They came from all over the Tweed and all walks of life but on Saturday, they all had one thing in common – they were being honoured as part of this year’s Tweed Shire Council’s Australia Day Awards ceremony at Tumbulgum.
Young Achiever of the Year this year was Lindisfarne Year 12 student Penelope Meeves
The Arts and Cultural Achievement Award went to Graeme Stevenson
His interviews with artists in their studios, discussing their artworks, is now being distributed to China, parts of Europe and the US. Graeme and his unique program were featured recently in the Virgin International Airlines ‘In Flight’ magazine.
Sporting Achievement Award Individual – Bill Chaffey
Bill successfully defended his title in Auckland in October last year. Earlier last year, Bill entered his first ironman triathlon, which consists of a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and full marathon run. Using his hand cycle and wheelchair, he won this event in Cairns in May. Bill was a member of the Tweed Valley Triathletes before his accident and has continued as a loyal member ever since. He was made a life member of the club because of his outstanding contribution to the sport of triathlon in the area. He is currently setting himself for the Olympics in Brazil.
Sporting Achievement for Team – Coolangatta Mount Warning Dragon Boat Club – Mixed Grand Masters. I
Community Event of the Year – Tweed Mental Health Awareness Family Fun Day.
Volunteer of the Year – Jessarrah Wilson.
Throughout 2012, she attended monthly meetings for Camp Quality to organise fundraising events and family outings for local families affected by childhood cancer. Jessarah has become the assistant administrator of the Rotary Youth Transition Seminar which holds annual camps each year for youth in Years 11 and 12. Jessarrah has made an enormous contribution through her volunteering to both organisations.
Jessarrah has been heavily involved with organising Camp Quality and Rotary Youth Transition Seminar, as well as undertaking study at Southern Cross University and working part-time at Bunnings Warehouse.This community event, held at Jack Evans Boat Harbour at the start of Mental Health Month in October n March 2012, the team competed at Kawana in the State Dragon Boat Championships and won gold in the 200m category and silver in the 1km category to become state champions. They then travelled to Docklands in Melbourne in April to compete in the Australian Dragon Boat Championships. They entered the 200m and 500m events and won gold in both, becoming national champions. In July, eight members of the team travelled to Hong Kong for the World Dragon Boat Championships and competed in the same events and won gold, becoming world champions. . When Bill Chaffey suffered very serious injuries seven years ago after being hit by a truck while on a training ride near Chinderah, most people would have expected him to give up his favourite sport – Triathlon. He became a paraplegic and, while no longer able to compete as an able bodied athlete, he was undeterred and set his mind and body to pursue the sport he loved as a disabled athlete. His achievements have been outstanding. He is the current undisputed Olympic distance para triathlete and holder of the sprint distance record, winning in Beijing in 2011. a former student of Tweed River High School who held his first art exhibition in 1984 and has earned his living from painting ever since. His work now hangs in galleries and many private collections throughout the world and has been featured in prominent art magazines in the USA. Graeme was invited to paint the ‘Parrots of the World’ and the completed works was published in six languages and distributed to 120 countries. He was invited by George Adamson to paint the lions he befriended, along with many other animal subjects throughout India and South Africa. Graeme appeared on the US television art program ‘Colour In Your Life’ and was inspired to produce his own television series featuring artists from the Tweed. . Penelope, 17, who is hoping to study a double degree at Bond this year, founded the Tweed Youth Advocacy Coalition, which seeks more opportunities for young people in rural areas through documentaries, petitions and data collection. She is a volunteer with homeless organisation ‘You Have a Friend’, and coordinates the Lindisfarne Community Service Projects, arranging community work with students at her school. For the past three years Penelope has been part of the Rotary Model United Nations Assembly and last year participated in the YMCA NSW Youth Parliament 2012 as the Youth Minister for Women’s Affairs. Penelope also took part in 2012’s Max Potential leadership. She has also been helping young children with learning disabilities to read. 2012, was a great success, with more than 2500 attending – not bad for an event that started six years ago with just 40 people. Last year’s family fun day involved over 40 community organisations working together to coordinate the day, including On Track Community Programs, Families in Mind, Northern Kids Care, Early Intervention, Life Bridge East, New Horizons, Tweed Shire Council, North Coast Area Health, Men’s Shed, Cares NSW, Mission Australia, Bugulwena Health, St Joseph’s Youth Service, VIBE Youth Group, Scouts and many more.
