AFTER a long trot of almost 40 years as a volunteer at the Riding for the Disabled Association of NSW Tall Timbers Centre, Joan Edwards has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the general division for service to people with a disability.
Mrs Edwards, 75, has been recognised in the 2015 Australia Day Honours for her voluntary work with the RDA NSW's Box Hill centre, which offers therapeutic and recreational horse riding activities for people living with disabilities.
"I was really surprised and excited," Mrs Edwards said.
"I had to read the letter a couple of times.
"I couldn't have done what I've done without all the other wonderful volunteers. This recognition is for them as well."
Since first volunteering in 1976, the retired bacteriologist has combined two passions — improving children's lives and riding horses — as she then worked her way through RDA's ranks.
The grandmother of two is on the organisation's Coaching and Safety Panel and acts as the regional representative for its six centres within metropolitan Sydney.
It's an organisation in which she strongly believes.
Mrs Edwards said one highlight was when students — who are often children living with autism or ADHD — transform from being terrified of horses to being relaxed and excited to ride them.
"The relaxation and physical benefits for our riders are amazing," she said.
"It's like physiotherapy on horseback. A lot of the classes come from special support units at schools or special schools.
"Some of them have very limited abilities, but they all gain something. The change in them is remarkable."
Congratulations to our other Australia Day Honours recipients who either live, volunteer, or work for and in The Hills. Read their amazing full story by clicking on their name:
■ Gareth McCray, of Castle Hill, receives a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community, to radio broadcasting, and to education. He is a presenter on Macquarie Network Radio.
■ Allan Gibson of Cherrybrook can now add OAM to his name, being awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2015 Australia Day Honours List in recognition of his service to the youth and the community.
■ David Bentham, now of Jordan Springs and a former deputy mayor of The Hills Council, receives a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his services to local government.
■ Professor Jeremy Robert Chapman (OAM), of Castle Hill, has been appointed a Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for eminent service to medicine, particularly in the areas of clinical and biomedical research, to the development of ethical policy and practices for organ donation, acquisition and transplantation, and to renal medicine organisations and publications. He is Westmead Hospital’s clinical director of Medicine and Cancer.
■ Dundas resident Kenneth Leonard Paton has been awarded a medal of the Order of Australia in the 2015 Australia Day Honours for his service to the community, particularly to youth through the Scouting movement. Mr Paton is the vice-president of the Muirfield High School P&C Association.
■ After almost 50 years of service to the St Elizabeth Home Aged-Care Facility, Cherrybrook resident Clara Korompay has been honoured with an OAM on the Australia Day Honours List.
■ It is for his 24 years of dedicated service to NSW Ambulance that Inspector Brian Joseph Parsell, of Beaumont Hills, has been awarded an Ambulance Service Medal on Australia Day. He is a duty operations manager operating out of Castle Hill.
