A Girl Who Can't Say No

Newcastle Herald

Monday August 20, 2007

Sarah-Kate Scicluna

She's a mum, an award-winning child-care volunteer and a netball coach, writes Sarah-Kate Scicluna.

UNSUNG HERO

CLAUDIA TOLHURST

The Unsung Hero series acknowledges people who do good deeds in the Hunter. If you would like to nominate someone, phone 4979 5999 or send information to Unsung Hero, The Herald, PO Box 510, Newcastle 2300.

WIFE and mother are just two descriptions of Claudia Tolhurst.

She is also an endless campaigner for community child care and its future.

The Cameron Park mother of two is the president of the Edgeworth Child Care Centre, a role she has held for the past four years.

But Mrs Tolhurst said the fact it was a volunteer role did not necessarily make it easy.

"There's a lot of corporate child-care centres that put a strain on the community-based centres with numbers," she said.

"Because we didn't have a full house last year, we couldn't maintain staff levels, so we had to cut back to skeleton staff. That's not a nice decision to make.

"When you sign up as president, you have to make the decisions. You have to learn very quickly how to run a business effectively and you have to make decisions on big issues. Last year was a tumultuous year."

Mrs Tolhurst said the centre was licensed for 39 children and had a current base of 30.

But despite the recent tough times, Mrs Tolhurst is smiling again.

She received the prestigious Colleen Gale Award in June, presented by the Country Children's Services Association of NSW Inc.

The award is presented annually to a volunteer in a managerial role in child-care services.

"It's not just child care I'm passionate about. It's community-based child care that I'm passionate about because it's there as a service for the community," Mrs Tolhurst said.

"It's not there to make money that some other centres are there to make."

In addition to being a mum to daughters Luci, 8, and Maddi, 5, Mrs Tolhurst works four days a week as a loan writer for Pfeiffer Finance and coaches the under-8 Sugar Valley Hunters netball team at Edgeworth.

She is also an active member of the Parents and Friends association at St Benedict's Primary School, Edgeworth, the same school Luci attends.

"I have issues with saying no. I struggle to say no," she said.

"I'm one of those people that, when something needs to be done, I just get in and do it. It's been a tough road. The director of the centre, Sue Wilkinson, has travelled the journey with me over the past year. It's been a rocky one, but we've gotten through it.

"I never could do all this without the support of my family and my husband."

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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