Greg Croft of Port Macquarie arrived in Tamworth on Wednesday, after a few days of travelling across the region and assessing the entries at Nundle, Hanging Rock and Woolomin.

The Tamworth region has 19 entries in this year’s awards. 

Entries were compiled by Tamworth Regional Council staff and the local Tidy Towns committee, chaired by Paul Ying, over a number of weeks. 

While taking a break from assessing on Wednesday morning, Mr Croft stopped in for morning tea at the Tamworth Regional Botanic Garden.

He said he and his wife, Jenny, who has accompanied him on the trip, had been overwhelmed by what they had seen.

“We have had a jam-packed visit,” Mr Croft said. 

“Everything has been very impressive.”

Wednesday’s highlights included a visit to the Tamworth Waste Water Treatment Plant and Calrossy Anglican School’s vegetable and environment garden.

Mr Croft said he was looking forward to exploring the volunteer element of the city. 

“Tamworth has something like 200 volunteer groups and committees. Part of the submission for the awards is to look into that a little bit – what volunteers do and how their roles function in the city,” he said.

“The fact Tamworth has so many volunteers, who put in something like 500,000 hours a year, shows how much they care for, and are proud of, their city.”

On Wednesday afternoon Mr and Mrs Croft headed to Manilla to view the town’s entries before driving home to Port Macquarie, where Mr Croft will be busy writing reports about the 19 submissions, to be sent by him to an independent judge.

Nundle entered eight submissions in the Category A section of the awards – population of up to 350 people; the Cultural Heritage Award for its Go For Gold Festival; the Bush Spirit Award for The Great Nundle Dog Race; Waste Management and Litter Reduction; Water Conservation Award; Wildlife Corridors and Habitat; Conservation Award – Nundle Woody Weeds Project; Schools Environment Award – Nundle Public School; and Schools Environment Award – Nundle CWA Pre-school.

Hanging Rock entered two award categories: the New Town Award, and the Bush Spirit Award, for its community hall.

Woolomin also entered the Woolomin Recreation Reserve in the Bush Spirit Award. Manilla’s Historical Society was nominated in the Cultural Heritage Award.

Tamworth has entered in several categories, including the Overall Award for a town with a population of more than 25,000; Cultural Heritage Award – 40 Years of Country Music; Bush Spirit Award – Tamworth Relay for Life; Waste Management and Litter Reduction Award – Challenge recycling plan; Water Conservation Award – effluent reuse farm; Wildlife Corridors and Habitat Conservation Award – Victoria Park master plan; and the Schools Environment Award – William Cowper School.

Winners will be announced between November 2 and 4.