Very active Val: Berrigan Shire Citizen of the Year

Val’s devotion to the community stems from watching her own mother, who she said had always been involved in volunteer work.

“She was always cooking or helping people that were going through hard times or sickness,” Val said.

When Val moved to the Cobram-Barooga area almost 40 years ago, she immediately joined the Barooga Advancement Group.

“I just wanted to belong to the community,” she said.

Through the group, Val was involved in the Community Visitors Scheme, visiting elderly people who didn’t have any relatives in the area or were quite isolated.

Several years ago she was recognised for 20 years of service.

Val has also become well known in the community for the sewing group she started 21 years ago, after purchasing an embroidery machine and not knowing how to use it.

Val said she had a few friends who also wanted to learn how to use an embroidery machine, and so she organised a meeting with a local teacher.

The group started off with only three ladies but quickly grew. It now has 25 members.

The group was originally known as Val’s Group but as it attracted more members, Val said she wanted to change the name.

“One of our ladies came up with Very Active Ladies,” she said.

“So it's still V-A-L.”

Member of Very Active Ladies are involved in a lot of volunteer work in the community, making care kits and quilts for flood victims and fire-affected families.

After the Yarroweyah fire in January, the group made a monetary donation to the local fire brigade instead, with members pooling their money together.

The group also makes breast care kits for women who have had mastectomies due to cancer.

“Our kits comprise of a nice little pillow to go under your arm to protect that area ... and also a drainage bag, that we try to make as attractive as possible for the ladies,” Val said.

“We've received some beautiful letters from recipients of them.”

In the lead-up to Anzac Day and Christmas the ladies make beautiful bollard covers, including crocheted nurses and soldiers for Anzac Day.

Val has also been involved with the RSL for many years, selling poppies on Remembrance Day, no matter the weather.

She said Anzac Day and Remembrance Day had a “very special” place in her heart, as her late husband, George, was in the National Service.

Val’s daughter Helen Lockman said she was proud of all the community work her mum had done.

“It's important for me to acknowledge the fact that even though we lost Dad 12 months ago, Mum has worked really, really hard to make sure that she went back out into the community and just kept going with those things,” she said.

Val said that although her children did not live nearby, they still “cheer her on from afar”.

“I’m so blessed,” she said.

“They visit me quite often, and I'm just so blessed.”

Val was married to her late husband, George, for 69 years. Together they have four children, 10 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.