Secretary of the centre Tania Naven said she was overwhelmed when contacted by the Governor’s office this week

“It was just out of the blue after I had met him in Sydney,” Ms Naven said.

“We are all so excited at the O’Brien Centre because it will help focus on the work we do out here for people with a mental illness.”

Ms Naven said she wasn’t aware who the Governor was when he was next to her at an art exhibition at the Ultimo TAFE during mental health month.

“I came down with a few people from Orange who were exhibiting at the exhibition and had just gone off to sit down on my own for some quiet time,” she said.

“He was such a lovely man.

“I gave him a brochure about the O’Brien Centre and explained what we did and it all went from there,” Ms Naven said.

Ms Naven said it is the dream of the volunteers at the O’Brien Centre to be able to provide a range of activities including life skills such as cooking lessons, through to craft and gardening five days a week.

“At the moment we only have enough funding to be able to run our programs one day a week,” she said.

Western NSW Local Health District acting director of mental health drug and alcohol services,  Adrian Fahy, said although the O’Brien Centre was not a health district service, he welcomed the visit.

“The health district acknowledges the outstanding work undertaken by this centre in the provision of a number of therapeutic activities for people with a mental illness,” Mr Fahy said.

“The visit by the Governor will provide an excellent forum to showcase the fine contributions that this centre makes to the lives of people with mental illness in our district.”

While he is in Orange, the Governor and his wife Linda will be official guests at the 1/19th Battalion Association dinner to be held at the Orange Ex-Services Club.