Outstanding service honour awarded to Wonthaggi Pony Club members

WONTHAGGI Pony Club associate members Emily Davey, Ryanston and Madeline Chalmers, Fish Creek received prestigious awards during the Pony Club Association of Victoria- West Gippsland Zone Annual General Meeting at Leongatha RSL on September 26..
A highlight of the evening Emily and Madeline were awarded the prestigious Pony Club Association of Victoria “Award of Merit” for giving outstanding practical assistance to their club.
Donna Murley, Wonthaggi Pony Club life member, spoke on behalf of the club about the girls and their achievements.
They were presented certificates and badges by West Gippsland state councillor Laurie Cruise.
To receive the award at the same time made the honour extra special for the girls, as they are great friends who met at pony club.
To be considered worthy of this award, the associate member must have always been helpful and thoughtful of others and genuinely interested in seeing that the aims of the pony club movement are upheld in the club.
The award is to be considered the highest honour for service.
The inaugural award was first given in 1967 and was then known as the “Shell Award”.
From 1985 it became known as the “Award of Merit”.
Emily has been a member of Pony Club Association Victoria for 15 years.
She has contributed many hours of work to Wonthaggi Pony Club over numerous years along with her family, assisting with help such as erecting fences with her dad on the front arena, regularly attending working bees and cleaning up the cross country area especially when a grant was obtained to help clear the back area.
Emily has assisted with setting up for many events over the years such as erecting dressage arenas, showjumping courses and canteen preparation.
She thoroughly enjoys being part of Wonthaggi Pony Club, and she is well liked and respected by all.
When asked to step in as club secretary in 2016, Emily did not hesitate to help out the club and did a brilliant job getting all the club records in order.
When the Burns family first joined the pony club there was only a shed and dirt arena out the back of the shed and a cross country area that was very over grown.
Now with all the hard work of all club members, Emily has been involved in four arenas being built, kitchen upgrade, cross country clean up working with the shire to clear the area near water jump.
Emily has not been riding over the last few years due to her horse being injured, attending and completing university, working full time and also being recently married; although this has not stopped her actively being involved and making an outstanding contribution to Wonthaggi Pony Club.
She is lucky to have made lifelong friends and have some great instructors helping her along the way.
Madeline has been a member of the Pony Club Association Victoria for 17 years.
Maddy has been a regular attendee at rallies and competitions, is polite, inclusive, positive and a cheerful member who enjoys being a member of pony club.
She has embraced the pony club culture and always makes an effort to contribute and be an active member.
After stepping into the position of assistant secretary in 2016, Maddy took on the position of club secretary in 2017.
If Maddy said she would do something then you could rely on this being done.
She has attained her PCA NCAS preliminary coaching qualification and when able to do so happily donates her time coaching younger members.
Maddy has always helped at events whether it is setting up for events, cooking a slice for the canteen, with Mars Bar slice being her speciality or helping out on the day.
Recently, she has been involved in the design and build of some of our event show jumping courses.
Maddy has attended and contributed to many improvements made to club facilities and grounds over the years by attending working bees or helping with fundraising for these projects.
She designed and built an arrow head cross country jump herself which she donated to the club as part of a school community project.
Maddy also assisted her father with the building and assembly of several other cross country jumps.
In the last four years, Maddy has attended and completed university in Melbourne, started working full time and resides a long distance from the club grounds but has still managed to contribute and put in a great deal of time and exceptional service to Wonthaggi Pony Club over many years.
Wonthaggi Pony Club wishes to congratulate both Emily and Maddy.
The club is extremely proud of the girls receiving their awards and hope they continue to be involved with Wonthaggi Pony Club for many years to come.

Outstanding members: Emily Davey and Madeline Chalmers each received the prestigious Pony Club Association of Victoria “Award of Merit” for their dedication to the Wonthaggi Pony Club recently.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Oct 16 2018. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry