Committee for Lorne: Celebrating Sandra Dempsey

With the federal election in full swing, it would be easy to miss another very important event that follows straight after ~ National Volunteer Week ~ a special time to celebrate the extraordinary contribution of so many volunteers who help build the communities we all enjoy.

In my little patch of Deans Marsh there are so many groups and events to be part of ~ the Festival, the Community Cottage, the local Hall Committee, the Dog Trials, the Cricket and Tennis clubs, Table Tennis, Tai Chi, Yoga, the Annual Fun Run, Red Cross, all the local Arts and Crafts activities, Book Clubs, the Singing and Music groups, the Croaker newsletter, the Film Group, Youth Group, the School Parents’ committee, Landcare, the CFA …. and virtually all of them relying on the time, skills and energy of local volunteers to make life in Deans Marsh buzz. For a community of just a few hundred people ~ Amazing!

For well over a hundred years, volunteers have worked and lobbied to create better facilities in our district, places to play together, dance together, make music together, share ideas and recipes, hopes and dreams, fears and concerns. A place to BE a community.

One very modest CHAMPION of Deans Marsh is Sandra Dempsey. Sandra joined our Hall Committee some time last
century following the example of her parents and grandparents, the generations of locals who helped create this place we all enjoy – the sports ground, tennis courts, the club rooms, the BBQ and Pizza Oven, the kids playground and skate park, child-care facilities, the beautiful park environment, the art works, the picnic areas, and our local Hall as a home for so many community activities. At fundraisers over the decades Sandra would have barbequed tens of thousands of sausages and hamburgers to help make all this possible.

Why focus on Sandra? And why now? Because after decades and decades of service to Deans Marsh, Sandra has finally retired from our Hall Committee. So, thank you Sandra for all that work, all that lobbying, all those sausage sizzles, managing all those bookings, chairing all those meetings, and building that remarkable pictorial archive of life in Deans Marsh. You have been a treasure to this town, a jewel among the hundreds of volunteers who kept the show on the road and made our lives here such a pleasure. We can never replace you ….

…. but if there are folk out there with a little time to spare, there’s plenty more to do to keep our communities buzzing. We should all remember to say thank you to the volunteers in our lives. But better than that, why not become a volunteer? You won’t be wasting your time.