However, as new members become old hats, and the older members step aside, the ongoing cost to update those is often difficult for volunteer groups to maintain.
So, when planning a new honour role for the CFA’s Benalla Group, which encompasses surrounding brigades, Deputy Officer Jim Renkin looked to modern technology.
As a result, Benalla Fire Station is now home to a new digital honour roll, which can be easily updated in future years.
“I was a group officer for 26 years and in that period I didn’t have the time to do anything about recording the history,” Jim said.
“Part of the reason I wanted to step down was that I wanted to record the history of the group.”
Former Benalla Group communications officer Harold Mundy had given Jim a head start, having already documented the group’s history up to 1990.
“So I’ve been dedicating my time to researching from 1990,” Jim said.
“And then, the other thing we had an issue with, was where to put an honour roll.”
With a traditional honour roll spanning decades needing a fair amount of space, Jim decided to call on the technical skills of current Benalla firefighter Ian Phillips.
And the idea of a digital honour roll was born.
“With the digital board, we can switch it on when we have a meeting, or even take it to other brigades in the group,” Jim said.
Ian said the set-up was quite easy, with all the information simply added to a spreadsheet.
“There was just a lot of copy and pasting,” he said.
“It needed a bit of refinement. There was the odd typo, and some members were in with different names.
“Jim, being one. He was referred to as James in some places.”
The other benefit of a digital honour roll was that it could be updated in the future as members came and went.
The honour roll also has space at the bottom for different graphics.
It currently has a memorial to long-time member Jack Harrison, who recently passed away.
“We wanted to do something in Jack’s memory and thought this was a good way to honour him,” Jim said.
The group will officially unveil the honour roll at its December meeting, where it plans to invite family and friends of past members.
Keep an eye out in the pages of the Ensign for more on that.
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