Doncaster VIEW Club

August was our make, bake or grow luncheon.  Contributions of home-made goods, plants and books were greatly appreciated for our trading table.  Our guest speaker was Alan McLean and the topic was Mystery at Moon Light Head. 

Alan was a bush boy from Rushworth in central Victoria.  At 33 he became Secretary General of the Australian Red Cross, and later was CEO of the Organ Donor Registry, Crime Stoppers Victoria, and the overseas aid agency Red R Australia.  At 60 he shook off those responsibilities and then became far too busy to work!  He has researched and written seven local history books, not for any profit, but just for the satisfaction of placing certain events on the accessible public record.  Alan, who can be seen in the accompanying photo, centred his talk to us on the story behind one of those books.
 
While July was our annual Christmas in July and members wore some Christmas finery.  A special raffle was organised and everyone brought a small gift for the Chris Kringle raffle.

We had a special, fun event for our June luncheon meeting – Dressing Gown Day..

Members were asked to come dressed in their dressing gown and a prize was awarded for the best gown. Being a chilly winter’s day, our gowns kept us very warm.   We also enjoyed an entertaining storytelling session – short stories written by one of our Members about her childhood growing up in St Kilda.  Her recollections brought back lots of memories for all of us.

Photo shows a wonderful variety of gowns.

An outing was organised at the end of May.  We had a great attendance of Members for a magnificent High Tea at Tasty Morsels Café located in Rosella St, Doncaster East.

The occasion was to celebrate Mothers’ Day.

We were invited to an activity at Bunnings Doncaster.  Those who attended had fun potting a beautiful Gerbera plant into a ceramic pot and enjoyed a morning coffee or tea.

At our May Luncheon Meeting we were asked to wear a "touch of pink" in celebration of Mothers' Day.  The main activity for the day was the reading and discussion of this year's resolutions sent to us from VIEW Head Office.   Everyone voted accordingly.

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.