Today was a very proud day for me. Together with a bunch of other extremely dedicated community volunteer workers, I was privileged to be recognised at this year's Australia Day awards ceremony in Hampton Park by Mr. Anthony Byrne, MP. Working in the community and volunteering is an extremely rewarding way to spend my free time, and something I would recommend others to do more of. I don't seek out the recognition but it is a nice gesture all the same.

I've been working with a local community residents association for the past 4-5 years and was elected to serve for a second year of the organisation's President in November of 2015. It can be hard work at times, but it is extremely rewarding to sit back at the end of a community event and be able to say "Do you know what? I helped make my community a better place today!" I love to see the smiling faces of children and to see families come out in droves to enjoy one of our public events, such as one of the moonlight cinema screenings, or HOLI festival of colours celebration, or our annual Lake Lantern Festival, which pulls in visitors in their thousands.

My family and I were proud to become Australian citizens in 2014, after moving here to Melbourne in 2009. As someone that now enjoys dual citizenship, I still feel very British as well as Australia at the same time. One of the many benefits of this is that when England play Australia in any sport - I always come out a winner!