By JESSE GRAHAM
A LIFELONG Warburton resident’s commitment to his town has been recognised by the council, with a community leadership award set to be bestowed.
Jeff Gill will receive the Ian Del La Rue Award for Community Leadership from Yarra Ranges Council at an Australia Day event in Yarra Glen on Tuesday 26 January.
Mr Gill’s award comes after “countless hours” of volunteering for groups in the Upper Yarra with his award citation paying tribute to his work with the Warburton Advancement League.
Mr Gill said the award came out of the blue.
“It came as a hell of a shock – I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“I kept thinking ‘no, it couldn’t be a hoax, no one would be that cruel’.
“I’m over the moon.”
Describing his stint of 15 years with the Advancement League as “a small fry”, the group having existed for 63 years, Mr Gill said that getting involved in his community was a natural choice.
“I was involved in the chamber of commerce, now CEDA, for about 30 years and it just seemed like the right thing to do,” he said.
“You live in a town, you try to do your little bit.”
He added that he had been invited to the groups by Mr Del La Rue himself, a proposal that was hard to refuse.
“‘No’ wasn’t on Ian’s agenda,” Mr Gill said.
“If you got invited to a committee meeting, and you didn’t say the right word, he’d keep badgering you until you said the right word.”
Mr Gill said he was also part of the Yarra Valley APEX Club in the 1970s and ’80s, among other groups, and was now mentoring young drivers through the Yarra Ranges Council’s L2P program.
Now 62, Mr Gill also runs his own business, LG Gill Printers, in the heart of the town.
As for the future, he said he still had plenty of steam left for his groups.
“I don’t like change and I’ll keep bopping along and doing what we’re doing,” he said.
For more of the Australia Day award winners, click here.
