Veteran sports administrator and charity fundraiser Colin Rathbone has been named Kiama’s 2017 Australia Day Citizen of the Year.
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The Kiama resident said his wife Veronica had won the Citizen of the Year honour in 2000.
“I’ve been following in her footsteps, trying to catch up ever since,” he joked.
Mr Rathbone was acknowledged for a significant contribution to the municipality through his volunteer work, including 30 years with the Kiama and District Sports Association, as well as Red Cross, Friends of Blue Haven and Friends of Vision Australia.
“A dear friend of ours, Lina Brennan, said many years ago she would get my wife and I into volunteering work,” Mr Rathbone, 70, said.
“She got us started and we’ve just kept going from there.”
The Young Citizen of the Year for 2017 is Imogen Bakewell. Ms Bakewell was a member of the Student Representative Council at Minnamurra Public School and Kiama High School.
As the 2014/15 school captain she helped organise many fundraising and social events and leadership workshops as well as successfully lobbying for improvements to student facilities.
She was also the Member for Kiama for Youth Parliament in 2016.
The 19-year-old will soon relocate to Griffith University to study nursing.