G’day Lyn. Well I’m here talking to you at Castlemaine Secondary College where you work. What is it you do here?
I’m HR manager.
That sounds demanding.
It can be. But I like my job. It’s good. There’s never a dull moment. It’s always busy.
How long have you lived in this local community Lyn? You are a Castlemaine resident aren’t you?
Yes. I’ve lived here all my life. Grew up at Harcourt North and then moved to Castlemaine, and I live at Campbells Creek now. So I’ve been in this district all my life.
And you are also very well known here through your work with Castlemaine Rotary where, up until very recently, you were club president weren’t you?
I was president but that finished on June 30th, so now I’m community director. I’m still involved on the board and doing things to support the community in different ways. We get submissions from community groups for funding support with events or barbecues and it’s just coordinating those. We meet once a month as the board and then we go through what we’ve received for the month and decide how we will support the groups.
How long have you been a member of Rotary?
Eight years.
What drives you to contribute that sort of commitment?
I like to be busy. I think we should give back to the community. The community supports us in our work and our living. There’s lots of needy groups out there that need support and it’s good to be part of a group that has the same drive to support the community and I really enjoy Rotary.
Right. It’s quite social as well isn’t it? A good way to make some new friends?
Yes. It’s a great group of people. One of the members has organised a train trip to Maldon – the Murder on the Orient Express run. We’ve been given a special night just for Rotary.
Sounds like fun. Will you all be in period costume?
Well we can be. Yes. We do lots of social things.
And the art show that Rotary recently staged raised a lot of money didn’t it?
Yes. It was about $20,000. It will go towards the community events that we support and then we do support overseas things as well.
It’s polio eradication that Rotary focuses on isn’t it?
Yes. That’s Rotary’s thing. There’s only one or two cases in the world now.
Any other community involvements for you Lyn, besides Rotary?
I’m treasurer of the Castlemaine Uniting Church. I have been that for about eleven years. I have organised a Biggest Morning Tea here (Castlemaine Secondary College) for the last ten years.
Any other particular areas of interest?
I go to Bendigo every week and learn tap dancing.
That sounds like a lot of fun. How long have you been doing that?
I’ve probably been tap dancing for 16 or 17 years.
You must be pretty good.
I don’t know about that. But I enjoy it. I started off learning from Stan Munro. He was in Les Girls. And then David Watson. David and I have busked in the street at times. Haven’t done that since COVID though.
What are you reading at the moment?
Origin by Dan Brown. I like Dan Brown. He and Wilbur Smith are my favourite authors.
And music… What’s your genre or artists of choice?
I like a wide range of music.,, classical, musical, theatre stuff.
Do you have any philosophies by which you like to lead life?
I believe that if you’re given an opportunity to do something you should take it. I think these opportunities are given to you for a reason so I think you should go for it.
Sounds like solid advice. OK, any pet peeves?
I’m going to say graffiti and vandalism. It’s senseless.
Three dream dinner guests?
Hugh Jackman and Jock Zonfrillo from Master Chef – the guy in the kilt. and the Queen because she’s just an amazing person.
That would make for an interesting combination! So just finally, Lyn, what do you enjoy most about where you live?
It’s a good community. It’s very diverse. It’s amazing the people who live here. We have guest speakers at Rotary each week and it’s always amazing, the guest speakers we have who live in this community.