Last year’s Citizen of the Year was awarded to RSL Sub branch president Gordon Taylor for his work as a school liaison officer sharing his knowledge of the district with students and for his concern with the welfare of local veterans and their health.

Over the past 12 months Mr Taylor has continued to work hard on various projects that are close to his heart.

“We opened a memorial to animals in war at the high school [last year] and we made a memorial up there in conjunction with the Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation,” he said.

“We opened a memorial in the special needs classroom at the high school in front of that because most of those kids are really connected with animals.”

The year has also provided Mr Taylor with many opportunities to improve services for returned servicemen who may suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.

“I’ve been involved with assisting to get a companion dog to come to Glen Innes for our veterans with PTSD,” he said.

“We held a big seminar on PTSD and how local GPs and our various organisations should be dealing with that.

“We had people come from all around Australia for that event.

“Since then the local GP community has been more open and are now aware of some things available for these veterans which they might not have known before.”

Mr Taylor said he is still grateful for being recognised for his community work.

“I’ve been doing things like this for a long time and my particular passion has been for looking after veterans in the community,” Mr Taylor said.

The 2016 Young Citizen of the Year went to Emmaville’s Mark Symons for his volunteering efforts with catering and fund raising and for spending time with the elderly in his community.

Citizen of the Year 2017 nominations:

Young Citizen of the Year 2017 nominations: