Doncaster VIEW Club

The guest speaker at our March luncheon meeting was Dr Andrew Horwood, MB BS, FRACGP GP Specialist from The Grampians Health Pain Service.

Dr Horwood gave a power-point presentation and talked about multidisciplinary pain management, understanding pain and explained to us about acute pain and chronic pain.  He also discussed medication for easing pain.  A video was played titled Introduction to Pain.  The Members found his presentation very informative and helpful.

At our December Christmas Luncheon Meeting numerous prizes were raffled with every person attending taking home a prize.  The major raffle prize was a large Christmas hamper.  The funds raised will go towards our Learning for Life students.  

A sing-along of Christmas carols was enjoyed by all with two of our members taking the lead.  The lunch, consisting of roast pork, was a delicious change to the usual turkey.  An assortment of plants, marmalades, books, bric-a-brac and shortbread were purchased from the trading table.  Bookings were taken for our annual morning tea at Stonehouse Cafe.

The November meeting was our very special 41st Birthday for our Club.  The day was celebrated with a Garden Party theme and Members looked glamorous in floral and green outfits.  The tables were beautifully decorated plus we had a monster raffle with the majority of Members taking home a prize.  We had special visitors from other VIEW Clubs attend and our President and three inaugural members cut the Birthday cake.

Photo shows three inaugural Members and President 2nd from right.

Our November guest speaker was Lucy from the Kevin Heinze GROW Nursery (KHG).   Lucy gave a very insightful talk about the history of the Garden Centre and it’s facilities.  The KHG Nursery at Doncaster is open to the public, and it's a great place to buy a fantastic range of top-quality plants and the public can enjoy the on-site Café.

Accompanying photo of Lucy from Kevin Heinze GROW

A heart-warming example of VIEW Clubs and Members helping each other and the community – An email was received via our Zone Councillor mentioning that Rosebud and Frankston Hospital were desperately short of knitted teddies to give away to the children. 

The knitters in our club have been very busy and have forwarded two bundles of Bears that Cares.

At our October luncheon meeting, Members celebrated the Spring Carnival by wearing their favourite hat.  A prize was awarded for the best millinery creation and the winning hat was made from a placemat.  It was very clever and stylish (please see photo).  During the meeting a challenging trivia competition was enjoyed by all.

At our September luncheon meeting we had a special event by Cabella Mia; A stunning fashion display of their Spring collection. 

Our members had a lot of fun trying on the outfits and making purchases.  The event was a very successful fundraiser for our Club.

The guest speaker at our August Luncheon Meeting was Jenni Vormwald.  Jenni is a retired primary school teacher who specialised in the area of visual impairment.  For the last couple of years, she has been volunteering overseas. 

Her power-point presentation was about living and working in Mongolia.  Jenni outlined many interesting facts about the people, their culture, living conditions and the lack of infrastructure in Mongolia. Members found Jenni's presentation very informative and her volunteering efforts in Mongolia, highly commendable and inspiring.

We had a special grocery drive this month for Doncare.  Our members very generously donated non-perishable food items, such as pasta, tinned food, cereals etc.

The theme for our July Luncheon Meeting was Christmas in July.  Members were invited to wear a touch of Christmas.  The room and tables were beautifully decorated in the Christmas theme and lunch was delicious. Tickets for a large Christmas in July hamper were sold during the meeting, raising funds for our Learning for Life students. 

Entertainment for our special Christmas in July celebration was provided by Riley Brennan from Marcellin College.  Riley's vocalist performance whilst playing a piano keyboard was delightful.  We enjoyed his selection of Christmas songs.   
 
Still to come on July 30 at 10.00am, a group of Members are looking forward to attending a craft session at Bunnings Doncaster. They will be making/decorating a Tote Bag.

July was our special Knit One Give One (KOGO) month.  We received many very generous donations of beautifully knitted garments including beanies, scarves, jackets, gloves, booties etc from our Members and their friends.

These items will be delivered to KOGO.

Early in June, 17 of our Members attended an AVEO presentation at Domain, Victoria Street, Doncaster East. Included was a guided tour of beautifully decorated and appointed, various types of accommodation at the Retirement Village. This was followed by a delicious 2 course lunch in the dining room and tea/coffee in the cafe.

The guest speaker at our June luncheon meeting was Nicholas Austin, a Fire Investigation Officer with Fire Rescue based at Templestowe Fire Station.  His presentation was very interesting and informative. Nicholas highly emphasised the importance of regularly changing the batteries in smoke detectors.  Nicholas can be seen in the accompanying photo.

A group of members enjoyed a midweek Matinee at The Round, Nunawading to see Australian Operatic Soprano Antoinette Halloran accompanied by Patrick Lawrence.

Our guest speaker was Donna Campisi from Cottage by the Sea Queenscliff a not-for profit organisation that provides seaside accommodation for disadvantaged children.

The charity is committed to empowering the children by supporting them in developing their self-esteem, health and well-being thus inspiring them onto bigger and better things in life.  The Cottage provides an uplifting, healthy, seaside environment where these children can feel safe and supported.  Donna is a very engaging speaker and our members enjoyed the presentation.

Photo L-R:  Program Officer, Kim with Donna Campisi