General News
3 August, 2023
Highland Society brings home Regional Community Club of the Year gong
With high honours on the board, the Maryborough Highland Society has proved its worth after winning big at this year’s Community Clubs Victoria (CCV) Gala Awards. At the award ceremony held last week in Melbourne, the club nabbed the winner’s...
With high honours on the board, the Maryborough Highland Society has proved its worth after winning big at this year’s Community Clubs Victoria (CCV) Gala Awards.
At the award ceremony held last week in Melbourne, the club nabbed the winner’s trophy for the Community Club (Regional) category — with the top accolade acknowledging its contribution to the town.
The awards, organised to celebrate all the work done by over a 1000 clubs across the state in the past year to uplift their respective communities, put a spotlight on the venue’s positive social and economical impact within Maryborough.
Apart from offering financial assistance to local groups, the club stood out because of its sustained commitment towards all locals in the form of community nights, fundraising initiatives for the
Maryborough District Health Service and providing school sponsorships for the Energy Breakthrough.
Although the club has scored awards in the past including CCV’s Outstanding Community Service award, Chairman’s Award for Excellence and the Community Club Manager of the Year, this year’s win was even more special according to Maryborough Highland Society general manager Malcolm Blandthorn.
“Winning best regional club of the year was very good — it justifies a lot of the work we’re trying to do within the community,” he said.
“We’re very honoured. We really have the community at heart so everything we do is based around that ethos.
“We consider ourselves to be a real community hub.”
Mr Blandthorn said everyone, from management right through to the staff, was responsible for the club’s win.
“A lot of what we do has to do with the staff that we have and the amount of work they try to do for others,” he said.
“Over the years we’ve had staff participating in many initiatives — they’re always looking for different ways to support the community.
“During COVID, there was a time when we were directly supporting the Salvos and Mill House — providing free meals for people who were doing it a bit tough and a lot of those initiatives come from staff.”
While the Highland Society strives to help the community, Mr Blandthorn said the residents also reciprocated that support.
“In general, Maryborough has around 10,000 people and the club has over 2500 financial members so we are very well supported by our local community,” he said.
“It’s only fair that we try to return that support by having certain programs to uplift the community.
“We’re constantly finding more stuff that we can sink our teeth into to help people.”