She is energetic, passionate and full of zest, someone who never stops doing good deeds for others. 

Whether she is volunteering at Scone Neighbourhood Centre, selling raffle tickets for Innerwheel or at a school function for one of her dearly loved grandchildren, Judith Simos has a smile on her dial and is usually going ‘one hundred mile an hour’.

This year Mrs Simos has been living in  Australia 50 years, and despite her pommy accent she couldn’t be prouder to be a real salt of the earth Aussie woman. 

Throughout her life Mrs Simos has done the full circle and she certainly recounts a very interesting and coloured experience. 

Born in Penrith in the Lake District of the United Kingdom in 1941, Mrs Simos is a twin to Gilly and they have a younger brother and sister. 

She grew up in Norfolk where she was educated through her primary and secondary years. 

Her father’s career as an agricultural scientist may have had something to do with her dream to attend ag college after school; however her parents disallowed such things as ‘ag college was not the place for young women’.

Alternatively, Mrs Simos went to the London College of Secretaries for two years to gain her diploma which equipped her to start working in the typing team of John Mackintosh and Company – the large international confectionary company. 

Throughout the following four years the young woman worked up the corporate ladder to become the private secretary to the managing director; however in 1964 she married her childhood boyfriend Pete – the start of a whole new adventure and the seed that led to her growth in Australia. 

Her new brother-in-law had moved to  Australia and was working as an overseer at ‘Goonoo Goonoo’, a rural station near Tamworth and he sponsored the young couple to come out to Australia under the 10 pound pom scheme. 

So the duo paid their 10 pounds, surrendered their passports, and flew to Sydney in May 1965, much to Mrs Simos’ father’s disgust. 

“It was such a quick transition, Pete was a boat builder and we had spent a lot of time on boats, and then we just packed up and left,” Mrs Simos said. 

“It was such a big adventure at the time, but when we got here it was a big shock, we had no idea what we were letting ourselves into,” she said. 

Soon after moving and after a few weeks on the station, Pete got a job as a pharmaceutical rep and they moved to Tasmania where they lived in a flat at Battery Point in Hobart. 

They joined the sailing club and through a contact, Mrs Simos fell into a job with the ABC, the start of a long and enjoyable career with the broadcast network.

Beginning in the accounts department, the young woman soon moved into programs where she worked during the devastating Tasmanian bush fires.

During this time, Mrs Simos spent her spare time volunteering with the Red Cross in the communications room, which was challenging as there was no such thing as a mobile phone or computers.

The next move was to Melbourne where they lived for a year and Mrs Simos worked as a personal assistant at ABC, before moving to Sydney to become a permanent staff member with the               network and purchase their first home – a terrace at Summer Hill. 

Sadly in 1970, Pete was involved in a serious car accident leaving him hospitalised for two months, and about a year later the couple decided to part ways and separated.

Throughout her life Mrs Simos had been fortunate to be able to travel back home to England and to America every two years, but now she decided a big move was needed and so moved to Milan to tour Italy with her twin for three months. 

The passionate woman then moved back to Sydney and the ABC, which is when Ian Simos walked through the door. 

Mr Simos was the weather man for many decades, and the couple started dating and later married in 1975 living on the water at Kirribilli and raising their two daughters. 

After having the children, Mrs Simos worked casually in the television department and they moved back to Melbourne for six months and then Tasmania again for a year. 

In 1983, Mrs Simos became an official  Australian Citizen at a ceremony at North Sydney.

It was in the mid 1980s when the ABC studios started to shut down that Mrs Simos decided to spread her wings and completed a TAFE Aged Care and Volunteering Certificate, which landed her a job as a community services coordinator at Lane Cove Community Aid where she worked for the next eight years. 

Mrs Simos said she soon realised she absolutely loved this type of work.

“I was in my element working with the frail and aged,” she said. 

From there she moved into a position as community services coordinator at Willoughby City Council based at Chatswood for the next 10 years before retiring in February 2004 at the age of 62.

Throughout their years in Sydney, Mrs Simos was a parish council member of St Peters Anglican Church at Cremorne, as the family were always very faithful.

The family had moved to a property at Kenthurst as the girls were keen equestrians competing at shows across the state for many years, and spent the last 10 years on a small place on the Hawkesbury River.

After retiring, they decided to move to Scone in October 2004 to be close to family and settle comfortably in the country.

Mrs Simos said from the moment they moved to Scone they have absolutely never regretted it.

“People welcomed us with open arms and the Tilse’s were particularly fabulous – taking us under their wing and introducing us to all their friends,” Mrs Simos said. 

In the past 50 years in Australia, the worldly woman has lived in 19 different places and has volunteered everywhere she has lived.

When the children were young she was the president of Bay Music – a program through the school, as well as running the school magazine at Neutral Bay, volunteering on canteen and fundraising activities. 

Soon after moving to Scone Mrs Simos joined the Innerwheel Club and became president for two years, a club she still enjoys today.

She called around to the Scone Neighbourhood Centre and Lee Watts took her under her wing, joining the    management committee and becoming a lifelong volunteer. 

Keen and enthusiastic, Mrs Simos joined TransCare and still volunteers with them today, driving people to appointments, delivering meals on wheels and helping people with their grocery shopping. 

She was a member of the Upper Hunter Shire Council Community Services Committee for about five years,  a member of the Scone Volunteer  Ambassador Group, a committee member of the Scone Rural Women’s Gathering, as well as volunteering at Strathearn on a one-on-one basis in the high care section of the facility.

Other commitments include being a committee member of the Scone Ladies Probus Club and being a member of the Scone Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society.

Being such a committed volunteer, it is no surprise Mrs Simos also has her fair share of accolades to be proud of. 

In 2009, she was nominated for an Australia Day Award and she was included in the NSW Department of Primary Industries 2012 Hidden Treasures Roll. 

Mrs Simos has been a Justice of the Peace for the past 20 years, and she has received an Australian Government National Volunteer Award from the then Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Like many in the local community, Mrs Simos doesn’t do it for the claps, she said she has always loved to volunteer. 

“It’s good for the soul, it keeps me going and I have to be busy,” she said. 

“We just love the warmth of the people in Scone, as we have both always been welcomed into the community.

“I count myself to be incredibly lucky.”