Kyabram Lion Tony Alford received the highest honour a member receive — the Melvin Jones Fellowship.
Photo by
Jemma Jones
For almost half a century, Tony Alford has been sowing seeds in the Kyabram Lion’s history books, and after four decades, his ‘pride’ has decided it’s time for him to reap the rewards.
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At the Kyabram Lion’s end-of-year celebration, Mr Alford was shocked to be called up to the stage to accept the Melvin Jones Fellowship award.
“It took me back … I had no time to think about who I should be thanking (when accepting the award),” he said.
The Melvin Jones Fellowship, named after the Lions club founder, is the highest honour a member can receive.
Mr Alford is only the second Kyabram Lion in history to earn this prestigious recognition.
For over four decades, Mr Alford has worn most hats for the Lions club including president, vice-president and treasurer across the past 43 years.
Mr Alford has been the driving force behind Edis Park’s transformation.
His hands-on approach led to the installation of barbecue shelters, fencing, a watering system, and fitness equipment, enhancing the park for all residents.
He has also dipped his hand into work at the Kyabram Fauna Park, playing a big part building the bird aviary and is currently a co-ordinator organising weekly working bees, and helping with building the fencing around Hazelman’s Cottage.
Other initiatives Mr Alford has been a part of include supporting the Lions Ladies, running the community fruit-fly prevention program, the container deposit scheme and helping to set up the town hall’s Santa’s Cave at Christmas time.
A standout moment in Mr Alford's Lions career was the inaugural Legends of the Mountain event in 2018.
The event pitted Ford against Holden, with gleaming cars parading through town streets, their engines roaring.
Co-hosted with Cheryl and Chris Hatch, this car enthusiast weekend raised an impressive $10,000 for the community, and it’s success was repeated for the following 10 years before COVID-19 intervened.
“I remember (after the event) at our next meeting, an elder statesman said, ‘In all my years of Lions, I’ve never seen anything where we’ve made that much money over a weekend’,” Mr Alford said.
Awardee Tony Alford shakes hands with Kyabram Lions president Martin Graham.
Photo by
Jemma Jones
His community activism stems from his deep roots planted firmly across Kyabram — he is a generational Kyabramite.
“Kyabram is my town,” he said.
Mr Alford’s grandfather, Robert Breen, was a founding director of the Kyabram Cannery, he himself worked at the company for 30 years.
“It’s in my blood … when I go shopping, it takes two hours to get everything done.”
Kyabram Lions treasurer David Livsey said six months of planning went into awarding the long-time Lions member with the prestigious award, but it was well-worth the time effort.
“It was an idea a couple of us had thought that Tony had been here a long time, and he’d be an ideal person to nominate,” Mr Livsey said.
“It was a complete surprise for Tony.
“He is definitely worthy, he is a lifelong member of the community, and I couldn’t imagine any other person more worthy to receive such an award.
“The club is really excited for him.”
Mr Livsey said his friend exemplified qualities which embodied the nature and purpose of “lionism” in the Kyabram community.
