FINLEY resident John Bolitho was in shock when he received a letter informing him he would be receiving an Order of Australia Medal.
“I honestly thought someone was playing a trick on me,” he said.
The retired farmer has given much to the community and in 1989 received the highest Rotary honour, a Paul Harris Fellowship.
He has been on many committees including Berriquin Nursing Home and Ulupna Lodge Hostel.
Mr Bolitho was also instrumental in helping establish the Finley Men’s Shed, which was formed in 2010.
“Our latest project is making raised garden beds, which we sell and put the money back in to the community,” he said.
But the Men’s Shed is much more than somewhere to work on projects, with the group of 33 retired men socialising in a male-only environment.
“It gets the men out of the house and if you talk to the wives they are only too happy to have them out of the house for a while,” Mr Bolitho said.
The keen lawn bowler has won his club championship seven times and is a former president and secretary of the Finley Bowling Club.
He was made a life member in 2003.