Congrats to winners

CONGRATULATIONS to the Shire of Collie for hosting the Australia Day Awards and pool party.

It was great to chat to many members of our community, joining together to honour the worthy winners.

Well done to Wendy Hoskins for winning Citizen of the Year.

I am amazed at the number of community organisations and committees that have been lucky to receive Wendy’s tireless commitment for more than 40 years.

Alexis and Beau Milne made history being the first set of twins as joint winners of the Young Citizen category.

that existing subsea capability and begin manufacturing key components for smart sea mines, including sensors.

“Manufacturing here in WA would further diversify revenue streams in our state and create more jobs for West Australians.

“It also means that strategically, our nation has a secure local supply chain for this vital component of our national defence, one which cannot easily be interrupted or impacted even during times of conflict.”

Strong graphite results continue

INTERNATIONAL Graphite (IG) has added yet another tranche of strong results from the ongoing drilling program at the Springdale graphite project at Hopetoun.

Managing director and CEO Andrew Worland said the diamond drill results gave great confidence about the quality and potential of the resource, and its capacity to sustain a shallow long life open pit mining operation.

“Every phase of our drill program identified either new areas of high-grade mineralisation, or confirmed the existing high-grade zones,” he said.

“The data from this drilling provides key geological input that will be used in the next stage of resource modelling as we progress mining studies and feasibility assessment.”

Once mining is underway, IG plans to ship the graphite to its Collie facility.

These fine examples of young adults began volunteering at a young age and continued as teens – both becoming coaches and organisers of events for peers and younger children. They are both not only inspirational, but possess a level of resilience and determination that is outstanding.

Congratulations to you both.

The Community Group of the Year went to the Retired Mineworkers’ Association.

The association offers a vital opportunity for camaraderie and friendship and has undertaken a responsibility for the restoration of mining memorabilia and commemoration of retired miners’ achievements and loss of life.

My final congratulations to Donna Davies for winning the environmental award with the Friends of the River group.

She ensures this important area of our town is rehabilitated and revegetated.

We are lucky to have Donna’s knowledge and expertise at the helm of this project.

Volunteers are the backbone and lifeblood of any community and here in Collie we are fortunate to have so many.

That probably makes us all sound a little shallow, but it isn’t about money.

Gifts can be anything, after all – handmade from bits and bobs around the house, bought from an op shop, or even picked up for free.

As long as the gift is appropriate to the person you’re giving it to, how much it costs doesn’t matter.

This is something I constantly struggle with.

Mostly because no-one in my family seems to want anything. It’s a contradiction, isn’t it? When giving/receiving gifts is your love language but nobody knows what they want, or even if they want anything at all.

I basically have to hover around them trying frantically to overhear something they might like so I can add it to my mental gift list, and then pray they don’t buy it for themselves.

Or hope that I’m in the vicinity when they see something they might like, and I can get it or replicate it at home.

Most of the time, I just randomly walk around, hoping that one of the microparticles of inspiration that streak through our universe lands on me and gives me gift ideas.

I probably shouldn’t complain. Truth be told, I’m no better.

What happens to me though, is this: I can be going through life quite happily, browsing the internet and looking in shops and seeing ads on social media, and see so many things I really like but really don’t want to spend money on.

Then, when someone asks me what I want – my mind goes blank.

What do I want?

Mind blank, head empty, no wants to be found here, no sirree.

I’ve often wondered why my family’s love language can’t just be something easier to manage, like baking each other cakes?

Then, inevitably, I conclude that our love language is what makes my family, my family.

And how could I be me without them?