It’s an honour for these Sydney Anglicans

A firefighter, an historian and a bellringer are among Sydney Anglicans honoured in the King’s Birthday honours.

For Chief Superintendent Graham Kingsland (right), of Glenbrook, the awarding of the Australian Fire Service Medal recognises 30 years of work, including his recent participation in search and rescue after the Turkish earthquake.

He also helped guide Fire and Rescue NSW through the COVID-19 pandemic. In his career, he has been a firefighter at various stations in Sydney and participated in major incident responses such as the Glenbrook train crash and Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu.

Mr Kingsland, a member of Springwood parish, said he was humbled by the award.

Educator and historian Dr Stuart Braga was honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia for for contributions to education administration and community history.

As an educational administrator, Dr Braga was at Trinity Grammar School as senior master and was President of the Teachers’ Guild of NSW. He was also chair of the awards committee of the Australian College of Educators. He is a fellow and life member of both organisations.

In community history, Dr Braga has written several major books on military history and family history.

Said his wife Patricia: “At our age [mid-80s] this award is lovely recognition of the many different ways Stuart has looked to develop young people in his time as an educator and then in telling people’s stories in his work since his retirement, so the recognition is welcome and will mean much to our families.

“The Honours List contains the names of many people whose service to Australia has been massive, so we are very touched that the Honours Secretariat has seen fit to include Stuart.”

Also honoured with an OAM for education administration was Mrs Catherine Crouch.

Mrs Crouch, a lay canon of St Andrew’s Cathedral and a co-leader of women’s groups at North Sydney, has had extensive involvement with Barker College.

She is a former deputy chair and board member, and assisted in the establishment of Barker’s Indigenous education program.

In Burwood, Pam Brock has been ringing bells at St Paul’s for almost 60 years, and was awarded an OAM. She started ringing when she was 19 and said, “I love the teamwork involved, working together combining physical co-ordination and mental alertness to produce the unique sound of bells.”

Mrs Brock thinks it is important to ring the bells each week. “It calls the congregation and lets them know there will be a service at the church”.

She was amazed and humbled to receive an OAM and thanked the community of St Paul’s –especially the person who first encouraged her into bellringing. As she said, “It’s been a lifetime of enjoyment”. SC

St Thomas’ Preschool is a community based, Christian preschool in North Sydney.

We are looking for a Director to join our Preschool team from 2024.

The Director role is a great blend of teaching and leading in a 27 place preschool. The Director will have 2 full office days and 3 teaching days with responsibility for their own class of 3-5 year olds. They will guide the team of educators as Educational Leader as well as overseeing the administrative and compliance aspects of the Preschool. This role would be a fantastic fit for a committed Director who wants to lead a Christian preschool with a mature, supportive team assisting them. The Preschool operates 8.15am - 3.45pm during school terms, which allows for an excellent work life balance, further enhanced by a warm preschool community and enthusiastic management board. We advocate for research based approaches to education and a play-based curriculum. The Preschool, with St Thomas’ Anglican Church, serves the community by providing quality early childhood education in a nurturing Christian context.

Please email your applications to office@stthomaspreschool.com.au or if you have any enquiries (02) 9922 2878 Applications close on Friday 8th September.

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