Tamworth National Volunteer Week 2021: Manilla SES unit a family affair with three generations signed up

The local commander took over as leading lady "too many years ago", after her father passed on the top job of commander.

Ms Blinman's 84-year-old dad is still a valued member of the Manilla SES, and two of her kids also signed up to be part of the squad as teenagers.

"It's been a real family do for a while there," she said. "But if you're wearing orange, you're all family."

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Working as an SES volunteer has been a bit like a full-time job for Ms Blinman, who could put in 30 hours of volunteer work on a "quiet" week.

"I absolutely love it ... I really enjoy training and mentoring new people and have done since I started," she said.

"We see people on their worst day sometimes so being able to help is such a great feeling.

"People still come up to me years later and say thanks for coming over to their house."

The Manilla team is small but mighty, with about a dozen active volunteers on call for when wild weather strikes or accidents happen.

And they don't just look after their own village, they have travelled across the country to respond to the most destructive disasters.

"One that really stands out is when we were sent out to Maitland for the floods ... it was when the storm hit in 2007 and the Pasha Bulka washed up on Nobby's Beach [in Newcastle]," Ms Blinman said.

She said it was a whirlwind of pulling cars out of flooded streets, clearing fallen trees and urgently patching up roofs for those who needed it most.

Ms Blinman made the trip up north 10 years ago as part of the first NSW SES taskforce to respond to the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi.

"There was no electricity and no water and we only had very, very basic tools," she said.

"It was so much fun and it was so hard, but the people we so grateful."

Ms Blinman has been inspired by her father and said she hopes to keep up the volunteer work for as long as she can.

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