HELPING out at the Wimmera Machinery Field Days is a tradition for many families in the region, but few families have had three members serve as president.
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Horsham’s Moore family has been involved in the event since the very early days.
Colin Moore is the longest serving committee member after joining on June 6, 1966.
Colin is a life member and was president from 1995 to 1996.
His brother Jeff Moore has also been on the committee for many years, joining 40 years ago in 1978.
Jeff is also a life member and was field days president from 1999 to 2000.
Now Jeff’s son Peter Moore has taken over the show, joining the committee in 2000. He is now in his second year as president.
Other members of the Moore family are long term volunteers, including Sue Moore, Cheryl Moore and Andrew Moore.
Colin said he was about 19 when he was first asked to join the committee.
“I’ve been involved for a long time,” he said.
Colin said there had been a lot of changes since the early days of the event.
“We did a lot of demonstrations in those days, with things like tractors and harvesters,” he said.
“There was no buildings out at the site then – just caravans.
“We spent most of the three days outside in the fields.”
Colin said he enjoyed being able to see new machinery and meet new people as part of the field days committee.
“I’ve met lots of people over the years,” he said.
“I always encourage more people to get involved in the field days – it’s always good to have some young farmers involved.”
Jeff said he was involved in the field days for many years before he joined the committee.
He started out as a steward at the event.
He said his love for agriculture kept him involved every year.
“I enjoy seeing the latest in machinery and agriculture, it’s also a great community event to support – it’s good for the region,” he said.
Jeff said the field days was growing each year.
“It’s certainly quite different to what it was like in 1962,” he said.
Jeff said he enjoyed sharing the field days tradition with his family.
“Being involved in the field days can follow generations and there are other father and son groups on the committee,” he said.
He said he was pleased to see his son Peter take over as president last year.
Peter said the field days had been part of his life for as long as he could remember.
“I’ve been out there since I was a little kid running around at working bees,” he said.
“It’s good having my family involved, it’s good experience to learn from.”
Peter officially joined the committee nearly 20 years ago.
”When I signed up, people said I was just about due for long-service leave because I had been around for so long,” he said.
“I like being involved because of all the guys on the committee – they are a great bunch of people to work with.
“Being a farmer you don’t meet a lot of people because you work by yourself, but I’ve met more farmers on the field days committee than I have anywhere else.”