The former owner of Mt Beckworth Wines vineyard and current owner of the Clunes cellar door has volunteered since first moving to the town full time in the 1990s. 

She has served as the Clunes Tourist and Development Association treasurer for 25 years. 

Mrs Lesock, who was awarded 2011 Clunes citizen of the year and 2012 Hepburn Shire Australia Day citizen of the year, said her parents had created a family culture of community service since she was young. 

“It was the way I was brought up. I came from a smaller town than Clunes so you had to make your own fun,” she said. 

Taking up a volunteering role came easy in Clunes, as although the town was ‘extremely quiet’, Mrs Lesock could see its potential.  

“We took our wine shop into town from the vineyard cellar door, there was a greengrocer, a lolly shop that started, a cafe, a gift shop – so there is a real mixture there to why people would come to Clunes, spend a day there and hopefully a weekend.”

Each step of the way Mrs Lesock has loved seeing the town change and grow, from her involvement in the first Booktown Festival in 2007 and meals on wheels to coordinating community dinners, Australia Day ceremonies, and fundraising. 

“I have loved to see the change that has happened over the years, but it has been hard work. I have seen it right down... But we are right up there now and I don’t think we will come back down again.”

Now Mrs Lesock is working to coordinate the next annual Clunes community dinner in August, a celebration of the town’s volunteers she has helped run for 20 years. 

Mrs Lesock recently moved to Ballarat and continues to run the cellar door in Clunes. 

“We will always be a part of it,” she said.  

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