Lane Cove’s Annual Citizenship Awards were held on Wednesday 23 May 2018 to recognise some amazing Lane Cove residents and their achievements. Nineteen recipients were Awarded a Citizenship Award. It was fitting that the awards were held during National Volunteer Week.
This year the awards also included Neighbour Day Awards. These awards recognised neighbours who make a difference in their streets. You can read about these great neighbours here.
Lane Cove Citizens of the Year
Husband and wife team Amanda Harrison and Frank Hamersley were named Lane Cove Citizens of the Year. Amanda convenes the annual Greenwich Village Arts Trail which last year involved a record 26 artists participating in the open studio weekend. Frank is President of Greenwich Sports Club, is heavily involved in the local Scouts and together with Amanda, they are long-time volunteers with Lane Cove Swim Club.
Frank Hamersley has been the head of the Greenwich Sporting Club since 2015. He is also a fully-qualified referee. Frank is always at games early, setting up and running the line as well as organising the match card at games each week. He is always encouraging goodwill between clubs, for example encouraging the donation of old jerseys to children in Africa and volunteering to organise the purchase of defibrillators for the Club.
Young Achiever Award
The Young Achiever award is presented to a Lane Cove Resident aged between 12 to 25. Arran Weir received this award for his work as a founding member of the Lane Cove Taekwondo Club. The Club is a family-friendly club that started with two members and now has over 300 members. They regularly hold community events raising money for local organisations such as Delvena Women’s Refuge.
Access and Disability Award
Caitlan Logan was the recipient of the Access and Disability Award. She is a 27-year-old Medical Scientist who lives in Lane Cove and works at the Royal North Shore Hospital in the Laboratory of Ageing and Pharmacology. Her work involves de-prescribing medications in the elderly population in order to decrease the falls and cognitive decline that is associated with taking multiple medications. Caitlan also volunteers with the Disabled Alternative Road Travel Service.
Music Art and Culture Awards
Kay Freedman has been actively involved in the Centrehouse Management Committee for over a decade. She was also involved in the opening of Gallery Lane Cove and the strategic revivew of Centrehouse in 2016. She has also been involved in numerous other community organisations sucha as Girld Guides, Sea Scouts, Lane Cove Netball and Soccer Clubs
Dianna Hallowes has been a member of the Lane Cove Art Society for the past 20 years. Since March 2010 she has been a member of the Lane Cove Art Society Committee. She is responsible for their newsletter and plays a huge part in the Lane Cove Art Society annual exhibitions and opening nights.
Sports Award
Ben Craig is a local Lane Cove boy with a passion for hockey. He was a member of the Ryde Hockey Club from juniors through to seniors. He was named to play for the Kookaburras in November 2016. Ben trains five days a week as well as studying for a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of International and Global Studies. He also teaches clarinet and saxophone at Bennelong Music in Putney. Wow, what an allrounder.
Tom Craig (Ben’s younger brother) also received the sports award. Tom was selected to play for Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics and recently competed in the 2018 Commonwealth Games where the team won a gold medal. He is currently training for the Champions Trophy in the Nethelands.
Community Sevice Awards
Max Thorpe has been a resident of Longueville for 50 years. He has made a significant contribution towards increasing the wellbeing of older residents and their carers. Following his retirement as a physicain at the Prince of Wales Hospital and the University of NSW, Max offered his skills to Sydney Community Services as a volunteer. In early 2017 he embarked on many months of visiting Lane Cove GPs and health professionals working at Longueville Private, Greenwich and Royal North Shore Hospitals and other health/rehab facilities in the area to raise awareness of aged-related issues.
Mary Rossi
Mari Rossi is the founding financial supporter of Mary’s House, a domestic violence refuge recently established on the lower north shore.
Mary and her husband Theo had 10 children, four of whom still live locally.
Mary has made a valuable contribution to the North Shore Women’s Benevolent Association, a not-for-profit organisation established to support those escaping domestic violence. The group recently opened the hostel called Mary’s House to provide accommodation for women and their dependent children escaping domestic violence. In recognition of the significant financial support Mary provided for this project, there is now a dedicated space inside the hostel called the ‘Rossi Room’.
Keith and Maureen Smith
Regular ITC readers will know how much ITC adores Keith and Maureene Smith and the wonderful community work they do. Each year Keith and Maureene Smith organises a huge plant sale in April and October 2018. They have raised over $60 000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. You can read more about then here. Keep your eye out for their next sale in October, you will not be disappointed.
Kayrn Gojnich
Kayrn is a legend. She has represented Australia in sailing at three Olympics. She is also one of the driving forces behind the Lane Cove 12 Foot Sailing Skiff Club.
She managed to convince the Management Committee to enroll the Lane Cove 12 foot Sailing Skiff Club as an Australian Sailing authorised Discover Sailing Centre. This required them to develop and document new Operating Procedures and have qualified Instructors providing the tuition. Karyn has worked with the team to ensure that young sailors of the Club were able to gain the qualification that they need to become Instructors. As of 2018, the Club has now assisted 40 people to gain either Assistant Instructor or Instructor qualifications.
Natalie Panzarino
Natalie is a Lane Cove powerhouse. Natalie fundraises for Greyhound Rescue, tirelessly volunteering to promote ethical pet choices and campaigning for the welfare and re-homing of retired greyhounds. She works hard to educate people on the benefits of providing forever homes to the many beautiful greyhounds needing rescue.
Natalie also co-wrote a book called Pointy Pembleton about a gregarious greyhound out to make a difference. The book was launched locally and helps to raise funds for Greyhound Rescue.
Natalie has also led the way with the Got A Pen initiative. The aim is to provide stationery to school students who lack the basics they need to actively participate in class. Natalie has, so far, managed to put together and distribute more than 5 000 kits to kids in Sydney. Imagine the benefits to these students who can now fully engage in learning and be encouraged to fulfill their potential, thanks to total strangers who care about them. Lane Cove Council supported this initiative earlier this year by providing space to help the packing of the items, many of which were donated by generous Lane Cove locals.
Workplace General Award
Karen Paull works tirelessly in her role as Community Chaplain for the Uniting Church. She is well known for bringing people together and lending a listening ear when serving others in the community. In her own words, Karen prefers to go to the community, rather than expect people to turn up at Church to see her. That’s perhaps why Karen has organised such a wide variety of programs including:
– Games in the Park (held on the last Sunday of each month)
– Walk and Wonder bushwalks
– A Respectful Conversations Group
– Coffee, Lunches and Dinner Groups
– Chess in the Plaza; and
– Retreats.
Lane Cove Council Employee Award
Carol Sinclair is Manager Community Services. Carol works tirelessly to help promote Aged Friendly programmes and innovations in Lane Cove. She was also the driving force behind the One million Stars Project in Lane Cove.
Karen Mitchell received a Lane Cove Council award for her work in making the Lane Cove Library one of the best libraries in New South Wales.
Sustainable Citizen Award
Sally Kennedy received the Sustainable Citizen Award. Over the past four years, Sally has been focused on passionately campaigning about the protection of prime agricultural land and drinking water catchments from invasive coal mining and coal seam gas by raising awareness of the issues amongst residents in and around Lane Cove.
Since 2014 Sally has led meetings, door knocking drives, stalls in Lane Cove Plaza, as well as community events and talks to raise awareness of the issues. She also led a 15,000-strong petition which was tabled in Parliament in 2017. We interviewed Sally for ITC and you can read more about her here.
Well done to all these great Lane Cove Achievers and the people who nominated them. If you know someone who is a Lane Cove legend or leader make sure you nominate them next year.
If you would like to get involved in the Lane Cove Community and volunteer – here are some local volunteering opportunities.
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