'We work together in our village': new OAM recipient is 'no one-woman band'

Heavily embedded in the small town since 1985, there isn't really a community group or project in Cumnock Rhonda Watt hasn't touched or had a good hand in.

Holding a range of key roles at countless hubs, it leaves little room to wonder why the 60-year-old will receive an OAM "for service to the community of Cumnock" on King Charles' birthday, June 10.

"The closer it gets, the more nervous I'm becoming, because I'm just so humbled by all of this that I don't know how to quite deal with it at the same time," Mrs Watt said and laughed.

"But I just think it's easy to be a great volunteer when you love where you live and you love the people who are in your space.

"That's why this is a shared award with Cumnock, because I'm no one-woman band, we work together in our village."

One analogy she used to describe the teamwork, Mrs Watt likened the leadership roles she's held (and still holds) to being like the steering wheel or driver of a car.

Without the vehicle's framework, engine, wheels and all the other bells and whistles attached, the car simply won't work.

"It's about knowing you're not the only person making this happen, and that it takes the rest of a community for you to believe in and help make your beliefs come to life in turn.

"Every part is an important part and if you're up the front, you need those parts to come along with you for the ride."

Helping with the daily running of their 4200-acre family farm, Mrs Watt said her background doesn't include professional project management or anything of the sort.

She's simply relished "being part of it all" for as long as she can remember.

The new medal-holder talked about organising bachelor and spinsters ball events, or B&S balls, from the ripe age of 18, as well as getting a string of other community gigs off the ground.

"I just love working with people and it doesn't matter what age they are or what project or event we're looking at making work," she said.

"After a while of getting those good things going, people also trust you're then going to follow through and I think that's what people know about me.

"Because if I say I'm going to do something, then I bloody well do it. I don't step back and say 'gee whizz, that's a bit too hard'.

"And I think that comes from determination and passion."

Which is an infectious style of operating, she said, and why it's important to set the right tone from the beginning.

For the moments when time is trying to get ahead of her, she'll sit at her dining room table until midnight to knock over paperwork for grant applications.

"I'm not scared of putting in the hard yards, even after a full day's work, because I know we need whatever it is for our community at the time, and so I'll just focus on that and I'm good," she said.

"But I don't get that from nowhere, I get that from watching how some of my 90-plus-year-old girlfriends still get up to volunteer and get things done.

"I joke with them that when I grow up, I want to be just like them, but I'm not really kidding; because they're the real leaders."

But ask her husband how he views his wife's new OAM status and he'll tell you Mrs Watt "so deserves it" and how she's "worked bloody hard" to earn the bragging rights - despite not wanting a bar of them.

Because to her, it still "doesn't seem real" and certainly not when she believes there are so many who are equally worthy of the nod.

"It blows my mind that little old me has had such accolades," she said, "just for doing what I feel passionate about."

While she feels many of those in their youth look at her 60 years on earth as "more like 150 prehistoric years", her message circled back to being about community.

Mrs Watt encouraged young people to have their own hand in helping boost their town's presence, as well as sticking together to achieve a common goal.

"Trust where you live and find the passion for it, and make sure you're part of its future like the ones before us all made sure of for you," she said.

"Stay determined to make things work because it's your home and it does have a future.

"Volunteers have built our town for forever, and little villages like ours had to build themselves in a lot of different ways to stay alive.

"It's our legacy and we're responsible for updating and preserving it all."