‘It has been a unique privilege to serve the community of Mirboo North in a small way’, says Grant Irving of his directorship on the Board of the Mirboo North & District Community Foundation, ‘in enabling our District to face challenges presented and to flourish.’
A longstanding Director on the Board of the Community Foundation, Grant has recently resigned in order to seek out some new challenges. This month, he is relocating to Bothwell in Tasmania, to renovate and live in an old sandstone cottage.
Grant was born and bred in Mirboo North, going to school locally and then in time setting up his accountancy practice here and raising a family with his wife, Kim. He was, in fact, born at the very same Mirboo North Bush Nursing Hospital that ultimately led to the creation of the Community Foundation, of which he has been a Director for the past 10 years.
Through his accountancy practice, he provided services to Mirboo North Community Care and from this connection, he joined the Board of the Community Foundation in 2011. Grant brought his wealth of experience and his financial skills to his role as Director, in particular through his work as part of the compliance and finance sub-committee.
‘Grant has played a part in setting up the financial and investment structures which ensured a prudent stewardship of the corpus and its stable and continued growth over the past 10 years,’ explained Rob Kiddell, Chair of the Compliance and Finance Committee. ‘We thank him for his dedication and commitment to this organisation over this time, which benefited greatly from his input.
Grant not only volunteers with the Community Foundation, he is also a keen volunteer with Bush Heritage Australia, travelling and staying annually at remote properties to work on the maintenance and conservation of the beautiful Australian landscape and the native species.
A motorbike enthusiast, Grant has also volunteered his time to promote awareness of men’s health, particularly prostate cancer, through a Ride a Postie for Prostate campaign.
During that experience, he made some friends around Hobart, and whether it is those on-going connections, the fact that his son Damian lives in Tasmania with his family, or the challenge of a renovation project, which has lead to this move, is not clear. Whatever the motivation, Grant is very excited about the move and relishes stepping outside his comfort zone.
‘I would also like to thank my fellow Directors and the staff,’ added Grant, ‘for whom I have the greatest respect. It is sad to be leaving, but the timing is right. And it feels like we have come full circle,’ he concludes, ‘with the Community Foundation’s investment in building a medical centre facility for the community’.
‘We wish Grant well in this next adventure,’ added Paul Pratt, Chair. ‘We will miss the skills and experience he brought to the role. Over the past 10 years, the Community Foundation has had a significant impact through granting, facilitating and investing and Grant has been a key part of that.’