It's not very often a town gets to celebrate two citizens of the year, but that is the case for Stawell in 2021.
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Both Ian and Margaret Taylor were recognised for their outstanding contributions to the Stawell community through their volunteering at the Australia Day awards ceremony.
The couple who have been married for 55 years, said they were 'shocked' to receive the awards.
"Thank you very much, this is a bit unexpected and I think they have exaggerated the number of hours we do, but it all adds up," Mr Taylor said.
"I was sitting over there, very relaxed, not thinking it could be us, but now I am very grateful and I love what I do," Mrs Taylor said.
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"It was a shock. We did have a letter come from the Shire asking if we would be happy to have some photos taken so it give us a clue we were nominated.
"It's just something I do, I think I have my father's blood and he did a lot and I just enjoy helping people."
The Taylor's have given hours of their time over many years working for different community organisations.
Some of Mr Taylor's work has included publishing the weekly newsletter for Stawell Uniting Church, updating the Church's contact directory and maintaining and repairing the watering system for the Memorial Rose Garden.
He also films the weekly church service and assists members of the church to access the videos, which has become very important over the last 12 months.
"When COVID hit, Church was cancelled and we thought what can we do," he said.
"With COVID the Church had to do a service with no congregation so the Minister, the organist and three others actually did a service with no congregation and we recorded it and this is what was we were able to give to all these people.
"And we were giving out 25 USB sticks to give to different people and it was also tricky to keep the USBs clean and make sure we were doing the right thing, it was staggering how long that took.
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"All those we gave the USBs to were grateful and one older lady always left a sticky not on the bag with the USB saying thank you."
Mr Taylor was also a serving member in the Callawadda Rural Country Fire Authority Brigade for 43 years and has been a member of Stawell Lions Club International for 29 years.
The couple used to live and work on a farm in Callawadda before moving into Stawell around 18 years ago.
His wife, Mrs Taylor, is equally involved in the community as a church leader with the Stawell Uniting Church which involves supporting people, considering the overall wellbeing of the Church, attending leadership meetings and is involved in leadership of Worship.
"Even when we were on the farm we were still volunteering," Mrs Taylor said.
"I did my Vic-swim so I could go on the bus with the Callawadda and Glenorchy kids so I could teach them swimming, that was the start.
"Then with my daughter I became a guide leader with the Girl Guides up at Marnoo and then I started volunteering up there too.
"I suppose you forget you've done all these things until something like this happens."
Mrs Taylor also works closely with aged communities at Stawell Regional Health and Eventide Homes.
Together it is estimated the the spouses spend about 30-40 hours per week volunteering and they said they would encourage to volunteer as much as they can.
"There are plenty of things to do, so just do it," they said.
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