Coonamble community volunteer Ruth Castles has recently been recognised for her service to the children of the district after 36 years of teaching scripture at the local public school.

She was presented with a certificate on Monday 21 February, delivered by Judy Moody on behalf of the Special Religious Education teachers of Coonamble.

Ruth, who now lives in Residential Aged Care at Coonamble Hospital, began her 'career' as a teacher of scripture - otherwise known as a Special Religious Education - in 1985.

At the time she was a member of the congregation at the Coonamble Uniting Church and was approached by Pip Smith, another local resident who was also a volunteer scripture teacher and part of a then much larger group.

"Pip asked Ruth if she'd ever taught Sunday School," said Judy Moody.

"When Ruth said yes, Pip said 'if you can teach Sunday school you can teach Scripture', and away she went."

"She would go in every Tuesday."

"At that time we had so many teachers we had a class each for the whole year," Mrs Moody said.

"Now we take a class each for one term only, so we can manage to do every class throughout the year."

"We would dearly love some more scripture teachers."

At the end of 2021, Mrs Castles had medical complications which forced her 'retirement' from scripture teaching.

Jacinta Thatcher is the Northern Region Co-ordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Bathurst and offers support to SRE teachers, including the small group at Coonamble.

"I have known Ruth since 2017, when I started in this role," Mrs Thatcher said. "When I heard she was retiring I thought we should acknowledge her amazing contribution."

Mrs Thatcher says that, far from being obsolete, scripture teaching fits in well with the values of modern public education and an independent study recently found that religious or spiritual education is an important part of a well-rounded education.

"It isn't just Christian SRE, all families have a choice to participate," she said.

"It is based on respect, kindness, being loving and all those things that are important in everyone's lives."

"SRE values and supports the intellectual, creative, physical, social and emotional development of each child because it allows children to explore their own beliefs and find a place where they can be open and ask questions."

Mrs Castles said she was "overwhelmed" by the presentation of the certificate.

"I can't believe it, why are you giving me this?" she said.

All the scripture teachers say that working with the children is its own reward and the Coonamble team now find themselves introducing the bible stories to the grandchildren of their first pupils.

"Ruth often tells the story of where she was stopped in the street by a huge bearded man who gave her a big bear hug," Mrs Thatcher said.

"He remembered her from scripture lessons in primary school."

"Ruth is a great lady and has provided a wonderful service to Coonamble over many years," she said.