Seniors honoured at awards ceremony

THREE of Ballarat’s outstanding older residents have been recognised in the City of Ballarat’s 2018 Senior of the Year Awards.

This is the 10th year the City of Ballarat has presented the Awards, which recognise residents, aged 60 years and older, who have made a significant contribution to the community.

This year’s Award winners were Robyn Cunningham, Marie Wilson and John McNeight.

Mrs Cunningham won the Ballarat Senior of the Year award.

For more than 18 years she has volunteered with the Office of the Public Advocate as a regional convenor and community visitor of the Grampians Region Mental Health Stream.

As part of her community visitor role, Mrs Cunningham visits mental health facilities providing a voice to patients and residents and ensures their rights are being upheld, that they are safe from harm and exploitation and that they are being treated with dignity and respect.

As a tireless advocate, she and her team undertook 98 visits to mental health facilities in the last financial year.

As an elder, board member and volunteer with the Ballarat Seventhday Adventist Church, Robyn has been involved in many of its programs, including its weekly food pantry program along with a weekly music program for local mums with young children.

Mrs Cunningham and her late husband also raised more than 40 children as foster parents – all of these children remain in touch with her today.

Ms Wilson pick up the Ballarat Senior Achiever Award From the age of 14, she helped the Dean-Newlyn Young Farmers Club to organise functions, including the local ball.

She’s has also volunteered with the Country Women’s Association, her children’s kindergarten and primary schools, been a Girl Guide leader and made costumes and floats for the Ballarat Begonia Festival.

For the past 30 years, Ms Wilson has been a member of the Ballarat Jazz Club, where she has served as president, secretary, newsletter editor, bookings coordinator, and in 2016 received a Life membership for her work.

She’s also a member of the Lyric Theatre Company, where she’s made costumes for all of the productions in the past 18 years.

She also volunteers with the Old Colonists Club, where she assists with catering and decorating tables for functions, and she recently began providing tutorage in patchwork sewing with the Ballarat Branch of U3A.

John McNeight received the Healthy Active Living Award.

He’s been a member of the Ballan Angler’s Club since 2003 and has held the position as the club’s delegate to the Ballarat and District Angling Association for the past three years.

Passionate about educating the next generation of recreational anglers and the community about safe, sustainable and responsible fishing practices, Mr McNeight has been instrumental to teaching students about how to protect and conserve the aquatic environment.

As a volunteer with Fishcare Central Highlands, where he has been president since 2009, he’s been involved in the educational program, Get Hooked It’s Fun to Fish, which teaches primary school children, Scouts, Girl Guides, disability and intercultural groups about sustainable fishing and caring for the environment.

Mr McNeight has travelled thousands of kilometres across Victoria to present this program in the past 11 years.

He’s has also been a member of the Ballarat Fish Protection Society and Anglers Club for the past 32 years, where has served as president and vice president.

Lastly, McNeight has been a volunteer member of the Country Fire Authority and the Haddon Fire Brigade for more than 37 years, where he has held the positions of firefighter, apparatus officer and forth lieutenant.