Here's to Buderim's birthday, here's to many more

WITH summer officially here, I find myself looking back at 2012, wondering just where it has gone and how history will see it.

Peter Richardson.

WITH summer officially here, Christmas only 24 sleeps away and the new year just over the horizon, I find myself looking back at 2012, wondering just where it has gone and how history will see it.

I was tempted to tot up its positives and negatives as recorded in the news media during the year, but shied away from that for fear of a depressing comparison.

Instead, I willed myself to focus on just one genuine good news story that might leave me with positive memories of 2012.

I didn't have to look far ... just across the road, in fact, to where the Buderim War Memorial Community Association's grand old hall has for most of the year been the focal point of the Buderim 150 sesquicentenary celebrations.

Rather than just one story, though, it is a serial. Buderim 150 has seen about as many events as there are weeks in the year, and it's not over yet.

One might have thought the torrential rain that washed out the planned Australia Day launch would have put a knocker on the year, but the event was successfully transferred to the hall, and from then on the thousands of hours of planning and volunteering ensured a year to remember.

Among the highlights was the Living Legends program. The 'legends', all of whom were born on or living on Buderim before the end of 1945 and still reside on or near it, were honoured in many ways throughout the year, including the planting of trees bearing their names in the new park.

The brilliantly successful Back to Buderim weekend, the street party, the Spring Garden Festival and the Indigenous and South Sea Islanders reunion all stood out, so the town's famous community spirit has been in full flower throughout the year, not just for residents but for all to experience, enjoy, and hopefully, to emulate.

Buderim 150 will end on December 15 with Christmas carols, and of course, fireworks, but I have no doubt that the spirit behind it will continue to spark the community down through the coming years.

A case in point is the Buderim Foundation. Formed in 2004 and actively supported by 400 'ambassadors', it exists to receive donations and bequests, invest these funds and so generate income which is distributed annually as grants to Buderim-based community projects.

The foundation's Community Challenge, symbolised by the three 'philanthropoles' in Main Street, has run all this year in conjunction with Buderim 150, and has led to more than $180,000 being donated so far, with more fund-raising events still to come.

Congratulations, Buderim, on a truly memorable year ... and here's to Buderim 200.

Originally published as Here's to Buderim's birthday, here's to many more