At only 17 years old, Ms Lucey Pfeiffer is quietly determined to fulfill her dream of becoming a physiotherapist so she can help children who have suffered serious injury to walk again. Ms Pfeiffer is pictured here with Dan Cregan MP (right) and Principal Bruce Oerman (left).

Rockleigh’s Marcus Truman (right) has been recognised for his significant contribution as a Country Fire Service (CFS) volunteer during the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfire season. Marcus, a Captain with the Rockleigh CFS Brigade, has been awarded the National Emergency Medal for six days of sustained service battling the Cudlee Creek Bushfires, which devastated the Adelaide Hills in December, 2019. 

The SA Country Women’s Association Mount Barker branch has continued its proud tradition of helping the Hills community by delivering a box of hand-made winter clothes for toddlers to local MP Dan Cregan. 

Mr Cregan said many of his constituents were facing real pressures this winter and the high quality garments were very welcome. “The SACWA offers practical and immediate assistance and have done so for years. These clothes are carefully hand-made and very high quality. Anybody who could use an extra jumper, small beanie or fabric boots for their toddler is welcome to drop past our office.”

Written by the incomparable Noël Coward, Blithe Spirit premiered in 1941 in London’s West End and ran for nearly two-thousand performances. It is frequently revived and has been adapted as a film and as a musical. Done well, Coward’s plays are still a delight, and to do them well requires paying close attention to many details. Top of the Torrens Theatre Group is another community group that has weathered the trials and tribulations of the ongoing COVID storm and has emerged intact, if not weather beaten to an extent. Their production of Blithe Spirit is enjoyable and a credit to them, and it had the capacity audience hanging on every word and in stitches of laughter.

Over 200 Hills landholders picked up free native tree seedlings last week at the Reveg Festival in Woodside, presented by the Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board. It’s the third year the board has offered a plant giveaway, with nearly 20,000 plants given to the community this year. Reveg Festival aims to help heal and revegetate the Cudlee Creek fire scar by encouraging and supporting private landholders to replant paddock trees and important creekline habitats burnt in the 2019/20 fire. 

Veteran Mt Pleasant Farmers Market co-manager, Terese Stephens is finishing up at the Farmers Market after almost eleven years. Terese was employed prior to the market’s official opening back in 2011. 

By Kendrea Rhodes

The natural environment is important to Adelaide Hills communities; it shapes what we do, what we eat, where we go, who we meet, and often why. After the Cudlee Creek bushfires in 2019, the collective grief of the communities within the fire scar affected each and every aspect that makes the Adelaide Hills special. Amongst the heartache however, there are activities and initiatives generating positivity and providing opportunities to reflect on what makes the Adelaide Hills a wonderful place to call home.