Gosford City Club
District 9685
Peter Turnbull Community Service Awards 2022
An award made to outstanding community service volunteers who have performed meritorious, dedicated and inspirational community service.
On the beautiful Central Coast New South Wales, Australia
Please note that the following pages contain images of people who have died.
Community Service Awards
Peter grew up on the Central Coast. Originally working in the finance industry, Peter moved onto real estate, establishing Citicoast Realty, which would become a very highly respected industrial and real estate business. Peter was passionate about the region, in particular the potential of Gosford as the city of the future. Peter generously donated time and money to a variety of causes working tirelessly in support of the Gosford Performing Arts Centre. Peter was a dedicated Rotarian for over 40 years, serving two terms as President. Peter was a Charter Member of the Gosford City Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow. A true gentleman, Peter acknowledged and supported the work of others in the community. It is fitting that these awards recognise his selfless contribution.
Community service comprises varied efforts that community members make to improve the quality of life of those who live within this club’s locality or municipality. Today we acknowledge 8 members of our community who all contribute to making where we live and work a better place. What they do is exceptional, and enhances our society. Sometimes the efforts of volunteers go unrecognised. Today we will pause to say thank you.
Our club has named these awards after our former Rotary member and friend, the late Peter Turnbull.
OUR 2022 COMMUNITY SERVICE VOLUNTEERS
Ron GibbsRon Gibbs was raised in public housing in Surry Hills with four sisters and a brother. In this period, he saved two young boys from serious injury, and later living in Berkeley Vale, he saved a lady from choking outside a local restaurant. So, his commitment of a life of service began early.
In the late 1960s -1970s, he coached the Under 14s to Under 17s for South Sydney Juniors Rugby League competition. In 1986 he helped establish the Berkeley Vale Junior Rugby League Football Club. He also coached several of the teams. This was difficult because he was working in Sydney including night shifts. For many years he has also lived with Cardiomyopathy, although he never allows it to get in the way of his active life.
In 1998 he joined the Central Coast Woodturners Co-op and was instrumental in gaining a local workshop for teaching the craft, holding two stints as the President and several positions on Committee.
From around 2003 he taught a number of children who were home schooled as well as tutoring school teachers and students from the groups workshop. He then began to take woodwork teaching demonstration lessons into local and Sydney Region Schools.
He successfully tutored Year 12 students from private schools with their major High School Certificate woodworking projects, all the while tutoring Woodturners Club members new and old in the art of woodturning.
He began volunteering at The Glen in 1981 a role he enjoys because he can see firsthand how the facility fosters good health, clean living and volunteering and helps folk recover from tragic events in their lives.
He currently teaches two days a week with the Central Coast Woodturners in the Old Milk Factory in Wyong and one day a week at The Glen.
Kelly Drover is an ambassador for the Michael Hughes Foundation and Feel the Magic, two charities close to her heart after losing her husband suddenly and unexpectedly in 2013 to cardiac arrest. Kelly advocates for defibrillators in the community on behalf of the Michael Hughes Foundation, whose mission it is to turn bystanders into first responders in out of hospital cardiac arrest events. She shares her story to help create awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and encourage local businesses to purchase a defibrillator and ensure they are more commonly available.
Kelly Drover
Kelly was a 2022 Terrigal Woman of the Year nominee for her advocacy around defibrillators, her fundraising enabling her to donate defibrillators to organisations like Mingaletta, an Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander community hub in Umina, Parklife Café at Terrigal and Terrigal Rugby Club.
Kelly also volunteers for Feel the Magic which provide grief education & support to bereaved children & their families.
Kelly trekked Kokoda in 2017 to raise funds for both charities, has completed the Stadium Stomp, climbed Mount Kosciusko with her son, run a half marathon and undertaken a number of fundraising activities, raising over $23,000.
Melanie Hall
Terrigal BMX Club
Melanie Hall is a passionate lifetime Central Coast local who contributes generously as a member and volunteer in our community.
Melanie has served as an active member of the Terrigal BMX Club since 2019. She currently holds volunteer positions at the Club, as both Canteen Manager and Fundraising Co-ordinator, positions held since 2021.
Melanie is an active parent member of the Bateau Bay school community. Mel has also had involvement with the Wyong District Netball Association, since 2018.
Mel’s work life also contributes prominently in our community, currently working with the Mounties Club Group, and previously at a number of different Clubs across the Coast. Mel’s work has also included contributions in the care industry with Uniting Care, KinCare and a number of Retirement Village locations, bringing her bright energy to each person she works with.
For Terrigal BMX Club, Melanie is a tireless volunteer whose efforts have significantly improved the running of our club. Her management of the canteen is a valuable service to our 188 club members, their families and our visiting guests from other clubs. During 2021-2022 Mel has made a particular impact in our club community, investing many hours over and above to completely refresh the clubhouse canteen to improve the quality of this important food safe space.
Mel also made a significant impact to the club in leading the Fundraising and Sponsorship efforts for a major NSW State event, hosted by Terrigal BMX Club, in August 2022. Mel introduced our club to a wide range of new sponsors which contributed to a successful event, enjoyed by over 650 participants and their families.
Phil Bligh was born in Bourke, a small town in the north-west of New South Wales. Both his parents were removed from their traditional lands as children and sent to Aboriginal missions in Queensland where they were taught Christian ideals with one trained as a domestic worker and the other as a stockman. His father was born a Kullilli/Wakka Wakka man and his mother was born a Kalkadoon woman.
Phil is a member of the Kullilli Bulloo River Native Title Aboriginal Corporation established in 2014 to facilitate native title rights and interests of the Kullilli community, Queensland. He acknowledges the NSW Central Coast as his home and is an active long-standing member of the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council. Prior to living on the Central Coast, Phil worked as a senior consultant with the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs and senior policy analyst with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) where he directed the Education Portfolio. He holds a BA (Liberal Studies) degree from Charles Sturt University.
Reconciliation is at the heart of Phil Bligh’s work, seeking to overcome “division” by promoting a greater understanding of Aboriginal world views to diverse groups of people. He was a foundation member of The Ourimbah Protocol (TOP), a unique partnership between State Forests of NSW and Central Coast community groups and businesses. Phil is also a foundation member of the 5 Lands Walk and is Vice President, Aboriginal Culture and Community Liaison. His holistic approach to reconciliation within the 5 Lands Walk context involves sharing an Aboriginal appreciation of relationship to land, based on reconnecting with its spirit and story.
Phil is the co-founder of Beyond the Campfire Aboriginal Cultural Intelligence.
Words on the Water a major Australian writers festival was first held on the Central Coast in 2021. A second highly successful event was staged in 2022, featuring cinema showings, author talks, literary cruise, evening conversations and a Schools Program. Extending over six days the festival featured some sixty authors from across Australia.
Helen has volunteered for the Writers Festival for the whole period of its existence, assisting with and organising the Schools Program as well as wider committee involvement. Helen also works tirelessly for Take 3 for the Sea. A program designed to reduce the amount of plastic waste in our waterways and on our beaches and is passionate about educating children about cleaning up our world.
Phillip Bligh
Helen Hayden
Ruth Wengi first joined Coast Shelter in 2019 and quickly signed up to assist with multiple volunteer roles within the organisation’s many programs.
Ruth currently volunteers many hours to the Volunteer Driver Mentor program within Coast Shelter’s Youth Refuges. This program greatly assists young clients, who have gained their Learner Licence, to acquire their 120 hours of mandatory driving hours. As a direct impact of her volunteering in this role, Ruth sees young clients gain confidence and a boost to their morale, as they achieve a major milestone that breaks down barriers to employment.
Ruth also generously assists in the Coast Community Centre kitchen on a weekly basis. Within this program, volunteers in the kitchen prepare and serve free lunch and dinner service, Mondays to Fridays every week, made solely from donated produce from local businesses. The role is fast paced and requires a fair bit of creative culinary vision. Ruth and the teams manage to serve warm and nutritious meals in record time, along with a smile and chat to those most isolated in our community.
Ruth has also regularly joined Coast Shelter’s Santa’s Shelter teams at Christmas each year, to ensure donated gifts and food from our generous local community, are made up into gift packages and Christmas hampers. These are then distributed to the Shelter’s Women and Children’s refuges, Youth refuges, Men’s refuge and well as Coast Community Centre clients.
Ruth is the type of volunteer who gives multiple roles a go and loves to be involved in front line activity that makes a meaningful difference to those served by Coast Shelter.
Ruth Wengi