FOR SES intelligence officer and former Bright unit officer Roy Kennedy, giving back to his community and keeping people safe didn’t take a second thought.
The Harrietville local was among the recipients of the King’s Birthday Honours award for his efforts within the local SES groups and dedication to his community.
“It was a bit mind boggling to find out I was receiving this award; I was incredibly honoured and very humbled that people put my name forward,” he said.
“I initially joined SES after being a part of some training exercises as a ‘lost’ person and my late wife, who was battling leukaemia at the time, told me it would be a good group to join to keep my mind off things.
“We’d moved to Bright in 2009 and fell in love with the place so decided to stay, and by 2010 I had joined SES and by the end of 2012 had become unit controller, and remained in that role until the end of last year.
“Before SES I was a teacher, with a background in mathematics, science and information technology so I had never been a part of a group like this but giving back to my community and making it safer was a no-brainer for me.
“When I took over as controller it was quite a challenge but we made some big changes and it really was a team effort, it’s not about me.
“We worked with developing a management team to turn the unit into something that had credibility and visibility in the community so it was all about putting a lot of effort into developing the unit into the best it could be.
“The key was empowering people in the unit to be able to do things and engage in areas they’re interested in to improve things and get people involved.
“It’s a collaborative affair which in some respects is what leadership is all about; developing a vision and an understanding and common purpose and going from there.
“In 2017 I injured my hip and had to get a replacement so I moved from the hands-on stuff to the admin side of things but in the same year I retired from teaching so I had more time for SES.
“After a lot of work and talking with region and state units, in conjunction with police search and rescue, we got people trained in high and steep angle technical rescue so we now have a joint team with CFA.
“I’ve since moved off into incident management pathways within the intelligence sector and recently got my accreditation as a level 2 intelligence officer.”
Roy said volunteering with SES isn’t something you do for personal glory or fun, it's hard work and non-stop at times, but something he views as vital to community.
“I think it’s important to be a part of the solution rather than the problem,” he said.
“It’s doing work within the community for the benefit of community.
“I would absolutely encourage people to go along to join SES; there are so many things we provide support for and there are so many skills to learn that can also be used in personal and working life.
“The camaraderie and companionship cements units together and that’s what my unit in Bright was like.
“When I took over I implemented the change that our members go on deployment to other regions to help out and I think since then the Bright SES unit has worked really well with local CFA brigades and VicPol and FRV.
“The mantra of Emergency Management Victoria is ‘we work as one’ and I think the Bright unit exemplified that over the years.”