Originally from a farm in Nhill, Mrs Darnell moved to Horsham when she was married. She has been in the city for 53 years since.

When she first arrived in Horsham, she was looking for a way to meet new people and 'break out of her shell'.

Volunteering was a natural fit.

"I came out of my shell a lot when I came to Horsham. I came off a farm where the situation was very strict and routine. There wasn't much that I did," she said.

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"My first lot of volunteering in Horsham was becoming a Sunday school teacher. I had done it with three kids, but not with a classroom of 230 kids."

Her experience with the Uniting Church's Sunday School ignited a taste for volunteering which eventually led her to community radio.

Mrs Darnell has been a volunteer with Horsham community radio station Triple H 96.5FM since 2008, where she has hosted a variety of gospel and country programs.

"The late Greg Heard was talking to me about the radio program they had for the Uniting Church, Inside and Out, and asked whether I would like to come on board. I said well, I don't know about that but I will come in and listen in.

"So I came in and listened to him on a Sunday, and he was doing Music for the Faith Journey. After that, I decided I might have a go at this."

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Mrs Darnell took the helm of both programs and started her own country program, Nice and Easy, in the years between.

A passionate musician, Mrs Darnell taught herself how to play many instruments, including the piano, guitar and mandolin, among others.

"I just love the mandolin, the sound of the mandolin was something I just enjoyed. Especially in a song, Pat Bryne played and the mandolin just came through," she said.

"I went and asked Rick Stevens, who used to own the Music Centre 'what is the instrument in the background' and he told me it was the mandolin.

"I asked if they were easy to play and he said yes. So I ended up buying the mandolin and teaching myself how to play it."

Through her volunteering time at Triple H Mrs Darnell has rubbed shoulders in many gospel and country music circles, launching a music career of her own.

In 2018, Mrs Darnell worked with gospel artist Shaza Leigh to produce her first album, Our Fathers Plan.

The first track on the album, which was written by Mrs Darnell originally in the early 1990s, won a Tamworth Songwriters Association award for Gospel music.

Mrs Darnell said winning the award, which included travelling to Tamworth to attend the association's award ceremony, had been a 'surreal' experience.

"I really enjoyed the experience. I met a whole lot of other country people before the event started and I was playing their music here, so Tamworth was something special," she said.

"At the awards, when it was announced, my husband gave me a pushout before they could even finish reading the winner's name."

Mrs Darnell said she had a passion for elevating independent musicians.

"I like to encourage are the independent artists who have nowhere to be lifted up. They don't have sponsorship from Sony, they do it all on their own bat," she said.

"When you are looking at $1000 for a song minimum and everything else with an album, a full album can cost up to $15,000. That is an independent artist trying to sell their won."

She said volunteering had been an incredibly rewarding experience in her life, and encouraged others to give it a try.

"If somebody is in a little world of their own and getting lost, I would like to encourage them to do something and maybe start off by volunteering somewhere," she said.

"It could be anywhere. Maybe start with Meals on Wheels. There are other places to volunteer as well."

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