By Callum Ludwig
Volunteers throughout the Upper Yarra were recognised for their individual efforts to their community groups with Casey Volunteer Awards.
Life Member of the Wandin Football Netball Club Rob Bayliss said he received his award for his service to the Wandin FNC over 4 decades as well as an appreciation for his work over the last 8 years on the new rooms complex, concluding with a $150,000 new scoreboard and storage facility.
“The club is very important to me, my family has grown up all at Wandin FNC and even my grandchildren are starting to participate now,” he said.
“Clubs of any sort don’t survive without community support and volunteers, they would not be there without them,”
“It’s a great club with great people that care about their community and this includes the Wandin Cricket Club which is also a special part of my life, being a life member of both clubs will carry me through to the end of my life with pride.”
Mr Bayliss was on the committee at the club for over 30 years and even saw his two sons Jack and Jarrod, as well as son-in-law Michael Fowkes, lift premierships at the Kennel.
Susan Marshall received an award for her work setting up the Tiny Tots playgroup at Wandin Yallock Primary School where she formerly taught and said had no idea it was coming.
“I worked at Wandin YallockYellick for nearly 40 years as a teacher and when I retired I wanted to give back to the community and I thought one way of doing it was to provide an opportunity for parents and grandparents to bring kids along, little kids from babes to up to five to come along once a week,” she said.
“It’s been going since 2016 and I don’t make it too structured or anything, it’s just where little kids can learn to share, negotiate and have fun and I love seeing the smiles on their faces,”
“It’s a really good place for parents too because it’s hard when you’ve got little ones, you don’t get much sleep so it’s good just to know that you’re not alone, there are a lot of connections that have been built from the people who get together and they might go out for little picnics and catch up at the playground.”
Alvin and Sonia Knight were recognised for their contributions to running the Redwood Soup Kitchen at the ADRA Redwood Community Centre and Alvin said he saw the need for a soup kitchen about 15 years ago and said so to his wife, Sonia.
“Once a week every Friday night we operate a soup kitchen out of there and people just walk in, we’ve had so many different people we’ve met over the years, whether they’re down on their luck or a lot of them are lonely and just want community and conversation, but they love it,” he said.
“People who come along really appreciate the fact that somebody cares, somebody listens and somebody is there to care and nurture those who are less fortunate,”
“One highlight was how we kept the soup kitchen going through the Covid times, we brought our motorhome in and parked in the car park and people still were able to come along and the police were very supportive of us doing that.”
Barry Booker is a stalwart of the Yarra Junction CFA and said he has been there for 52 years.
I’ve been up as high as a 1st Lieutenant over the years, I originally joined the Woori Yallock brigade in December of 1964 but when I got married I moved to Yarra Junction so I got transferred,” he said.
“I also helped to run the juniors back when they were up at Yarra Junction, was the Group Officer of the Upper Yarra group for a while and the fire prevention delegate when that was running and a delegate for the Rural fire Brigade Association.”
“It’s important to support the brigade because there’s not as much community spirit around as there used to be and even though country people are more likely to volunteer than city people, Yarra Junction is on the edge of the urban fringe as they call it now.”
Hoddles Creek CFA Captain Graham Boyd, Seville Township Group President Graeme Black, Adcare Community Op Shop Team Leader Kathy Kearns and Milgrove Residents’ Action Group members Gordon Elliott and Kate Baselier also received awards.
