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In the Chair: President Jennifer Members: 16 Guests: Alanna and Peter Rolfe, Ethel Rafferty ****************************** Alanna Rolfe 
Greg introduced Alanna with the reminders that she is the current Leeton Citizen of the Year and her daughter, Sally, was a Rotary Exchange student to Canada. Alanna hails from serious pioneering and farming stock. Great Great Grandfather migrated and settled into a hotel at Port Vincent. During the gold rush her Great Grandfather moved to Warracknabeal, but decided he was better at farming than searching for gold. The family moved around and eventually purchased property at Quandialla It was 45,000 acres (until being split up into 2000 acre lots for soldier-settlement). Her mother grew up in Bribbaree where her family owned property and were pillars of the community and heavily involved in the church, the show and agricultural organisations. This was where Alanna grew up in an idyllic setting. A typical farm childhood – horses, dogs and freedom. Her mother was a clever lady. Although she left school in Year 6 or 7 she was good at many crafts – sewing, cooking and gardening. Her mother will be 102 next month. Her mother had 9 siblings so, with so many cousins, Christmas was a hectic affair (there could be 75 at Christmas). Alanna loved primary school. She attended Bribbaree – her class had 10 students. She was then a boarder at PLC Orange, but she hated boarding school. She was lucky to be able to switch to Young High School for Grades 11 and 12. This was where she met Peter. She then attended Sydney Teachers College for 3 years. Then came marriage and a move to Wilton and teaching at Lake Illawarra and then Campbelltown while Peter was working as an Engineer at Wollongong. They stayed in Wilton for 4 years and Peter saw an ad for a job at SunRice and they moved to Leeton. They had 2 boys and 1 girl. Alanna taught casually at LHS for over 10 years, created a Food Technology course at St Francis and then taught Food Tech. and Textiles at YAHS from 1992. She was then appointed Head Teacher – Welfare for girls at YAHS where she had many ‘daughters’, coordinated welfare and leadership courses and ran Camp Hudson in the highlands – where challenges and companionship created a great atmosphere. After 15 years at Yanco, Alanna retired, and she and Peter have travelled extensively both in Australia and overseas. They now have 7 grandchildren. She has followed the family traditions – Head of the Show Arts and Crafts; Treasurer of the Garden Club; Coordinator of Pieces and Patches - the recent display raised $&000 for charities. She was named Leeton Citizen of the Year in 2025. In thanking Alanna, President Jennifer noted that this was a most interesting and entertaining talk and presented both Alanna and Peter with an authentic Dan Rotary Mug. We were deprived of the photos by the complete failure of the technology – sorry, Alanna. 
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