Hello everyone. Deputy Mayor Liam Ley here, giving you this week's Council update.
There's not a whole lot to talk about Council-related, but there are a few events on and a few things that have happened this week, so we'll kick off. Starting this week, I had the privilege to attend the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards in the Hunter, and that was in Newcastle, as one of their guest speakers. It was a great event, and it really did showcase just how many volunteers we have across the Hunter and particularly here in Dungog Shire, there were a few nominations. So congratulations to all those nominated and winners. In my view, I think Dungog would have to be the most volunteer-reliant community in the entire Hunter. You know, volunteers here don't just help with some of those smaller volunteer groups; they quite literally run things and organise events, maintain our showgrounds, keep our communities open, support our emergency services, and even surprisingly, write and deliver many of the grants that make a lot of our community infrastructure actually possible. So next year, I would definitely like to see more Dungog nominations in place; it's probably something that not everyone's heard of. They have a new category this year as well, which is the emergency services category. So I'll be promoting that next year. But anyway, well done to everyone who got nominated, particularly here from Dungog Shire.
Keeping on the theme of awards, Australia Day Nominations are now open here in Dungog. So if you know anyone you think deserves an Australia Day award or recognition, now is your time to jump on and nominate those people. You can nominate from the Dungog Shire website or Facebook page. If you want to do it in person, you can go down to the Dungog Information Centre, the Clarence Town Post Office, Paterson Cafe, the Crossroads Café & Takeaway in Gresford, and the Vacy General Store. They all have paper nominations as well.
We're looking out this year for the Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen, Environmental Citizen, Volunteer, Senior Sportsperson, Junior Sportsperson, and we have a new one this year: Arts and Culture. This is a big one for us. We know how much our region is growing in arts and culture and how many people are out there actually doing amazing things in that area, so we've added that category as well this year.
We are celebrating NSW Aboriginal Language Week at the Dungog Library this Saturday. From 10am the library will hold a special story time with Kara Clements, Aboriginal Education Officer at Dungog High School. So come down, enjoy a story, play some fun games, and create your own indigenous craft to take home. Everyone's welcome, and hopefully you can listen, learn and celebrate NSW Aboriginal Language Week at the library on Saturday.
Also on Saturday at the James Theatre, we have 'Listening to Indigenous Voices' at 11 a.m. This is presented by a proud Worimi farmer and author, Joshua Gilbert. He'll talk about his new book, 'Australia's Agricultural Identity: An Aboriginal Yarn'. There will also be a fundraiser BBQ.
And totally different, but the James also has a movie on Saturday night, 'The Roof Man,' which looks pretty funny. So that's Saturday at 7pm. So there's a lot going on this Saturday.
Lastly, to wrap up, the Clarence Town Swim In and Military Master is back next weekend. This is a big event that Clarence Town holds. This year will be their 10th Anniversary. So that will kick off on the weekend of November 1st, down at the Williams River Holiday Park. They also do some stuff in Clarence Town, so keep that in mind.
I think that's about it for me. This week has been pretty quiet from Council's point of view. But there are a few events on, so hopefully, you get out.
I will also say that the Dungog Rumble was a huge success. It looked like everyone went down there because it was absolutely packed. I think that's probably the biggest one that I've seen. So really well done to the organisors, and it's great to see so many events still coming to Dungog, it's great!
I think that's it for me. As always, if you have any questions or you want to talk to me about anything, please reach out. I'm always here and ready for a chat. Thanks, have a good weekend.
