News

Celebrating two decades on air

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 05:50:00

Mildura’s blind and low vision community has been tuning in to hear Bob Hillier present the news on Vision Australia Radio for more than 20 years.

The long-serving volunteer will be recognised for his contribution to the local radio station at Vision Australia’s annual volunteer celebration on Thursday evening.
Mr Hillier, who began volunteering at the community station in 1998 shortly after he turned 50, said reading the newspaper on air came naturally to him.
“I’ve always liked reading the paper, and I annoy my wife profusely by reading it out loud to her, so I thought I’d better go and do it for people who’d enjoy it,” he said.
“I’d also done quite a bit of acting and was working as a teacher at the time, so it’s something I knew I could do, and it allowed me to give back to the community.”
For his first 15 years at Vision Australia, Mr Hillier presented a weekly morning breakfast show and learned to operate the control panel in case one of the techies couldn’t make their shift.
He now presents fortnightly on a Saturday afternoon and is also part of the play-reading group, which records theatre scripts for another program.
After 20 years, Mr Hillier is ready to slow down a bit and enjoy his retirement, but he won’t be leaving the station just yet.
“When you’re older and you’re retired, you want to feel useful,” he said.
“You want to feel as though you’re contributing something, and volunteering enables you to do that. It’s a good feeling doing something worthwhile.
“By volunteering, you also meet a lot of nice like-minded, kind and caring people, and social interaction is something highly recommended to retired people who wish to live to enjoy a long, ripe and healthy old age.”
To find out about volunteering at Vision Australia, contact Debra Pearce on 03 5023 9500.