Heroes of Our Community - September 2009

In a George Benson song made even more famous by Whitney Houston is the line: “Everybody’s searching for a hero, people need someone to look up to”.

For small children these people can be comic book characters, for others it is sports stars, or people who have committed great acts of courage and bravery. 
I can’t help but think that we often look in all the wrong places to find heroes.  We hold elite athletes up on a pedestal, or become obsessed with TV and movie stars. 

The real heroes to me are those who go about the business of selflessly looking out for others and giving up their time and energy without reward.  Their sacrifice is great and they are often not acknowledged. 

Our community is full of them, yet we don’t always hear about them or the feats they have achieved. 

This week we presented Civic Awards to six such heroes of our community.  People who have not looked for acclamation or reward, but over many years continued to give their time energy and expertise for the benefit of others. 

A Civic Award is not given out lightly and only 100 have been given out in their 20 year history. 

The stories behind these people’s activities are inspirational and deserve recognition.  So congratulations to Tony Aull, Olga Barrett, Roger Clausen, Joan Chettleburgh, Edna Downey and Graeme Pritchard, and thank you for your years of commitment and service to our community. 

You are true heroes and we look up to you as great examples to us all.

Finally, to commemorate the awarding of the 100th Civic award the Council has made all of the previous awardees’ stories available on the Council website. 

If you want to be inspired, challenged or just plain impressed by people in our community then take a look here and prepare to be in awe.