The Hunter River Times

BY ALEX TIGANI

A local Rotary club has honoured four of its hometown heroes.

Local leaders Simon Merrick, Leasa Café, Findlay Hay and our very own Shane Davey were all honoured as recipients of the Pride of Workmanship Award presented at the Rotary Club of Singleton Sunrise changeover luncheon on Sunday.

Merrick, who is the State Emergency Services’ Central Hunter Cluster Commander, was recognised for keeping his community safe in times of crisis.

“His contribution to the SES has been recognised at State Government level,” Rotary Club of Singleton Sunrise president Gerard McMillan announced.

“Whilst a member of our Rotary Club he was instrumental in gaining a Rotary Australia World community service grant for Taylor Lojszczyk.”

Café, who is theSingleton Diggers Administrative Manager,commenced her employment 23 years ago as an administration trainee while in attendance at the Singleton TAFE.

“Leasa is now part of the management team at the Singleton Diggers and those who know Leasa are aware of her professionalism, dedication to her position and her support to her fellow workers,” he continued.

Hay is the owner and operator of Singleton’s Burdekin Park pharmacy.

“When the Rotary Club purchases the Mother’s and Father’s Day gifts for the residents of Singleton’s three nursing homes, Findlay offers the community exceptional pharmaceutical service,” he explained.

“Findlay joined members in distributing Mother’s Day gifts this year and her Pride of Workmanship Award is well deserved.”

Finally, Shane Davey (our very own publisher of The Hunter River Times) received a round of applause after his inspirational introduction.

“When covid-19 hit Australia the country was in lockdown and people were encouraged to stay at home,” McMillan concluded.

“Businesses shut down and the local newspaper stopped printing as a result of the pandemic.

“Shane, who had been publishing the Coalface magazine for a number of years and realised people of the Hunter Valley needed a community newspaper to keep them informed of local issues.

“Thus, he established The Hunter River Times, the newspaper is gaining in popularity by its readership and (Shane) you must be very proud of your team and the paper’s success.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Mr McMillan thanked outgoing president Stacy Munzenberger for her leadership. In 2020/21 the club continued to give gifts for elderly residents of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, participated in tree planting and established a 20-member Rotakids club at St Catherine’s Catholic College (the first Rotakids project in NSW).

The luncheon also featured the presentation of a Paul Harris Fellow award for Ben McEwan after his tireless work as the auditor of the Singleton Diggers.

“It is an honour to win such an award and I am humbled to receive it,” he declared.