Rotary Club of Northlakes Toukley In Touch November 2014 | Page 12

Getting to Know Steve Edmunds At our Changeover dinner this year one of the new members we had the pleasure of inducting into our club was Stephen Edmunds. Steve was a Tamworth boy completing his schooling at Tamworth High School. On leaving school he went into the upholstery trade working with both furniture and auto upholstery. Then came the Vietnam National Service call up and Steve was part of the 31st intake. He completed his 2 tears National Service training but with the coming of the Whitlam Government in 1972 was not required to go. Steve then signed on for a further 3 years with the School of Artillery based at the Wacol Army Camp in Queensland. During this time he fulfilled his sporting ambitions playing cricket, rugby union and baseball in the Brisbane competition. After being discharged from the army in 1975 Steve joined TNT Roadfast as a subcontractor with his own truck. After 15 months he took up a management position as morning shift supervisor of inward freight at the Mascot depot. This led to him being promoted to become the NSW operations manager. Later Steve joined Rapid Transport as fleet manager with responsibility for the distribution for such companies as Boral, Lysaghts and David's Holdings. In the mid 80's Steve joined High Trans Express as State Manager developing the business and establishing warehouse and transport facilities. In 1992 he joined XL Freight Express as State manger and moved to 1st Fleet Express as National Transport Manager. In 1998 he was asked by 1st Fleet Express to relocate to Melbourne as State Manager where he was responsible for the building of a new freight terminal and implementing the Express Division and Logistics in Victoria. During this time he also acted as caretaker General Manager of Labour Force Solutions Victoria. A subsidiary of 1st Fleet. It was during this time that Steve suffered a quite serious injury and was forced to return to Sydney where he became the National Operations Manger of Labour Force Solutions & Recruitment. In 2006 Steve returned to Queensland to take up the position of State Manager for Harris Refrigerated Transport where he stayed until 2012. Steve and Sheena took this opportunity to return to NSW to be with family and friends, finally taking up residence in Toukley. Steve's interest in Rotary began in Queensland where he developed a great interest in Youth and Welfare programs. After a long and varied working career Steve can finally settle down to fulfil his interests in boating, rugby union, cricket and gardening as well as taking a very active interest in his Rotary activities. Rotary Club of Northlakes Toukley 12