Handover for Portarlington business role

PORTARLINGTON business leader John Rae has stepped down as head of the local traders’ association.

Mr Rae confirmed this month his tenure as president of the Portarlington Business Development Association (PBDA) had come to an end, and will sit as vice-president until the body’s annual general meeting later this year, when he intends to leave the executive committee.

The 79-year-old will swap roles with new leader, Hive owner Ashley Andrew, with the Newcombe Street shop owner to take the reins for at least the remainder of this term.

Mr Rae had put off plans to leave the role in 2020 as COVID-19 struck the region, but said he decided the time was now right to end his 10-year tenure after discussions with other PBDA members this year.

He said guiding the small Bellarine town through the pandemic was one of his proudest achievements as PBDA leader.

“We had two magnificent years for the traders. We had remarkable numbers for the programs we put together, we had music playing for about 20 weekends at the rotunda, that held people in the town,” he said.

“We weren’t concentrating on who does what at that stage, we were concentrating on working towards how to help our members stay in business.

“Last year we discussed [a handover] a little bit, and in the early parts of this year we really discussed it.

“Ashley wants to be that person, and I happily nominated him – he’s terrific. He’ll be a real winner for the team.”

Mr Rae said his day-to-day involvement would likely end following the late-year AGM, but he indicated he wouldn’t be far away from the big issues for Portarlington’s commerce sector.

“I’ll stay involved, probably on certain targets, like at the moment with the chocolate factory.

“If something came up like that I’ll get involved and try to move people into spending money.

“But it would be rare.”