The show must go on

Mike Valance has set up office at the Akoonah Park Showgrounds where he is coordinating the 159th Berwick Show, to be held on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 February.
He and his wife Dorothy add to the tradition set by a long list of families who have maintained solid support for the historic event, which has weathered all storms.
Mike, who was appointed show secretary last year, comes with a history of helping at the popular annual event.
He says show societies face challenges, not the least of them the continuing drought.
Nevertheless Mike is set to handle whatever comes his way. His topclass credentials indicate we are in for another ‘good show’.
“This is our 159th show and we have the largest cattle presentation outside the Melbourne Royal.”
His theory of why the show is so successful is that a line of dedicated volunteers have made it work.
Mike is a countryborn lad from a family with a farming and country background, who found success in the world of commerce and banking.
He was born at Shepparton, but the family moved to Baddaginnie, a small town on the old Hume Highway between Benalla and Violet Town when he was three.
“My Dad was interested in farming, but his father sold the farm in 1940, so he went to work for the railways.”
Mike received his secondary education at the FCJ College in Benalla, and in 1967 he joined the Benalla ES and A Bank. He soon transferred to the city, where he worked in branch banking.
“Alas, I became a guest of Her Majesty for two years when I was called up for my national service training and spent most of that time in Sydney.
“I worked in administration in the Army, but sport was also an important part of our lives during leisure times.
“When I returned to Melbourne after national service, I joined the ANZ Bank and worked at the ANZ Stock Exchange branch.”
This is where he met Dorothy Hobbs. Chemistry developed between the two and they were married in 1973.
They have three children: Delia 29, a teacher, Christopher 27, a builder, and Nicholas 22, a landscape gardener.
The ANZ Bank seemed to be Mike’s niche. His experience and service widened to training with a move into the 230 Swanston Street office and later to the ANZ Training Centre.
“I really enjoyed the training and development side of banking, but moved back to Wangaratta where I became the manager of operations for North Eastern Goulburn Valley.
“We were fairly autonomous in each area and my role involved a good deal of marketing, public relations and human resources, and those jobs that no one else wanted to do.
“This was a good time because we knew lots of people in the region.”
In 1984, he went to Shepparton as assistant manager, and then returned to Melbourne and spent several years in senior training and human esources roles in the ANZ Bank.”
Mike took a package in 1998 after a major reorganisation meant his position became redundant.
“We later saw some of the older guys going back into the job in one way or another. Experience is vital when it comes to credit lending and it is difficult to replace people in that area.
“Now, people in their 60s are getting jobs back,” he said.
He worked with Quest and Financial Services for six years on business development.
“This company was sold and I ran it for a year until it was sold again, but I felt it was time to go.”
Berwick Show’s secretarial position became vacant so it seemed a foregone conclusion that someone already working as a volunteer in the sheep section and who could run a bank may be the guy.
Mike took on the job last year and settled in to three days a week at the showground office.
“I quickly found that one of the most rewarding things about this job was working with volunteers.
“They do the work because they want to and they have a passion for what they do.”
Mike was familiar with the workings of the show because he had worked in the sheep section since 1977 with the late Betty Taylor and with Neil Lucas.
“I developed a feeling for sheep when I was at Baddaginnie because during my school holidays I would work on the farms and became involved in shearing shed work.
“I had an interest in sheep and wool and Neil, who is my brotherinlaw, knew about this so he roped me in to helping with the Berwick Show.
“Also Dorothy is chairperson of the craft section of the Australian Sheep and Wool Show held at Benalla each July.
“When I became secretary, she took my job in the Berwick wool shed. We introduced spinning in 1985 and this has been of great interest.
“Dorothy looks after that and will until Neil comes back from Christmas Island.” (Mr Lucas has a twoyear appointment as the administrator of Christmas Island.)
Mike said the show would be held in the last weekend of February and volunteers were now working hard putting everything together.
“There is a lot of preparatory work to be done, but it all falls into place because we have a great team of people with lots of subcommittees that are autonomous.
“They have been doing the job for a long time and they usually get it right.
“We could always do with more young people, although we do have a good percentage among the volunteers, and it’s good when you see them getting involved.
“We have a great asset in Akoonah Park and we now have the new pavilion.
“We are looking forward to a good show despite the long drought and the impact this has had on the livestock. They say the show must go on and it will.”
Mike believes the next 10 years could provide a real challenge for all agricultural shows, but says the shows now offer much more diversity, which attracts people over the two days.
“Our show is one of the biggest and we are still attracting exhibitors.
“It has been a wonderful success story, but this is because of the people you don’t see who are working diligently behind the scenes,” he said.