Geoff Mann honoured to receive Tony McGrane Award at Dubbo Day Awards

There's many who would say otherwise and point to him being the recipient of the Tony McGrane Award at last week's Dubbo Day Awards ceremony as proof he's someone who goes above and beyond in Dubbo and the wider area.

Mann is extremely well known as a journalist and radio host in Dubbo but the imprint he has on the region is far greater than that.

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In fact, the easiest way to show what organisations and events in town he is currently or formerly involved with is to simply list them:

Mr Mann described the Tony McGrane Award as an honour, made more special by the fact he knew the man the award was named after.

"I knew Tony reasonably well and he always impressed me. We were shocked when he died," Mr Mann said of the former mayor, who died in 2004.

"I've had the privilege of emceeing the scholarship dinner named in his honour for about the past 12 years.

"What he was about and his passion for the community and willingness to invest himself in the community at Gilgandra, here and across the region has always inspired me.

"It always impressed me and to have my name associated with that award is particularly special."

Given his various involvements in the region, congratulations came from far and wide following the Dubbo Day Awards ceremony.

While honoured and proud, Mr Mann said being involved in the community and helping out is just second nature to he and so many others, especially in regional areas.

Recent conversations with people in places like Eugowra, which was destroyed by devastating flooding earlier this month, has only reinforced that.

"I said it the other night, I think we live in the best country in the world," Mr Mann, who is originally from Cooanmble, said.

"I was talking to Andrew Barnes in Eugowra and he expressed the same thing. Their town has been wiped out but people have come from everywhere and brought a tractor or just put on their boots and helped out.

"That's what I've grown up with. My dad and mum might not have been big committee people but when they saw things that needed to be done, whether it was helping the neighbours or chopping wood for the nuns at the convent, they would see things that needed to be done and just get in and do it.

"It's just been second nature to (my brothers) Allan and Paul and myself. Our wives are all the same sort of people and involved in schools and the parish."

In terms of sport, when injuries put an end to his playing day that eagerness led him to take on various committee roles and earning accreditation to be a cricket umpire.

"I felt my way to give back to the community was through doing these other things where I could use my gifts, I suppose, and be an emcee," he said.

"But I'm happy to be in the background and do the washing up at a soup kitchen or a parish dinner.

"I just think it's the Aussie way and when you see what's been going on the past few years with bushfires to floods and the way people have dropped everything to help each other, it's just second nature."

Mt Mann added there were so many other people around the region he were worthy of recognition.

It's one of the reason events like the Dubbo Day Awards are special, as they're designed to recognise the unsung heroes of the community.

While he collected the biggest prize of the night, nine other people who also honoured for their efforts.

"It's really important for communities to recognise people within the community," he said.

"I said the other night Dubbo is a real cultural centre. Not just in the sense of having people from other countries living here, but it's the cosmos of the west.

"If I wanted to know something about Coonamble I can put something online and there's people from Coonamble who live here, or people from Gilgandra, Warren or Bourke or Dunedoo and Mudgee.

"We live in a really good town and by having those awards it highlights the breadth of activities people are involved with.

"I just think a lot of people do a lot of things and I'm a small part of a wider community. I'm proud this is our community and there are so many people who look out for others."

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