{"id":94332,"date":"2024-01-26T04:55:30","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T17:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/?p=94332"},"modified":"2024-01-25T23:27:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T12:27:35","slug":"community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Community a focus for awarded citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE City of Greater Bendigo Citizen and Young Citizen of the Year were announced by Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf on Monday.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marong resident Heather Wearne is the Citizen of the Year, and Montanna Maud from Axedale is Young Citizen of the Year.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Weare has been a leader in the Marong Community Action Group for the past several years and said she was honoured to be chosen for the award and \u201ca bit overwhelmed.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know Marong\u2019s a very changing community, we believe that the infrastructure should match the needs of the community,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s also involved in several projects to address the growing community\u2019s needs, such a one to help residents switch from gas to electricity, an upgrade on a major intersection, and an emergency plan and resilience program.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have great connections with the authorities, the City of Greater Bendigo is supportive, the Department of Transport listen to us,\u201d Ms Weare said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just think we\u2019ll be able to continue on that path in a really positive way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s around good communication and working on ways to do that. Informed communities make good decisions.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Young Citizen, Ms Maud, said she wasn\u2019t expecting to be nominated and that \u201cit was actually quite a shock.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At 20 years old, Ms Maud holds several volunteer positions including with the Elmore Equestrian Club Committee, the Mosquito Creek Rural Fire Brigade, and the Axedale Quick Shear Committee.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt keeps me quite busy,\u201d she said. \u201cI love everything I do and it\u2019s so great to be involved in the community at such a young age and make those connections with a lot of people.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She said she had always been a horse rider, and becoming a firefighter was a dream come true and was part of the Mosquito Creek Brigade\u2019s support effort with the flooding at the start of the month.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe got called out at midnight and we didn\u2019t get home until 11am the next morning,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a huge night, we ended up going out to Redesdale and helping to do some welfare checks and we also had to help the ambulance get a patient to Kyneton as they were unable to get through the floods.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While also studying psychology part-time and working full-time as an educator at St Francis of the Fields, Ms Maud said she wants to continue volunteering and go up the ranks through the brigade.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cr Metcalf welcomed both recipients to their roles.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I\u2019ve been on council, I\u2019ve always known Heather, I will say she\u2019s such a fabulous advocate for the Marong community,\u201d said Cr Metcalf.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe also put her hand up for the committees that we have, whether it\u2019s the Rural Communities Committee or the Farming Advisory Committee.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHeather\u2019s always put her hands up to be a representative and to speak out for rural people.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just fantastic that we have people in our midst people who volunteer so much of their time to make their communities so [much] better to live in.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE City of Greater Bendigo Citizen and Young Citizen of the Year were announced by Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf on Monday.\u00a0 Marong resident Heather Wearne is the Citizen of the Year, and Montanna Maud from Axedale is Young Citizen of the Year.\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Weare has been a leader in the Marong Community Action Group for […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":94333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-94332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCommunity a focus for awarded citizens - McIvor Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community a focus for awarded citizens - McIvor Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE City of Greater Bendigo Citizen and Young Citizen of the Year were announced by Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf on Monday.\u00a0 Marong resident Heather Wearne is the Citizen of the Year, and Montanna Maud from Axedale is Young Citizen of the Year.\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Weare has been a leader in the Marong Community Action Group for [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"McIvor Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-25T17:55:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2024\/01\/PDW_4647.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophie Foun\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophie Foun\u00e9\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophie Foun\u00e9\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9be56a6cf9ad4be25e05c5fedeb27fa5\"},\"headline\":\"Community a focus for awarded citizens\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-25T17:55:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2024\\\/01\\\/PDW_4647.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/community-a-focus-for-awarded-citizens\\\/\",\"name\":\"Community a focus for awarded citizens - 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