Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) | Hansard source

I rise today to acknowledge and recognise the great work of the Rotary Club of Blayney. Since 1956, the Rotary Club of Blayney has made a significant difference to the Central West through countless community projects, including fundraising efforts and providing support to local initiatives and organisations, with compassion, kindness and generosity. The Rotary Club of Blayney is a small club that punches well above its weight. It has delivered and supported key projects in the region, including a palliative care ward at Blayney Health Service, the community bus, the establishment of the local swimming pool and Church Hill Rotary Lookout, and is delivering projects for young people, including the model United Nations, youth exchange, leadership awards and driver awareness courses. Their current projects include providing domestic violence escape bags, which are placed around the community for people experiencing physical and emotional domestic violence to access; and a toy library—this initiative has been running for 1½ years, with over 1,000 toys borrowed.

Recently, Blayney Rotary celebrated an incredible 70 years of service to the community, at its local annual Changeover Dinner. I'd like to congratulate those members who received Paul Harris fellowships on the night, including Michael Baker, Della Baker, Frank Akehurst, Greg Hooper and Graeme May. Well done and thank you to outgoing president Rohan Hoadley and his team for a great year, and a hearty congratulations to incoming president Heather Ferguson. We wish her and the new executive team the very best for the year ahead. As a member of the Rotary Club of Blayney shared with me recently: 'We work as a team, we do everything we do to make our community stronger and better, and we'll rise up to take any challenge.'

As the late, great Slim Dusty once sang:

… let me sing where the rafters ring

In an old time country hall …

and Mandurama Public Hall is over 100 years old, and it continues to be the cornerstone of the community. From hosting christenings to council meetings to weddings to working bees, it's a vital place for the community to come together and connect. The hall's energetic committee don't look for recognition but are highly deserving of community appreciation, so today I'm very pleased to thank President Deirdre Molloy—Deirdre has been involved in the Mandurama Public Hall since she was 17 and has been the president for an incredible 54 years; Secretary Tanya Molloy; Treasurer Johanna Richardson; and committee member Christine Hepplestone. I sincerely thank the Mandurama Public Hall Committee for the fantastic work its members do.

Our country halls bring people together in good times and bad. They help keep our communities strong. Mandurama and its districts would not be the same without its iconic community hall, and I again thank and congratulate the committee members of the mighty Mandurama Public Hall. Our community is very grateful for all that they do for us.

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