Volunteer Week: Recognition of the Hunter’s dedicated volunteers
From RFS, Lifeline and Red Cross volunteers, the Hunter has some of the most har€d working individuals around. We pay tribute to them this Volunteer Week.
Newcastle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Newcastle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Being Volunteer Week, it’s the best time to pay recognition to a number of the Hunter’s dedicated and hard working volunteers who keep things running smoothly each week.
From the Rural Fire Service to Landcare, Lifeline and Animal rescue workers, there’s no doubt there is an endless array of talented individuals who are doing important and vital work across the region.
The Newcastle News is introducing you to some of those humble volunteers, and putting them in the spotlight to say thanks.
Fred Turner – Rural Fire Service (RFS)
He started as a volunteer firefighter and after 38 years is still as dedicated as his first day.
The Singleton local worked his way up through the ranks to brigade captain and then to group officer where he manages five brigades in the Hunter Valley from Bowman’s Creek to Glennis Creek.
The retired State Water worker and self confessed “people person”, has a tonne of respect for the RFS organisation and the work it does, as well as the many “wonderful” volunteers.
“A lot of volunteers joined the service to look after the local community. We got opportunities to do further training and get new skills and branch out, going away to Victoria, WA to fight fires and help out, including travelling around the state.”
“One of the highlights has been to train our wonderful volunteers when they first join and to see them evolve as firefighters and leaders, that is very rewarding.
“The RFS has been a real family for me.”
Fred also volunteers for the local Legacy group, looking after 54 widows. He is also a volunteer at the military museum.
David Baldwin – Lake Macquarie Marine Rescue
Despite battling health issues, this hard working individual still turns up day in, day out.
Nearly seven years as volunteer for Lake Macquarie Marine Rescue, working as a store officer, David is the fundraising guru who puts in the hours trying to gather vital funds to keep the organisation running.
“We go out to shopping centres and events, raising funds,” David said
“It’s rewarding. Giving back to the community, meeting new people and friends, getting out and about.”
And if he’s not a legend enough, he gave 14 years of service to the SES prior to starting with Marine Rescue.
Pearl Mansfield – Newcastle City SES
She started with SES in 2007, nearly 15 years ago, and hasn’t slowed down.
In operations, Pearl does a range of jobs from radio work, on the phones and also goes out on searches.
Whatever the crews need, she’s there to help make it happen.
“You like to think you are helping the crews and helping people, making sure the crews have got what they need or if they haven’t try to arrange it and whatever needs to be done, that adds up to making it a happy atmosphere,” she said.
A busy woman Pearl also volunteers at Newcastle’s Mater hospital, doing clerical work for the oncology department, and has also worked in the melanoma unit.
She also leads a group of dancers who perform at aged care facilities, called ‘Country Fun Line Dancers’.
Adrienne Carmody – Red Cross
It was 25 years ago, she was driving along and heard a radio advertisement for people to join Red Cross as volunteers.
That’s when she had a ‘I can do that’ moment.
“I was working at the time and there was a call-out for people to do the telecross and I thought I can do that, so I followed that up and I’ve been doing it ever since,” she said.
Adrienne is a trained volunteer to ring people every morning, who are elderly or living alone, and check they are OK and got through the night OK.
She’s also involved in one of the organisations programs where isolated people who are alone, receive a friendly visitor.
“You have opportunities to do various training courses and there’s tremendous support,” she said.
“It’s the people you meet, the human interaction.”
Not busy enough, Adrienne is also a volunteer at Hunter Volunteer Centre running interviews for people who want to start volunteering. She also is a justice of the peace.
Lois Simpson – Lake Macquarie Landcare Group
By her own admission, Lois likes to get “down and dirty” on site, as she cares for and maintains the health of bushland and native vegetation across Lake Macquarie.
Her biggest influence was her mother, and she was taught at an early age about the value of bushland.
It was after she bought a home close to a local bushland reserve, and thought it needed some TLC, that Lois started her 12 year service to the organisation.
“A neighbour said to me why don’t you make a Landcare group, which I did,” she said.
“It soothes my soul. A great social thing as well as the on-ground work, a wonderful experience.”
She’s also been on the committee of the volunteer network for Lake Macquarie, getting to know other Landcare groups, and learning and sharing information with them.
“When you wake up on a morning you know you’re off to a Landcare site, you wake up and think I’ve got a really good purpose today, I’ve got a good reason to get out of bed,” she added.
Holly Warren – Lifeline
The University of Newcastle student who is studying a bachelor of psychology said it’s “amazing” to be able to volunteer for Lifeline, taking calls from across Australia.
The 28-year-old started as a telephone crisis support worker in 2019 at Lifeline’s Islington branch and takes calls from those in distress or crisis, or even those who just need a friendly person to chat with.
“Calls vary, amazingly you never really know what you’re going to get, it’s not always grim, sometimes people might just want to talk through their day,” she said.
“It’s can be hard to talk about suicide because it has so much stigma, people are even scared to say the word and will talk around it, and we hope people feel more comfortable to talk about it with us.”
She describes her role as super rewarding.
“You get to connect with everyone and anyone,” Holly said.
“It’s rewarding in personal development, it has made me such a better listener.”
Brian Hilton – Lake Macquarie Landcare
This Redhead local has been with the Landcare Group for a number of decades, since before it was even known as Landcare.
He fell into volunteering after moving to the area.
“I moved to awabakal nature reserve in early 1970s and noticed how the vegetation was changing over the years, a lot of species of weed were being produced and thought I’d do something about it,” he said.
“I could see it was taking over the bush, especially around the beaches and headland.”
“A lot of species of plant are in decline, some are already extinct so I’ve got to try and do something about that, try to save some of them.”
Brain has also been part of the Redhead coastal corridor program which is almost complete, which has had hundreds of people involved and the planting of thousands of trees and shrubs.
“It’s become a way of life, good exercise and keeps me fit and healthy and at the end of the day you’ve got something to show for it,” he added.
Ron Larson – Newcastle Museum
The American born Novocastrian is a well-known face at Newcastle Museum.
The 83-year-old has been a dedicated and hard working volunteer for 16, with a background in geography and academia.
“I was interested in the things at the museum including regional development, urban growth and the history of coal mining and transport,” Ron said.
“The exhibitions in the museum really fit the kind of training I had and the work I have done in environmental planning before I retired.”
He’s the one that will be there to explain an exhibition or answer your questions, helping out in any way he can.
“I enjoy volunteering because I feel like a part of the organisation even though I am not an employee, and I enjoy the staff, it’s a nice social outlet,” he said.
Sue Clark-Pitrolo – Kaden Centre
A three time cancer survivor, Sue established the Hunter’s Kaden Centre, a unique facility that supports cancer patients to remain physically active during their treatment.
She helps to aid in their mental health and physical wellbeing.
An inspirational volunteer, her outstanding work has seen her receive the annual Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation Chairman’s Medal and $5000 for their chosen charity to help develop other volunteers.
An environmental scientist, she was inspired to start the unique facility in Newcastle in 2018 after realising how important exercise and movement was to her own cancer treatment recovery.
“Whether you’re in cancer treatment or in survivorship, going from being active to not at all can lead to massive muscle atrophy. For me, it got to the point where I couldn’t stand up from a chair,” Sue said.
When established, the Kaden Centre was seeing 30 oncology patients a week, now that figure is around 370 a week.
Deborah Ireland – Blackbutt Reserve
She moved from Tamworth to Newcastle more than nine years ago and with a background in animal husbandry, wanted to find a way to settle in and be part of the community.
That’s when the former vet nurse discovered Blackbutt Reserve, which she fells in love with.
“By accident a friend took me to Blackbutt Reserve. I thought it was beautiful in the middle of nowhere this wonderful park full of wildlife so I applied to do volunteer work,” she explained.
“I never imagined handling snakes and things so that was quite exciting and a whole new learning curve, but fabulous I got to work with the animals and the staff are really supportive.”
A woman of many talents, Deborah does a variety of tasks including cleaning exhibits and the ponds ready for people to come through, preparing and collecting specialised food for the animals as well as general maintenance.
Education is also a big part of her volunteering role.
“Just starting back into educational programs after COVID, we have a big arena so we have school groups and reptile shows,” she said.
“Giving people the opportunity to see native animals up close. We’re educating people about animals.”
“It’s rewarding, I love it. Great way to get into the community and feel like you’re adding something to it.”
Pauline Eltoft – Lemon Tree Passage Parks Reserves and Landcare Group
Pauline has formerly co-ordinated the group and now is more involved in the grants process as the group has successfully won multiple Federal Government and council grants over the years.
She helps to restore Koala habitat by planting feed trees, improve community areas by restoring picnic tables, increasing educational signage, and much more.
She regularly communicates with Council about environmental and safety issues, and as she has resided in Lemon Tree Passage for many years, often speaks with the public about Landcare projects and hopes for improving the bushland and town centre.
Pauline is a quiet, kind, and very caring volunteer who has dedicated a huge amount of time to the community and the environment. The before and after photos she has taken of weed-infested areas turned into wildlife sanctuaries are impressive and extensive.
Alice Robson – Hunter Animal Rescue
She’s the resident photographer at Hunter Animal Rescue, who owns her own pet photography business, Four Paws and a Camera.
For the past three years, the 40-year-old from Cooks Hill has been donating her time and expertise to ensure foster animals find their forever homes. She is also their social media co-ordinator.
“I set up my business with the aim to help animals find homes, I then reached out to Hunter Animal Rescue to volunteer to do their photography,” she said.
“It’s now been hundreds upon hundreds of cats and dogs and puppies and kittens.
“Knowing your life’s purpose and being able to act on it is a wonderful thing and I always knew that I needed to do something and with the love of photography, and animals, I thought I can combine the two and help.”
Alice believes her photos help to get the animals noticed, but they do the rest.
“I find if a pretty picture can make someone read the animals profile and lead to a meet and greet then the animal will do the rest, I just jazz up the first impression,” she said.
“I felt my life didn’t have a whole lot of meaning until I joined this organisation because we all love what we do and we all want to help, and we’re actually doing it, and it is really rewarding.”
Margaret Lamond – Mambo Wanda Wetlands Reserves and Landcare Group
Margaret has been volunteering for over 15 years along with her husband Walter Lamond. She played a large role in protecting the reserve from development pressures, and volunteers tirelessly to improve the diversity of plants and animal habitat in this special place.
Margaret not only coordinates up to 20 volunteers at monthly working bees, but involves local schools, professional bush regenerators, helps to run community educational events, and in her spare time volunteers for the Soldiers Point Salamander Bay Landcare Group.
She is passionate about plants, natural restoration, and community input.
Ngioka Nursery – Little Beach
There were so many worthy volunteers in this group it was hard to single out just one.
Some of these volunteers have been meeting weekly for over 17 years. Helen Brady first started 34 years ago in 1986, Jill Rogers and Glennis Thomas have been there for at least 17 years, and others between 5 and 10 years.
Every week is a social gathering to grow locally collected seed, repot plants, weed pots, plant in the veggie gardens, all to be grown for Landcare and Parks volunteer groups going back into the community.
Muswellbrook Council Visitor Information Centre
Sheila Smith, Jeanette Travers & Jan Farr are described as “wonderful” volunteers who do some amazing work at the Muswellbrook Council Visitor Information Centre at Denman, in promoting the Shire to travellers and locals alike.
All three ladies are long standing volunteers, who combined, have over 30 years of volunteering in the community and are passionate about making sure all that come through the doors have a positive experience.
They are always thinking of new ways to do things to promote the area and ensure that people come back again.
Killer motorist has parole revoked after latest driving charge
A woman who was jailed over the death of a female pedestrian has found herself back behind bars despite being granted bail by the courts after authorities revoked her parole following a fresh driving charge.
The prank call that led police to an online child abuser
It was a shock discovery that came to light because of a prank call - a Newcastle man caught with child abuse material and procuring underage girls for sex on Snapchat.