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Seniors Festival

Published on: February 2020

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-109896

Seniors Festival

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (16:49):

:22 I refer to the New South Wales Seniors Festival. This annual festival is not only a fantastic chance to acknowledge and appreciate our seniors, but also a chance for our seniors across the State to socialise and engage in various community activities. I know that in my electorate of North Shore, North Sydney Council hosted a variety of events across the Seniors Festival ranging from yoga classes, local history talks, local seniors luncheon, senior driving safety and ballroom dancing. We know that with friends and family so often moving away later in life, many seniors are left feeling lonely. The Seniors Festival is such a great way to engage with our local seniors.

To recognise and celebrate seniors I initiated the North Shore Seniors Forum a number of years ago. This year it was held at the Crows Nest Centre. I thank North Sydney Council for its support. As part of this forum, I invited various State Government services to talk with the locals about some of the services available from the New South Wales Government to help support them. I thank the representatives from the following departments and services who attended on the day: NSW Fair Trading; Service NSW, which kindly provided one of its support vehicles and booked out the Chatswood Service NSW Centre for a couple of weeks following; the NSW Police Force; the Trustee & Guardian NSW; the NSW Seniors Card and Ageing Team; and of course our friends from Cancer Council NSW. As well as hearing about some of the services available, it was a chance for our representatives to hear feedback on what really matters to seniors at a State level.

That is why I was very thankful that the Hon. Geoff Lee, the Acting Minister responsible for seniors, was able to join us on the day. It was fantastic to have the Minister attend and speak about what the Government is doing to help ease the cost of living for our seniors, and to help me present the North Shore Seniors Appreciation Awards. Those awards are a chance to recognise some of the outstanding community service from our local seniors, who do not seek the spotlight, but should be commended for all that they do. We acknowledged and awarded recipients from our local State Emergency Service, Rotary clubs and other volunteer organisations, showcasing an array of local seniors who give so much of their time to help others.

I acknowledge our award recipients: Gay Banks who volunteers by assisting older people with a disability to stay independent in their own homes and works with Meals on Wheels; Lorna Bassett who has in recent years raised thousands of dollars for Indigenous education and drought relief; Peter Young who has volunteered so much time with the Rotary Club of Mosman and assisted in seven major projects over the years affecting our local community and further afield; Paul Boswell who volunteers at the Crows Nest Centre assisting with the community linen service and Meals on Wheels; Allen Dodd the secretary and supervisor of the North Sydney Men's Shed who ensures that both skilled and unskilled men can share time together and enjoy the accomplishment of working with timber; and Margaret O'Brien who has volunteered with the Crows Nest Centre for 13 years, first on reception and now assisting elderly members of the community to get to the hospital to attend appointments.

Other award recipients are: Alan Price who is a dedicated member of the North Sydney SES, serving for 25 years, and also as a level one volunteer with the Rural Fire Service, and seeing him in his SES uniform on the day made everybody in the room proud to see and thank him for his contribution in the recent summer; Seethalukshme Ayakad who was awarded for her green thumb, using her passion for gardening to look after the gardens in her unit block for all the residents—she has invited me to dinner and I hope I can take up that invitation; Graham Reed has dedicated countless hours to the sport of cricket through the NSW Cricket Umpires Association and Cricket Australia; Sam Swaminathan was awarded for the contributions he has made in various fundraising activities with significant funds raised for Westmead Children's Hospital and the Old Peoples Home in Chennai; Frank Woodhams was nominated for his service as a former reservist and his work in forming the NSW Scottish Association, organising various Anzac parades and serving in the Mosman RSL Sub- Branch.

Vera Yee was recognised for her tenure as leader of the Waverton Hub Tai Chi group, and her volunteer work with the bushland care group in and around the Waverton area; and lastly the Rotary Club of North Sydney, which was awarded for ensuring the enjoyment, wellbeing and happiness of seniors through the various events run by the club. All the award recipients have contributed to our local community in one way or another either through volunteering work, assisting other seniors through services such as Meals on Wheels, or serving in the State emergency services such as the Rural Fire Service and SES. I thank those who assisted in organising this forum: Councillor Stephen Barbour, the Deputy Mayor of North Sydney Council, who was our master of ceremonies on the day, and Camelia Tobia from North Sydney Council. I give a big thank you to Denise Ward and the chairman, Chris Scarf, from the Crows Nest Centre for providing the venue for the forum, and of course to North Sydney Council for including us in its program of events in its incredibly impressive festival and for providing refreshments on the day. I thank everyone for their assistance.