Donald’s CFA Brigade celebrated its annual awards night on Saturday, July 6, with a good crowd of members and their families present to acknowledge significant contributions of service and to share memories of the year past.

It has been a busy year for the Donald Brigade, responding to numerous emergency call outs including the large fire at Sheridan's as well as a couple of traffic collisions and a house fire in Donald. 

The awards night gave brigade members the rare opportunity to don their dress uniforms instead of fire ground gear and they looked dapper in their collective best with polished medals and shiny epaulettes on display.

Among the members of the brigade and their families, additional emergency services representatives were in attendance. From Ambulance Victoria, paramedics Dede and Murray; and Victoria Police were represented by Western Region Senior Sergeant, Barry Gray, and Senior Constable Annie Coobs from Culgoa. 

A delicious three-course meal was catered by the Donald Show Committee, offering soup to start,  a main of roast lamb, pork and vegetables and a choice between chocolate pudding or pavlova for dessert. The meal certainly had all rubbing their tummies with contentment prior to the award presentations.

Service Awards
Service awards were first to be presented, with Callum McLachlan recognised for his five years of passionate and dedicated service. Callum is currently in Melbourne pursuing university studies and was greatly missed on the night as well as around the brigade in general.

The next service award recipient, Belinda Murray, said she was wholeheartedly welcomed as a female officer to the Donald Brigade and has been clearly happy there, with ten years of volunteer service to the unit since joining. 

The final service award mentioned on the night was somewhat more sad than celebratory, with Lindsay Wood’s recognition of an amazing 70 years of service to the Donald Brigade – the sad note being that Lindsay passed away two weeks prior to the awards night being held.  Lindsay’s wife Janet was presented with the award at Lindsay’s funeral on June 24.

“Fireman of the Year”
Two of Donald CFA’s members were awarded Fireman of the Year in a dual presentation and not the first time for either John Cook or Brian Williams, who both volunteer for the betterment of the Brigade rather than the accolades of trophies.

As the night wound down (or up, depending on the individual’s mood), and dessert was served, a sad farewell was given to Matt Godkin with his relocation to Mildura. He exits the Donald CFA and steps down from the secretarial role. 

Stepping into the secretary position will be Ken Rowe; Dale Anderson remains as Captain; Broderick Harrison remains First Lieutenant; Andrew Bayles has stepped down from Second Lieutenant with John Cook moving up to fill the role; Belinda Murray stepped in as Third Lieutenant; and communications and FEN officer is Brian Williams.

The warm welcome one feels when attending the awards night for Donald’s CFA is as palpable as the camaradarie shared by members of the unit; a visitor only has to spend a few minutes with the group to realise the support, dedication and deep friendships formed between fellow members – and the Brigade is always looking for more volunteers. Should you wish to be a part of a close-knit team, contact one of the Donald CFA Brigade members and ask how you could help.