"The ages of the people from the volunteer community participating in this event ranged from the increasingly familiar grey-haired variety, down to the youngest, a very keen 12-year-old rail fan from Tauranga. It was really great to see.
"Many thanks of course from us to Trustpower and also to those whose actions got us to this stage in the first place."
The Ormondville Rail Preservation Group came out on top at the Trustpower Tararua District Community Awards last year, beating out more than 136 other local voluntary organisations for their efforts and putting them on track for the national event.
Trustpower community relations representative Teresa Partridge said although the Ormondville Rail Preservation Group were not award recipients, the work completed by the group shouldn't be forgotten or discounted.
"The two representatives who attended the awards for the group showed us what a small community can do to band together and make a mark," she said.
"These volunteers shared their story of restoring the Ormondville Rail building and their huge event of re-opening it, which was a huge success."
Tom Williamson, president of the Ormondville rail group, told the Dannevirke News the group wants to continue to maintain and improve the heritage precinct.
"We want to upgrade the visitor experience there, including installing attractive and interesting interpretation panels and improving the accommodation facilities.
"One specific project is to complete the long-delayed restoration of our cattle wagon - one of very few survivors of a type of wagon once very important in rural freight traffic. This is part of a longer-term project to present stock traffic by rail in a way which would make Ormondville an unique heritage site in New Zealand," he said.
The national competition brought together 25 groups from across 27 regions - all who were named supreme winners of last year's Trustpower Community Awards, a programme run in partnership with local councils.
And for Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis, the event was a wonderful experience.
"You are able to connect with so many positive people who have found solutions to community issues," she said. "One of the themes I heard from at least two presenters was that 'the kindness of strangers, doing something for someone you don't know is a sign of love'. These make you feel great about humanity.
"One of the really heart-warming stories for all of us was the Picton Flower ladies who have presented visitors from cruise ships with a floral buttonhole for 28 years. This act has both formed a bond for the ladies and earned them a reputation with cruise ships as a welcoming and hospitable stop with a difference. It is no small task to provide a ship with 3000 buttonholes and takes an incredible amount of organisation, volunteer time and flowers.
"And they told us their story about getting in trouble for taking council flowers when they ran short once - this mayor would have overlooked that for such a great service."
Mrs Collis said many of the winners from each region reminded her of local dedicated organisations which were similar, such as Presbyterian Support Otago which she compared to Elske Centre and the Abbey Theatre, similar to Dannevirke Theatre Company and Pahiatua Repertory.
"I was left looking forward to the 2017 awards and hoping many of our organisations receive nominations because our volunteers and organisations are right up there with some big cities," she said.
"I did learn some new things because I had no idea bike polo existed and yet the world championships were held in Timaru. The event started with like-minded people sharing a conversation in a bar.
"There were many environmental projects involving planting, restoration and pest control that all had unique points of difference, with one having developed an app on a phone to record pests trapped, making the app available free of charge to any other organisations.
"Bay Bush Action Trust who were placed second involved volunteers and children and have trapped 5573 rats and 2080 possums since starting in 2011. To celebrate they even held a possum pie party.
These amazing volunteers donate a total of 400 hours a month.
"The winners, Koha Kai Charitable Trust from Invercargill, was inspirational, seeking to 'encourage a life of purpose' and operated on the value of appreciation and the value of learning.
"Koha Kai knows that in helping others, we also help ourselves."
"Their purpose was to empower people through removing barriers, allowing true integration. Koha Kai was created for and by the people who live with the challenge of a disability. This group of outstanding volunteers grow and prepare healthy meals for schools. Collectively they contribute 360 volunteer hours weekly. It was a very inspiring story and deserving winners.
"The Ormondville Rail Preservation Group's presentation was well received and many people commented to me on the wonderful asset for Ormondville. Paul and Val could feel very proud of their achievements being recognised for their valuable contribution to our district and acknowledged nationally."
Mrs Collis said it wasn't possible to attend this event and not come away feeling great, inspired and in awe of what our volunteers contribute all over the country.
"Volunteers make our district and country a great place to live," she said.
And while the Ormondville group didn't win, they made a good showing and had a fabulous time, secretary Paul Mahoney said.
"In Rotorua all 25 finalists got to present on their group and its projects - eight minutes each - and by lunchtime we realised what a hard job it would be to pick a winner. So many of the projects were awesome," he said. "We felt so happy just to make it to the national awards and to be in such great company - and that our project was at last eligible to be considered.
"Also we were all absolutely spoiled with wonderful accommodation, food, venues and a full Tamaki Bros Maori experience, plus we gathered lots of ideas from other projects."