I was born in England just after WW2 and grew up just North of London. I trained to be a Nursery Nurse, working in both the hospital and nursery school environment.
After I married, we lived and worked in a typical English market town until the later seventies, when we decided to leave England to try life in Australia. We arrived in the early eighties and settled in Ringwood. Here we became active members of the local Scout troupe, and my husband joined Apex, and this was the beginning of my volunteering career.
My husband died after we moved to Port Melbourne, and looking for something to occupy my time when I was not working, I joined the Port Phillip Lions Club. I became Secretary and then President and remained in this role until the club had to close due to a lack of members. I was also invited to join OPAC (Older Persons Advisory Committee), I remained on this committee until the Local Government Elections in 2024, whilst we waited for the new council to decide on the future direction of their Advisory Committees.
I retired just prior to Covid, planning to spend my time traveling the world. I had also discovered U3A by then and what a life saver it turned out to be during this time, I’d log on to watch lessons on the many topics on offer. Then suddenly we were free to rejoin the world, and we could meet members face to face rather than just see their heads on screen. It was in one of these sessions that Ros Christie asked me to join her Event’s Team, which I did. This made me think about volunteering for the Management Committee, as being on Ros’ team makes you realise all the behind the scenes work that goes on to run U3APP and this is the reason that I am submitting my name for consideration for a committee role.