At their last luncheon of 2015, the Newcastle Business Club has recognised individuals and an organisation that have contributed to the commonweal of Newcastle and the wider Hunter region.
Compass Housing was announced by President Ty Brennock as the winner of the Organisational Award.
In presenting the award he said that Compass Housing provides a vital service and helps low income families stay in the Newcastle area.
“Their success in the Hunter region has been such that they are now also supplying the same service to those in need of affordable housing in other areas of NSW, Queensland and Tasmania,” Ty said.
Compass are involved in other community engagements and have received ongoing recognition and awards for their work, including the Australasian Housing Development Award, Greentree International Award and Excellence in Frontline Services from the NSW Federation of Housing Associations.
This was followed by the presentation of the Individual award to Keith Stronach, a Novocastrian with a passion for creating long-lasting, useful and creative buildings in the Hunter region.
“As the Managing Director of Stronach Group Keith is continuing a family legacy in the local area, with the organisation receiving many industry awards over the years, including the Lower Hunter Civic Design Award, MBA Excellence in Building Award and the Lower Hunter Urban Design Award,” Ty said.
“His most successful and well-known projects include Merewether Surf House, Lee Wharf at Honeysuckle, The Boardwalk, Newcastle Police Station, Hunter Water headquarters and Maitland Private Hospital.”
Keith is also a strong believer in community engagement and was the Chairman of the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal for several years and has held Board Directorships with the Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle Master Builders Association, Newcastle Chamber of Commerce and Newcastle Rotary Club.
The final award for the day, the Youth Award, was presented to Andy Howard, the co-founder of The Village of Useful in 2011, an advertising and technology agency.
“The agency was established to provide clients with world-class creative and technical expertise in Newcastle, and to provide ambitious Newcastle-based people with a “big city” career path and the opportunity to work locally on national projects with a global team,” Ty said.
“In addition, Andy also founded Awesome Newcastle in 2015. Awesome Newcastle provides $1,000 grants every month to help community projects. Andy established the foundation to help the community and help the artists, creators, ideas people and leaders of Newcastle. Grants are provided with no obligation; all the foundation hopes is to hear about the impact of grants awarded.”
The Newcastle Business Club Annual Awards recognise a younger (under 35) person, an individual and a company/organisation each year who have made a significant contribution toward the improvement of industry, culture, education, sport or the overall well being of the citizens of Newcastle.
Each award winner is presented with a framed photograph of The Summer House by E.Hilda Rix-Nicholas, as well as an overview of their recognised accomplishments. The original painting was purchased in 1976 by the Newcastle Business Club and presented to Newcastle Region Art Gallery for the benefit of the people of the region. It is a lasting gift to mark the inauguration of the Annual Award to an individual and organisation from the region who (or which) has made a major contribution to the commonweal of the city.
Image | Keith Stronach, Ty Brennock and Lisa Tierney (Compass Housing)
