BARBARA and Bruce Radford were the toast of the Broadford community last week when they were presented with Outstanding Citizen awards at the Broadford Australia Day Festival.
Ms Radford was honoured for being a driving force behind Love in Action Broadford, while Mr Radford is involved in numerous groups including Love in Action, Lions, St Matthews Retirement Village and Kilmore Anglican Church.
The pair said they were surprised to be joint winners of the award.
“I had a bit of an inkling because I was cooking breakfast with the Lions club and I headed home and they said, ‘you’ve got to be back here’,” he said.
“They came chasing me to make sure I knew something was going on, but I wasn’t sure. They tried to ring us separately the day before and tell us that we had to have the other one there, but we were in the car together so that didn’t work.”
Ms Radford said the award reflected not just her efforts, but those of an entire community.
“I was surprised obviously, because you’re not thinking about that,” she said.
“When I got up and spoke, looking around, all the faces I could see were people who had supported Love In Action through the community in some way. One of the things I spoke about was it was Bruce and I standing up there accepting it, but it was the whole community’s award.”
Mr Radford said the pair had been instilled with community values by their parents.
“I’ve been involved with a lot of organisations because I suppose it’s just natural for me,” he said.
“It seems to be a thing from our generation that you get involved in the community. We came here 40 years ago and I was already involved in Lions, so that was an intro but I’ve been involved in school councils, the old Nexus and a lot of other organisations. It’s a way of getting to know people, plus it’s doing something for people and giving back.”
Ms Radford said it meant a lot for the couple to be recognised together.
“I do a lot on the phone organising people, whereas Bruce will do all the running,” she said.
“We are a team and we work as a team. I think that’s what it recognised mostly. As a family unit, as husband and wife we’ve always worked as a team and that’s just how we are.”
Congratulations! Well deserved for your efforts
Congrats Barb and Bruce on this well deserved recognition of all your hard volunteer work for your community especially for Love in Action. Great article and photo too.