Unsung community hero is our top citizen

A prominent community worker has been named Wyong Shire’s Citizen of the Year.

Volunteer, James Rutherford, of Bateau Bay, received his honour at last night’s Australia Day Award presentation.

Guests heard that James was a stalwart of the Lions Club of Killarney/Bateau Bay and also worked tirelessly on community projects such as Life Education; Recognition of Youth; and other programs that help the young, the elderly and the disadvantaged.

He was a driving force behind a combined Lions club fund-raising drive that netted $105,000 toward an exercise yard for rehabilitation patients at Wyong hospital and helped steer a $1.1 million fund-raising effort toward cancer centres at Wyong and Gosford hospitals.

As a director of a Life Education program, James help provide drug awareness programs for young people and also initiated a ‘Young Leaders in Service’ awards scheme to recognise the contribution of youth. At the same time, he is a member of a choir that entertains groups of elderly and disadvantaged people.

The Youth of the Year Award was won by Daniel Hogan of San Remo , a well known surfer, body-boarder, film maker and young environmentalist . Daniel’s surfing films have been shown widely to help promote the sport and local talent.

Sportsperson of the Year, Melissa Greer, of Wyong , has played hockey, squash and softball for 15 years, with particular success on the hockey field. In the past year, she played in the NSW Country team which took out the Australian country hockey titles in North Queensland. Melissa’s display earned her selection as a shadow player for the Australian Country team which will compete in Asia this year.

The Junior Sportsperson award went jointly to Kanwal’s Tae Kwon Do exponent, Aimee-Lee Bohan and swimmer, Tiegan Van Roosmalen of Bateau Bay.

Aimee-Lee has excelled at International, national, State and local level and, in the past year, was placed fifth in the world at the World Open Tae Kwon Do tournament in the United States.

Tiegan is a prominent competitor in deaf, vision impaired and school swimming competition at country, national and international level. She has been selected in the shadow squad for the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing and is rated among the top 10 in all swimming strokes – including a fifth ranking in the world for 100 metres butterfly.

Other winners included community worker, Colin Paulson, of Hamlyn Terrace, who took out the Volunteer Award and Buff Point’s Glen Cannard, who won the Cultural Award.

Wyong Shire Council’s annual awards are a central part of local activities to mark Australia Day. See details of other celebrations.

Media contact: Ian Roberts (02) 4350 5705 or 0408 967 236

Page last updated: 21/01/2008