She is as well-known as her former co-stars Big Ted and Humpty Dumpty, as well as the patron of several charities, and this year television star Benita Collings is Tweed’s Australia Day Ambassador.
Benita, who has worked as an actress in theatre, radio, television, film and the voice-over industry for the past 40 years and was a Play School presenter for 30 years, will be special guest at the Kingscliff Australia Day breakfast and a number of other major Tweed celebrations on January 26.
Tweed Australia Day Committee chairman Don Beck said there would be a busy program of events across the day and across the shire.
“We have a lot of great events taking place throughout the Shire again this year,” Mr Beck said.
“This year the main event is out at Tyalgum.”
The major Tweed celebration includes a Citizenship Ceremony and presentation of this year’s award winners as well as the traditional Tyalgum events including the annual Tyalgum Cycle Race and the India Vs Australia Cricket match.
“We have had a lot of interest in all of the awards this year including “Tweed Citizen of The Year” and “Young Achiever”,” he said.
Other categories include arts and culture, sports achievement, best community event and volunteer of the year.
Mr Beck said the Tweed committee were pleased to have Benita Collings as this year’s Ambassador.
“I’m sure there are going to be a lot of people who have grown up watching Benita on television,” he said.“My wife Lynne and I will be picking her up in the morning and taking her to Kingscliff for their traditional morning event before going on to celebrations at Tumbulgum, Murwillumbah and then on out to Tyalgum for the main Tweed Shire ceremony.”
While she is best-known for her work on Play School Miss Collings has many strings to her bow.
She has performed with most of Australia’s Symphony Orchestras and is a Trainer in Presentation and Communication Skills for television and the corporate world.
Benita is a keen Theatresports player and has played at the Belvoir and Enmore Theatres as well as “Scared Scriptless” at comedy pubs around Sydney.
She is also past President of the National Speakers Association of Australia, NSW Chapter; past Chair of the Actors Benevolent Fund of NSW Inc.; the Patron of Kayaking for Kemo Kids; the Patron of the Australian Paramedic Support Foundation, and a supporter of Youth Insearch.
The Australia Day Ambassador Program sends high achieving Australians to community Australia Day celebrations all over NSW.
Australia Day Ambassadors are invited as guests of honour at celebrations around the state and are often part of the activities and events on the day delivering the keynote address aimed at capturing the true spirit of being Australian.
The Program began back in 1990 with nine ambassadors and has grown steadily over the years. Now each year, more than 170 ambassadors take part in the celebrations.
