A lot of Bangalow residents may not know who Anne McClelland is, but to those on the Bangalow Show Committee, she is a saving grace and one of the reasons that the Show is such a great success year after year, writes Danielle Mathie.

Known officially as The Bangalow Show Society Secretary, Anne has been a local for a very long time. All her life, in fact. “I am the fifth generation of my family here,” she says proudly.

Growing up she was always involved in the Federal rural youth program and Bangalow Show in one form or another. She and her 10 siblings have all volunteered, helped out or competed in events at the Show over the years, Mum.

Anne says that “when I was growing up, Mum was always in the Moller Pavilion, helping with the luncheon.” Her father always competed, she says. “We still have a photo of Dad winning a ribbon on the back of a horse from when he was maybe 13-years-old.”

Anne moved away but after a 20-year break raising her family, she and her husband Paul decided to make the change back to Bangalow in 2012.

Not long after returning, she was roped into the role of secretary by her brother Michael O’Meara, who was a previous Show President and still part of the commitee.

That was six years ago, and Anne says she has never looked back but adds “if I had known just how much work was involved, I may have never started!” It’s a demanding role, and though Anne says she will always want to be involved, in the future “maybe not as heavily, as from July it can be hard to get time away to visit family or go on holidays as much as I would like.”

Next year she is due to welcome her second grandchild and would love to be able to spend more time with family.

Paul is one of Anne’s biggest supporters, usually taking the Friday of the Show off work so he can be there for Anne, helping set up, carrying out odd jobs, and doing everything he can to make sure the Show is a success.

The lead-up to the Show is in full swing by this time of year, early November, which Anne enjoys but says can be pretty intense: “Coming up to Show week there’s so much prep. From the beginning of October, I spend most of my time doing general admin, including printing all of the schedules for the Show in-house, replying to emails, making sure everyone who needs to be updated stays updated, and keeping up with the Show’s socials.

You may think that when the Show is done, the work is also done, but you would be mistaken. “In reality, work goes on nearly up to Christmas: my main focus is still the Show; there is still a lot to be done, including the collecting of pavilion entries and prize money, any paperwork that is still to be completed, as well as an evaluation of how everything went so that the committee can be prepared and make next year’s event as good as it possibly can be.”

“During the whole process I work very closely with the Bangalow Show President Donna Jenna and the Society’s treasurer, Lois East; without them the workload would be insurmountable,” Anne says.

“Even though there is a lot of work involved and I usually miss most of the event, I still find it very rewarding.”

Her favourite part of the Show is seeing the great excitement of the kids and young families taking part.

“They are all so excited to enter into the Show and be part of everything; seeing just how excited they get when they’ve won a prize and just how proud they are of their work. All they want to do is show you. It’s like their excitement rubs off on you.”