President’s Message

As I look back over my year I realise that there have been a lot of highlights, from the 40th Anniversary Dinner to the reflection area at Brown’s Lagoon. From the Paying it Forward project to standing with Barry at the River of Stories presentation. The absolute thrill I got when I hit the button that donated $50 from each of you to Foundation. But none of those compare the thrill of giving out Paul Harris Fellow awards – and I’ve been lucky enough to have done that three times in my year. The first was to Ron Haberfield at the 40th Anniversary dinner. The second and third I had the privilege of presenting at this week’s meeting. Both the recipients are people that I hold in the highest regards and that I consider mentors, both to me and to the Club in general. But Julie, myself and the Board wanted our new Paul Harris Fellows to be surprised, so we have been sneaking around to arrange everything, co-ordinating them attending a meeting together, arranging for their partners to be there without them knowing –  we got there!!! The First award went to Vicki Gray, whilst Vicki is not currently a member the work that she did when she was a member has changed the way we see ourselves as a club and our ability to earn big dollars. Outside of the Club Vicki is extremely committed to our local community and the work she has done for suicide prevention is exemplary. It even got her a nomination for Albury Citizen of the year last year. The second award went to Past President Dennis recognising the high level of commitment to the Club for a very long time including supporting two new youth projects during his presidency, Paying in Forward and Justa and Gunk. He also started the whole process for the reflection area at Brown’s Lagoon. His work in the local community includes with the Uniting Church’s food bank and a lifetime commitment to the promotion of Hockey in this community. A commitment that will soon see him in Barcelona representing Australia. I think we can all agree that our club is a better club because of the efforts of both Vicki & Dennis and I’m proud to have them both as my friends