2019 Legends Award winners

The Living Legend Award acknowledges an individual who is improving the quality of life in the City of Salisbury through learning and education, volunteering, environmental sustainability or community safety.

This year we are honoured to present the Living Legend Award to Peter Beames.

Peter has been a valuable and well-respected volunteer at Burton Community Centre for the past 10 years.

Peter generously offered his expertise in Information Technology – developed across a 37 year IT career – by successfully designing an intricate and unique booking system for the Community Centre. This allows it to more efficiently hire out facilities, better manage money and electronically store services information and schedules for activities.

The database system is now pivotal to the way the Centre operates on a daily basis.

For the past decade, Peter has singlehandedly taken on the management of eight computers at the Centre and once invested his own money into buying and donating six second-hand PCs when the Centre was unable to fund an upgrade.

Quiet and unassuming with strong listening skills, Peter brings a unique sense of humour to the role and fits in well with everyone he deals with during his two days per week at the Centre.

He also runs a free weekly digital literacy class and is more than happy to put up his hand when volunteer shifts need covering.

Peter captures the spirit of giving back to the community and embodies the strong values including generosity, helpfulness, commitment and passion. Well done and congratulations Peter.

The Working Legend Award recognises an individual or group that is enhancing the City of Salisbury by showcasing business excellence or through business collaborations, events or innovation.

Our deserving recipient for 2019 is Silentium Defence, based at Parafield.

Established by James Palmer and Simon Palumbo, Silentium Defence is playing a key role in shaping Australia’s surveillance future through the design, engineering and research of passive radar systems for the Australian Defence Force as well as civilians.

Since opening its doors in July 2018, Silentium Defence has continued to grow – welcoming its 17^th team member in July this year.

The company has already received accolades – it was acknowledged within both the Start-up of the Year and Government and Public Sector categories in the South Australian IA Awards earlier this year, while James and Simon were named among Australia’s Top 50 small business leaders by Inside Small Business.

The company was also successful in winning $1.5 million in Defence Innovation Hub contracts for the development of new innovative technology that will allow Australian forces and their allies to be ‘see without being seen’ and unique space surveillance technology.

Silentium Defence is also committed to giving back, having helped to launch the State Government’s Space Industry Work-Experience Program and taken part in the With You With Me careers expo, supporting veteran pathways into the workforce.

Congratulations Silentium Defence.

The Active Legend Award is designed for an individual or group that has helped build pride and success in the City of Salisbury as a sportsperson, team, coach, umpire, official, artist or musician.

This year’s well deserving winner is the Northern District Athletics Club, which offers athletics to all ages and abilities.

The Club has worked tirelessly to attract children to the sport of athletics and provide them with pathways to stay involved well into adulthood. It enjoyed its largest ever presentation evening this year, with more than 230 athletes and family members in attendance.

This persistent hard work has led to a steady increase in participants in its Carisbrooke Classic and Salisbury Half Marathon events. In its first year, 60 participants took part in the Salisbury Marathon while its most recent event boasted 300 participants.

The club also offers free training in the lead up to City to Bay out of its home, with skilled coaches available to help people achieve their goals. It is also working closely alongside local football and soccer clubs to assist one another in helping grow membership in all sports.

At the heart of the club is passion and commitment to encouraging children – and adults – to get outside and get active. That drive is what makes Northern Districts Athletics Club so deserving of the Active Legend Award.