker was South Gippsland Secondary College principal Cheryl Glowrey. She spoke about the Corner Inlet area’s rich tapestry of local stories, including stories of the early exploration for gold and of pioneering families who cleared the land and established farms, building a community. Cheryl encouraged everyone to read the local stories, and as we are shaping the future, to begin the next set of stories.

Music from the band ‘Soul Purpose’ had everyone’s feet tapping. With a cuppa from the Welshpool Red Cross or a tasty bite from the Toora Lions Club barbecue, it was a perfect way to celebrate our national day.

The celebrations culminated in the cutting of the cake. Australia’s ‘national cake,’ the lamington, once again made an appearance – this year as a cake consisting of individual lamingtons, made by the ladies of the CWA.

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