One of these people is Vicki Moore, and despite her initial fear at shining in the spotlight, as the wonderful woman will say goodbye to Scone at the end of the year she nervously agreed.

It’s community minded people like Vicki that form the fabric of our community and she and her husband Bob will be dearly missed by many within the Scone area. 

A well known couple, Vicki and Bob have lived in Scone for 31 years now and they love the place more than anything, but they have now reached the time in their lives to consider their future and are making a sea change to Tuncurry.

Once Bob retires from his role as a bus driver at TransCare in January next year, it will be beaches, relaxation and time together in ‘paradise’.

Although Bob was born in Scone, Vicki was born and grew up in Inverell where she met Bob when he was working there with the Water Conservation and Irrigation.

As a young couple, the Moore’s moved around a lot due to Bob’s work commitments in the dam construction industry residing in NSW and Victoria, before moving back to Scone to settle with their four children. 

When the children were little, Vicki was fortunate to be a stay at home mum and raise the  family. 

Later she started to work with retail and working as a children’s aid at Scone Public School her two dominant career adventures. 

With a keen eye for style, Vicki was always a welcoming face when she worked as a shop assistant at Rabbit Hill children’s clothing shop and Peppertree Gallery for about seven years. 

She said she always enjoyed working in retail. 

“It was like Christmas every day when you unpacked the boxes and I got to know a lot of people, which was the really nice part about it,” she said. 

Vicki’s special fondness for children grew and developed when she worked as a special teacher’s aid and canteen supervisor at Scone Public School. 

When the Scone Early Learning Centre first opened, Vicki was one of the child care workers to start the service and continued working there for about five years. 

Her favourite role came as the last working role she held when Vicki joined the team of staff at the Scone and District Pre-school where she assisted with the special needs children and other causal roles for about four years before retiring at the end of last year.

Vicki said this was her favourite thing as she loved working with the lovely children and the other staff at the pre-school.

“The staff are wickedly good fun (at the appropriate times) and the students are just beautiful. 

“I have a special soft spot for working with special needs children,” she said.

Working at the pre-school was not Vicki’s first experience with the facility as she had been actively involved in the parents committee when her youngest daughter attended. 

Vicki said the fundraising committee did a lot of catering for events in town to raise funds for the pre-school and they had a lot of fun doing it.

“It was a great way to meet people when we first moved here and I really enjoyed it,” she said. 

Through the kids’ primary school years, Vicki was a regular at the school volunteering on the canteen, reading and teaching swimming, as well as an active member on the P and C Association. 

Vicki said she always liked to help as, “I would like to think that if one of my children needed help, someone would help them.” 

“It was my children’s school, so I wanted to be involved.”

Although she thrives on giving back to all the groups she is involved in, Vicki’s big passion is the Scone and District Cancer Support Group.

Vicki joined the group about 10 years ago after Bob had suffered from cancer and they had experienced first-hand the wonderful support offered. 

Being a committee member for a lot of that time and currently the assistant secretary, Vicki organises the trading table at the annual Biggest Morning Tea and helps out with Daffodil Day and any other events the group hosts. 

With a creative flair and passion for craft, Vicki is always first to put up her hand to make table decorations for events, which she does for all her community groups. 

Vicki believes she is part of a fabulous group, full of amazing people and lovely friends that she will dearly miss. 

“It is something that is very close to my heart.

“There is always someone in the community that can benefit, whether it’s just someone to talk to or pass on some information,” she said. 

“The money we raise goes to helping others in the local community and to research, which is really important as well.”

Throughout the past three years, Vicki has been a member of the Friends of Strathearn after modelling at their annual Fashion Parade fundraiser and seeing a need for more volunteers. 

“This is nice as it’s a different group of ladies and I enjoy going along and helping out with functions where needed,” Vicki said. 

“It’s nice to see the money raised goes to the comfort of the local residents at Strathearn.

“We’re lucky to have a facility like a nice nursing home here in Scone, so it’s good to support it.”

More recently, Vicki has become one of the key drivers behind the TransClub initiative launched in November last year. 

The group meets monthly to provide social outings and activities for the older residents in the community, such as craft, day trips to Wingen, picnics at Glenbawn Dam, movie days and more. 

Vicki said the aim is to try to give the residents an outing to look forward to and it’s pleasing to see it is a growing program.

Motivated by the personal satisfaction in helping others, Vicki has valued her life in Scone saying it has been a lovely place to live and raise their children, but they have reached a time where they would like a change and are ready to move onto the next chapter. 

“People have shown us so much love and support, especially when Bob had cancer and when Jason passed.

“We have been extremely lucky to live in a small community,” she said. 

Vicki will enjoy spending her spare time quilting and stitching, as well as her craft and long held hobby of swimming.