Australia Day Awards for Achievers

With Bill Waterhouse belting out some Australian classics and the smell of barbequed snags wafting into the clubhouse, Mayor Pete Harrison, Deputy Mayor Belinda Hogarth-Boyd, and Cr Paul Cockram were in attendance, along with Australia Day Ambassador, children’s author Christopher Cheng, who gave the official address. 

Two residents, Mr Kaushalkumar Patel and Mrs Devalben Patel also chose the day to have their Australian citizenship conferred and were presented with their certificates and a native plant. 

Eilish Blakely-Kidd was awarded the 2014 Citizen of the Year. Mrs Blakely-Kidd is an outstanding member of the community, having been involved in numerous community organisations. She has been the President of the Braidwood Region Seniors Association Inc since its inception in 2009. Last year she led the Association in meeting with Palerang Councillors and staff about the need for an additional pedestrian zebra crossing in Wallace Street. She lobbied the local Member of Parliament and the Roads and Maritime Services and helped raised community awareness of the need for the crossing. As a result of those efforts, the crossing will be constructed before the end of June this year. Our winner helps organise the monthly "Spinning Your Yarn Workshops" for seniors where people tell a unique story and share in morning tea and lunch. She is a member of the Braidwood Life Centre which offers emergency assistance and pastoral care programs for those in need. Our winner is currently president of the Braidwood Folk Music Club which, apart from its monthly meetings with regular guest artists, also organises the Majors Creek Folk Festival. Last year she willingly responded to the many calls for support from various organisations by selling raffle tickets or providing refreshments. In previous years, she has been active in the Braidwood Regional Tourism Association, the Canberra Regional Tourism Board and the Braidwood Chamber of Commerce. Our winner is known for her enthusiasm, persistence and compassion, and above all, her positive approach to life and people.

The Community Event of the Year in Braidwood was awarded to the Braidwood Barefoot Bowls Competition which was held on five Fridays from early November through to December last year. Now in its second year, the event aims to bring people of different ages and different sporting ability together to socialise and relax at the end of the week. It certainly did this - with the youngest participant being six years of age right through to the more senior members of our community. The organisers added a guessing competition of "Name the Feet" as another fun feature of their event. The organisers also wanted to introduce new people to the game of bowls through a fun activity that didn't create any pressure on the participants. The organisers, Phil Lewis, John Bunn, Peter Camiller, Gorie Kite and David Cargill accepted the award on behalf of the Bowls Committee.

The winner of Young Citizen of the Year was Keely Howard. Keely is a quiet, polite young lady with a passion for family, school and the community. During the past year, she has represented Braidwood in the Canberra women's soccer competition; represented Braidwood in the Kanga Cup soccer competition in Canberra; played in the Braidwood night tennis competition, also representing Braidwood against Bungendore in the inaugural Palerang Cup. Our winner attended many fund-raising events to re-surface the Braidwood tennis courts. She was a member of the Student Representative Council and helped organise the Year 12 farewell at Braidwood Central School. She helped organise and spoke at the Braidwood Central School presentation night. As if all that wasn't enough on top of her studies as well, our winner helped at Narbethong House and worked at the Boiled Lolly Shop. 

Earlier in the day at Bungendore, Community Event of the Year was announced as the Bungendore Camp Oven Cook-off, and the winner of Citizen of the Year was Heather Hubbard. At Captains Flat the Community Event of the Year is the Captains Flat Community Garden Open Day and Teddy Bears' Picnic, and the winner of Citizen of the Year was Maggie Hamill.

See photo gallery here.