New era for Ag Society

THE Whittlesea Agricultural Society is ushering in a new era after its annual general meeting was held last month.

The presidency has changed hands, with Jayson Munro ending his tenure at the top, and new president Celina Mott – director at The North Central Review and Whittlesea Review, taking over, with James Crane alongside her as vice-president.

Ms Mott, previously senior vice-president, said she wanted to continue on Mr Munro’s legacy, as well as take the Whittlesea Show into a new era.

“Jayson’s done a good job over the past couple of years with the various themes he’s had and the stability he’s brought back to the committee, so I’m hoping to continue with that in my two years as president,” she said.

“I’m also looking forward to continuing our great association with agriculture in the area and bringing it to people, making it a strong focus of the Show, but working with newer people who have come into our roles.

“We have a new attractions manager this year, so we’ll have new attractions at the Show. We’re looking forward to seeing what it looks like for people who will come and enjoy the Show.

“This year, the theme is ‘The Greatest Show’ so we’ll showcase that by having new attractions and changing some things around, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Ms Mott said she was pleased to be able to work alongside a committee of people young and old who can provide all sorts of perspective about her role.

“I was really pleased with the attendance of the AGM. It was a dreary, awful wet night and we had over 60 people there, so it’s a strong community within the Show society itself. We have a range from young people to elderly people who are still part of the Show, and everybody can learn something from everyone,” she said.

“It’s great to see the camaraderie among everyone who’s a part of the Show, and that they are all respectful of the fact that someone might work in a particular area, that someone might be doing the carparking, someone is looking after the horses, but they’re all interested in how everyone else’s section is working and what’s going well, so we all work together on ideas, new things.”

A highlight of the AGM was the awarding of life memberships to Ian Cochaud and Lynn Lee, with Ms Mott saying working with both was a highlight of her role.

“I was stoked to see Ian and Lynn get their life membership, they both completely deserve it, they were great welcoming me into being senior vice-president and supporting me along the way,” she said.

“Lynn is great, she’s good at welcoming people in, helping them and explaining things to people if they’re not sure how things work. She has a great sense of humour, and I enjoy working with her.

“Ian has been the Education Pavilion superintendent, so I’ve worked with him over the last couple of years trying to get more people to volunteer in there, as there’s 4000 pieces of artwork and stories that are needed to be displayed. It’s a big job.”

Working alongside Mr Crane will also be a good experience, according to Ms Mott.

“James is part of the youth coming through that have also been involved with the Show for many years. He’s been around the heritage and vintage section, with the vintage machinery and display of the blacksmithing and sheep shearing. They’re great interactive displays that allow people to see what yesteryear was like when people were farming back in the 1930s and before that,” she said.

Already, Ms Mott has cast one eye to the future of the Whittlesea Show, saying she wants to see more schools get involved.

“We’d also like to introduce schools come in and be part of the Sheep Pavilion and do some sheep showing and sheep judging. It’s something we haven’t done, but other shows around us do run that,” she said.

“For this year, our Show isn’t over the long weekend in November, so we’re hoping that will help get schools in on the Saturday and show their sheep against each other and have handlers’ competitions against one another.

“The Show has a strong history. We also realise people want to see something different sometimes, so we like to put a spotlight on something new each year.”