Read about the talented winners. Pages 6 and

Official of the Year

Greg Langford

Greg is a Nunawading Swimming Club Board Member. Hehelped rebuild the Nunawading Swimming Club Swim Committee post COVID-19 and has consistently shown up to officiate both local and interstate meets. Greg regularly helps out at swimming events. Greg was also instrumental in seeing the recent Nunawading Short Course Swimming Meet achieve its fundraising efforts. He is a genuine leader, admired by many across the community for his contribution to swimming and the Club.

Club of the Year

Eastern Gymnastics Club

Eastern Gymnastics have achieved great successes this year. Two of their gymnasts were selected for the Victorian Men’s Artistic Gymnastics State team and their coach was selected to coach the team. The club encourages senior gymnasts to give back by running a supportive guided coach development program for coaches from 14 years of age. Secondary Schools from all over Whitehorse attend the Club for PE and health and fitness classes, and gymnastics is taken out to Primary Schools through the sporting schools program. Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Col Pearse

Col has been a keen sportsman throughout his life, excelling as a swimmer. He has represented Australia at the Paralympics, World Para Swimming Championships and most recently the Birmingham Commonwealth games. Col’s biggest achievements to date have been: ▪ 2 x Silver Medals at the

Para Swimming World

Championships (100m Butterfly and 200m

IM) in the S10 category ▪ Gold at the 2022

Commonwealth Games in the S10 100m Butterfly Col demonstrates fair play and contributes to the wider sporting community through his zest for life and sport. He brings an infectious enthusiasm to the daily training environment, which is valued by all his teammates.

Junior Sportsperson of the Year

Amelie Holah

In 2022, Amelie has competed in many athletics championships, including Athletics Victoria State Track & Field Championships where she earned herself two gold medals and a bronze medal. She also competed in Athletics Australia Junior Combined Events Championships, where she earned a bronze medal in the Under 18s Heptathlon. Amelie was chosen to represent Victoria in the Athletics Australia Track and Field Championships in Sydney. Amelie is well known around the Box Hill Athletics Track where she regularly trains and competes. She often volunteers at Box Hill Athletic Club events, helping with setup or lap counting. This year, she became a junior volunteer coach, sharing her skills with young athletes aged from 5 to 12 years old. Winner of the Chair’s Award

Melissa Rees

Melissa has developed and implemented a fabulous Walking Basketball program through Blackburn Vikings Basketball Club that engages older community members in physical activity. It provides physical exercise, social connectedness and community involvement at a local sporting club. The program has a significant positive impact on participants, particularly on their mental health. Melissa has helped build relationships between participants and developed a sense of wellbeing through exercise. The fun weekly program focuses on skill development and a wide range of ages (66-88) and abilities are represented.

Volunteer of the Year – it’s a tie!

Louise Godden and Tanneale Marshall

Louise and Tanneale have been integral in revitalising what was once a struggling junior program at the Blackburn Orioles Baseball Club. They fill the roles of Junior Coordinators, Team Managers, Team Scorers and Canteen Assistants all while being proud parents watching their children play on game days. Before the season began, they worked tirelessly to establish processes to give each junior team every opportunity to succeed. They took it upon themselves to grow the membership base with flyers, advertising and word-ofmouth promotions.

Have your say on the Whitehorse Sustainability Strategy 2030

Council has developed the draft Whitehorse Sustainability Strategy 2030 – Taking Climate Action and first 4-year Action Plan 2023-2026 following community consultation in May.

Council must balance resource allocation across a wide range of service areas and community needs within its constrained budget. Community feedback is used to inform how resources are allocated. The draft Strategy and Action Plan responds to community feedback, climate science and our obligations to act on climate change as outlined in the Local Government Act 2020. This draft Strategy commits to a new set of energy and emissions-related targets: ▪ Maintain carbon neutral corporate emissions status to be achieved in 2022 ▪ Procure 100 percent of Council’s electricity from renewable sources by 2025 (pending business case outcomes) ▪ Achieve net zero corporate emissions by 2035 ▪ Aspire to net zero community emissions by 2050 The new Strategy will address the following challenges and opportunities: ▪ Support the reduction of community emissions ▪ Support the community with climate change adaptation actions ▪ Make early investments in climate actions ▪ Improve climate change communication ▪ Vegetation loss on private land ▪ Advocate for new developments to address further environmental sustainability and climate change principles We would like to hear from you to further shape the Strategy and Action Plan and to inform prioritisation of resources. The impacts of climate change are being felt across the community right now and are forecast to increase. To minimise these impacts and improve sustainability, climate change action is essential and urgent. Your feedback will help Council to understand what you think is important to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and how Council can support you to contribute towards a healthy and liveable community. We encourage you to: ▪ Fill out our survey on Your Say ▪ Talk to Council and learn more at one of our free community pop-up events ▪ Attend one of our community workshops and share ideas about what you think the Strategy should look like Consultation will close on Sunday 4 December 2022.

L More information: yoursay.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/sustainability-strategy

RHL Sparks Reserve West Pavilion

The new RHL Sparks Reserve West Pavilion will be ready for use by in December 2022.

The total project budget is $3.29M, with the state government providing $500k from the World Game Facilities Fund. The completed pavilion will provide a practical and attractive community sporting amenity with a covered external concourse for spectator viewing, four female-friendly change rooms and amenities, a kiosk, first aid room, storage, referee rooms, public toilets and a reconfigured car park with entry from Canterbury Road.