Emma Pritchard

When they’re not working tirelessly to provide quality care and assistance to their patients, the dedicated staff at Grafton Base Hospital and members of the health and welfare support group enjoy a very artistic and creative pastime.

And recently, their incredible talents were displayed in a local art and craft exhibition.

Featuring a line-up of beautifully stitched quilts, tasty pickles and preserves, scrumptious baked goods, fresh produce, photography, handicrafts and artwork, the exhibition was specially organised by GBH on October 19 to formally recognise staff members for their personal achievements and highlight their individual and unique skills across a variety of subjects.  

Prizes such as gift vouchers and household appliances, generously donated by local businesses including Summerland Credit Union and Harvey Norman in Grafton, were awarded by members of the public who were invited to attend as guest judges, and with 122 exhibits to choose from, picking the winners was not an easy task.

Guest judge Shayne Obee had one of the most sought-after roles, picking the winner of the baking section.

A delicious chocolate pavlova, made by Caroline Cosh, was later declared the overall winner.

It was the second win for Ms Cosh who also won the pickles and preserves section.

Other winners included Steph Donohoe (quilts and patchwork), Tim Ashbrook (photography), Karen Kemp (produce), Pippa Zimmerman (craft), Cherie Shields, (cross-stitch), and Kate McKay (artwork).

Describing the exhibition as an opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and talents of GBH staff in a positive way, Joanne Chad, Program Co-ordinator from Clarence Valley Regional Training Hub hopes it will become an annual event.

“It’s important that we look after our staff,” she said.

“We’re experiencing some exceptionally stressful times, staff are under immense pressure, they all work extremely hard and events like this provide an outlet for them and give them something positive to focus on.

“It’s such a great thing to be able to do for them, and to see all of the exhibits which have been entered shows how clever and talented they are.

“The quality of the work is outstanding.”

Jack Wallace, Work, Health and Safety Co-ordinator with Clarence Health Service, said the exhibition was previously held three years ago, and the enthusiastic response from staff who were eager to become involved was enormous.

“It’s a really great thing to do for the staff because it enables them to show their creativity and it’s something positive for them to do outside of work,” he said.

“We had in excess of 80 staff members enter work in the exhibition, and looking around at the display, it’s obvious how talented they are.

“It’s a really nice thing to do for them, and they all loved being a part of it.”

Once the judging was completed, staff members were invited to view the art and craft exhibition at the GBH community room between 11am – 1pm.