Guest speaker Kate Martin  was born in Sydney and grew up in  Newcastle where I enjoyed surfing, sailing and fishing. I attended Newcastle Girls’ High School and after completing  the Leaving Certificate (as it was then) I won a journalism cadetship with Fairfax Newspapers working on the Sydney and Newcastle Morning Heralds. At 22 I went overseas and spent the next seven years working as a free-lance journalist for various National Australian magazines and newspapers. During my time in London I spent 15 months working at Hemdale, a Public Relations and production company run by Jonathon Daly and David Hemmings. Among our clients were Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Marty Feldman with whom I spent quite a lot of time. I have to admit I tended to go weak at the knees …. momentarily… when terrence Stamp, another of the clients was in the office. He was a great hitt in the famolus Aussie film hit, Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I returned to Australia in early 1977 and worked for the next five years as feature writer with the now-defunct Melbourne Herald newspaper, so becoming a Murcoch employee. I met my husband to be, Andy Martin, a farmer from Swan Hill at Falls Creek  on opening weekend of the snow season. We married five years later  and moved to Mellool Station, a family-owned grazing property, outside Swan Hill. Our daughter, Chloe was born five years after that. While living in Swan Hill I worked in vocational education in the private sector and for the Victorian Education Department. I am a firm believer in vocational education and training options for those students who don’t fit into the academic streams in secondary and tertiary education. In 2000 Andy and I decided to leave farming. We moved to Albury where Andy became a full-time student at La Trobe University studying social work and I was appointed the first Administration Officer for the University of NSW Rural Clinical School which Dr Peter Vine and I set up from scratch. We began work in a cupboard/office in the physio department of the new Base Hospital. In 14 weeks we, with a lot of assistance from the Albury Wodonga medical fraternity, were ready to accept the first students. It was an exciting and satisfying experience. Three years later I was invited to set up the Tenancy Advice Service in Albury – providing legal advice on tenancy issues to clientele from Tumbarumba to Mildura. I also worked for two years as a specialist tenancy worker with Housing NSW where my role was to assist the most disadvantaged tenants maintain their tenancies. I retired two years ago to write romantic fiction, take a bigger role in ADFAS (Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society) and to continue my on-going involvement with the Albury Ski Club. I am currently the catering officer for the Falls Creek lodge. I am a passionate skier – this winter I skied 32 days out of 40 at Falls Creek and Thredbo – but also find time to garden, quilt and generally enjoy life in Albury

Anna Eggleton is from Tumbarumba who spoke about Tumbarumba to Tokyo. Anna grew up in Tumbarumba and graduated from high school in 2012, having been school captain and been involved in youth council, Interact and many school activities. In 2014 Anna moved to Albury and commenced her studies in Environmental Science and Management at Charles Sturt University. She was nominated and then selected for the prestigious New Colombo Plan Scholarship worth $30,000 and spent 8 months travelling and studying in Japan. At the end of this year Anna will travel to Nepal for three weeks on a conservation trip working with elephants and tigers. She plans to continue her studies in Albury, undertake a post graduate degree and increase her involvement in the community.

Rob Lacey is a well known and respected professional photographer in the Albury/Wodonga region. “Someone(a customer),made a very curious comment to me recently, and what they said fitted with further comments made when we provided a professional service.People seem amazed when they receive their photographs, that they are better than they expected.The comment made recently was “I am looking to see if they are professional quality” While I was not sure why he remarked that way, I thought about it for a few days. My thoughts are, does the public no longer see photography as a profession, and/or do people these days have lower expectations due to “everybody” taking photos,many of whom are amateur, but cashing in with their camera, delivering less than professional results.”