WA Western Suburbs VIEW Club

Lake Claremont Picnic Lunch

About sixteen members turned up for a shared lunch at our final outing for this year; perfect picnic weather in the beautiful bushland setting of Lake Claremont. The finishing touch was a comfortable stroll around the lake, very pleasant in the gorgeous sunshine.

A special THANK YOU to our Committee and all the club members for the hard work and wonderful achievements of our Club for 2022.

December 2022

Members would like to acknowledge the ongoing support and donations provided by Jean Marie of Floreat Blue Illusion fashion boutique.

Each year Raelene liaises with Jean Marie to organise a fashion show, and a generous percentage of sales go to our Club. In December Jean Marie organised a fashion with a percentage of the sales going to The Smith Family. Several Members attended to offer support for the cause. Thank you, Jean Marie for your contribution and support to our cause.

November Outing

Mining boom years from 1890’s onwards: Sixteen members joined in on the adventure to further explore our Perth CBD, this time our tour guide was the very knowledgeable Adolf. Throughout the walk Adolf pointed out and provided information about a number of historical buildings; their architectural style and connection to the goldrush era.

Our guide also had many interesting little anecdotes to tell us about the buildings and various happenings!! After a long walk around the city centre, we were pleased to be able to sit and enjoy a lunch together in a café. Another great outing thanks to Jennifer.

2022 November AGM

This important meeting was chaired by Charmaine where all positions were filled and remained as per 2022, however the Committee now has three members who are sharing positions of Assistant Program and Outing Officers.  Welcome Carol B, Margaret M and Fran W. Charmaine presented badges to Committee Members for 2023. Thanks must go to the outgoing committee for all the work done in 2022.

Incoming President Jennifer then chaired the November monthly meeting with thirty-nine members and one visitor present. A warm welcome was offered to four new members who were presented with their badges; Christine K, Jenny C, Fran D, Robin M.

The highlight of this meeting was the amazing generosity of our members, with so many beautiful toys and gifts for the little children of Roseworth Parent and Child Centre, Members response was overwhelming!! The initial table brought out to display the toys was piled high and the same happened when a second table was brought out! Thank you so much to members for such generosity and for showing the true spirit of Christmas giving. We then celebrated an early Christmas together, enjoying a very delicious morning tea complete with Christmas delights, provided by the Committee

POST Community Newspaper published an article and photo the following week about our outstanding efforts and this provided terrific publicity for our Club and The Smith Family. Our Club has once again, this year, been given great publicity by POST and we really appreciate this support which helps highlight the work of VIEW Clubs and The Smith Family.

October Outing

Bull Creek Aviation Heritage Museum

Nine club members participated in this outing and they all enjoyed themselves and learned so much – thanks to Jennifer, our club president for organising this activity.

October 2022 Meeting 

We had thirty-nine members, and Raelene arranged for guest speaker Rosie Bruce from Western Regional Council to address this meeting and she certainly gained our attention as she provided us with plenty of information regarding household waste disposal and recycling.

21st Birthday Celebrations

2022 September

Everybody enjoys a party and our Committee, with assistance from Members, did an outstanding job in organising this special club celebration which was held at the Tee Box Café at Lake Claremont and there were seventy-four VIEW Club members from various clubs who attended. We had perfect spring weather with party goers wearing gorgeous, colourful clothes to enhance our theme, A Splash of Colour. The venue looked amazing thanks to the work of Margaret and Carol who provided the table decorations.

This special occasion was about acknowledging the voluntary work of members of our VIEW Club (and all VIEW Clubs) in supporting The Smith Family. So, it was a highlight to have two guest speakers, plus our President, Jennifer who together, provided the three perspectives of the work of these two organisations. Jennifer spoke of the fund-raising activities and work of WSVC members in sponsoring our students. Julie Gorman (TSF Regional Manager) followed up and explained about the TSF new 5 year plan to greatly increase the number of sponsored students and to make other changes, all to support educational needs of Australian students. Our final speaker was Jaye, an 18 year old university student who has been sponsored by The Smith Family for 12 years and still has their ongoing support. Jaye really explained to the audience how vital this support has been to him and his family. He shared his story in a deeply personal and eloquent manner and gave us a great awareness and understanding of the difficulties he faced and the extent to which his sponsorship enabled him to get to university. Thanks to the work of VIEW Clubs and TSF, this hard working, motivated young man has become a very successful university student – congratulations Jaye on your outstanding speech and best wishes for your future success.

 Our Club was in the position to present a cheque for $2000.00 to TSF. Also, thanks to the generosity of our members, we had 15 fabulous raffle prizes for lucky party goers. Congratulations on twenty-one years of valuable support and service provided to TSF and to the education of Australian students. As a footnote – we had a terrific article and photo of our 21^st celebrations, published in the POST Community Newspaper.

August 2022 Monthly Meeting:

Prior to the meeting our members and ten visitors were privileged to have an outstanding guest speaker, Jan Standen, from Grandparents Rearing Grandchildren (WA) Inc. Jan is a driving force behind this organisation and was awarded 2022 WA Senior Citizen of the Year.

She is President of GRGWA, a volunteer run charity which provides support and resources for informal grandparent carers across WA. 330 families are members. Jan who has raised three grandchildren herself, was a compelling and inspiring speaker; thank you for giving us your precious time Jan.

The meeting which followed covered a number of topics; thanks to two members, Sue and Kathryn who have taken on the task of making the sandwiches for our morning tea; a truly delicious effort ladies.  Members voted to use money raised from a previous raffle to buy more Joy Spreaders; a reminder that all committee positions are declared vacant at the AGM to be held in November, and we are also looking for a person to take on the position of Assistant Treasurer.

The Lucky $50.00 number raffle sold out very quickly and we ended up with a smiling winner! An update on fund raising activities; sales of El’s Olive Oil now has raised $1850.00; Blue Illusion fashion parade $287.00.  All round amazing efforts!

It was pleasing to hear that several visitors had read about WSVC through our articles in POST Newspaper.

August Outing Walk Around Lake Claremont:

It appears that our Club President, Jennifer, has the weather goddess on her side because here we were, in the middle of a Perth winter, planned outing was a walk around the beautiful Lake Claremont and surrounding restored bushland, and we get glorious sunny weather and no rain; previous days wet and very cold!

It was just perfect for the walk which was followed by a picnic lunch. Thanks Jennifer, for providing us with information about a number of features specific to this area, including art work and sculptures; and shelters for newly introduced quendas.

This is an amazing, restored wetland area which has so much bird and animal life, revegetated bush, almost in the heart of Claremont and it is available to local residents.

July 2022 Outing:

Members made a visit to the Fremantle Hospital Museum; our tour guide, Ruth, was a volunteer who had been a driving force behind the establishment of this Museum which has been going for only six years. We saw different types of medical equipment and changes to nurses’ attire over the years – all members agreed that we are so fortunate to be living in these modern times!

2022 July Activities:

A special celebration for VIEW Clubs across Australia this year, of course has been The Smith Family Centennial 1922-2022. WSVC had a special 100^th birthday party for the Smith Family at July Meeting – gorgeous 100^th birthday cake and lots of 100 Spectacles. Members demonstrated their creative and artistic talents with a vast array of stunning spectacles!! Thank you, members, for your willing participation in helping our club to celebrate the very valuable work of The Smith Family and all VIEW Clubs.

This special occasion gave our club the time and opportunity to focus on this wonderful, Australia wide charity and Jennifer addressed members and provided interesting data and information on the work of The Smith Family and VIEW.  It was a most enjoyable morning. An article and photo of our celebrations were published in POST Community Newspaper.

June Fashion Parade

Fashion Parade Fund Raiser: Raelene has worked in conjunction with Jean-Marie of Blue Illusion Floreat Forum to make this a regular event for the end of June each year. It has become a fun, fashion and fund-raising occasion; with lots of clothes shopping!

This year after members had enjoyed nibbles, drinks, provided by Blue Illusion, and watched our Club's renowned models Glen and Debra, strut their stuff on the catwalk, they shopped to help raise extra funds for our Club. Thank you to all involved in this very successful event – so much fun and for a great cause!

2022 June

This meeting was attended by 41 members and 10 guests; two new members, Fran and Margaret, were presented with their club badges, a warm welcome to both of you. The sales of El’s Olive Oil organised by Jennifer, has been highly successful and so far, $1600.00 has been raised for our club; what an amazing effort! Thank you to everyone involved.

Due to generous donations and the outstanding results of the olive oil sales, our club has made extra donations to the Joy Spreader Program and The Smith Family Winter Appeal. In June we had 60 fully paid-up members enabling our Club to sponsor another student, bringing our total to 12 students paid up for 2023.

The guest speaker who addressed members prior to the meeting, was Merinda Willis from Consumer Affairs, and she dealt with a highly concerning subject – SCAMS! We were given plenty of useful information and tips – basically, If something is too good to be true, it probably is!

Outing to Government House Gardens

Members who attended this outing had the opportunity to take a guided tour through a little piece of paradise in the heart of Perth CBD; 3.2 ha of beautiful heritage listed, Arcadian landscape style gardens.

Our tour guides shared their knowledge with us and provided us with so much information.  Jennifer organised the tour and had the weather goddess on side – no rain! These beautiful gardens are a ‘must see’.

National Reconciliation Week:  

Our Club's Facebook posted a Be Brave, Make Change banner in response to a call from The Smith Family and VIEW Executive for VIEW Clubs to support Reconciliation Week.

June High Tea

During June, several members attended a High Tea to celebrate the Centennial year of The Smith Family. It was a special occasion enjoyed by all who attended, thank you VIEW Development Team.

May Outing – Walk In Bold Park:

When planning a bush walk through a beautiful bushland area such as Bold Park, followed up with an outdoor picnic lunch, one has to hope for perfect weather and no rain (despite it being May) and that is exactly what 16 members had!

The two volunteer guides, Steve and Diana were so knowledgeable and drew our attention to all the various plants, flowers and trees. After the informative and invigorating walk, members finished off the outing with a relaxing and enjoyable picnic lunch. Thanks, Jennifer for organising the fine weather and fabulous bush walk.

2022 May 

Once again members had the opportunity to listen to a very interesting guest speaker, Loretta Baldassar from UWA who spoke about ageing process and the importance of ensuring, as one grows older, that one has a strong social network. For further information on this topic check out UWA Social Care and Ageing Living Lab. Thanks, Raelene, for always managing to find such quality speakers.

At the meeting which followed, we welcomed 4 new members and presented them with their badges – Liz, Carol, Sandra and Margaret. WSVC now has 58 fully paid-up members. A decision was made at this meeting to sponsor another student so our club now has 11 ‘Learning for Life’ children. Glen read Janny’s annual report on our ‘Learning for Life ’students; and we must thank Janny for providing us with updates and information about our students. Congratulations to Sandra who was the winner of the $50.00 note ‘lucky number’.

National Volunteer Week

Clubs were encouraging volunteers to reconnect with community after the past two challenging years. POST Newspaper published the article we wrote about the value of volunteering and the importance of work done by VIEW and The Smith Family to sponsor Australian children in need of support and assistance with their education. There was also a great photo of our club members with the article.

Members Make A Difference

2022 April Meeting

Another interesting and informative meeting, with lots of conversations and socialising taking place! Thirty members attended and there were two guests – also a long list of apologies and thanks go to all members who took time to lodge an apology. The meeting was preceded by guest speaker Eleanor de Kock, an olive oil producer, who last year provided her organic olive oil for sale to our club, which resulted in a donation of $600.00 that our Club gave to The Smith Family.

Eleanor did a great job in addressing our members; her talk was informative, interesting and had a nice touch of humour. THANK YOU so much Eleanor for your generosity towards our club and The Smith Family.

The meeting included the following – birthdays for April, dates of activities/outings for later in the year; our 21^st birthday lunch on September 28^th. Reports from – Treasurer, Program Officer, Delegate and Publicity Officer; correspondence and general business were covered.

After the close of meeting members participated in a small group activity, Conversations which enabled each member in a group to take turns at answering a number of questions, to chat and to find out a little more about each other, especially as our club has had a growth spurt in new members. It was a simple but really enjoyable session - and judging by the noise levels, lots of great conversations were going on in each group, making it a great success!

Remember: Making new connections makes a difference – VIEW CLUB Australia

Claremont Museum

2022 April Outing

Our club outing for this month was to the newly renovated and re-opened Claremont Museum. This outing was thoroughly enjoyed by 26 members who took the opportunity to check out the museum and to see the fantastic improvements that have been made.

Our club President who organised the guided tour, dressed in period costume and certainly looked the part as she showed us the kitchen with its fabulous wood stove/oven, Coolgardie safe and various “mod cons” of times past. There is so much local Claremont history provided in this museum, including origins of street names. Jennifer and three other museum staff did a great job informing us of the exhibitions and objects on display.

To cap it all off, Jennifer also provided us with an amazing morning tea which included lots of her legendary sandwiches. We certainly enjoyed a fabulous visit – thanks Jennifer!!

Art Gallery of Western Australia

March club outing was a visit to the Art Gallery of WA. Volunteer art gallery guides gave us a most informative tour of the Indigenous Art Exhibition which was comprised of traditional and contemporary works of art, including the very impressive wall mural which is a feature of the new roof top gallery. We ended the outing with lunch at Epoch Café.

2022 March

Thirty Five members and three visitors attended the March meeting, with quite a long list of apologies. Our members are proving resilient, wearing masks and adhering to COVID protocols while continuing to attend meetings and support our club – well done members!!

Our thanks to guest speaker Ann Begg from 5W Club (Women Welcoming Women World Wide). This is an international organisation which provides women with opportunities to develop friendships and to travel and visit women in countries across the world. Ann gave a most informative and interesting talk.

During the meeting which followed, we acknowledged members who had a birthday January – March. Badges were presented to Jan (Assist Treasurer) and to new member Juliet, congratulations to both. Reports were presented by the various Committee members. A reminder of some fund-raising activities – Optus mobile phone data donations, collection of 5c and 10c pieces and container recycling. A “Lucky Number” for the $50.00 note was won by Margaret – a handy win!

2022 International Women's Day

International Women’s Day Lunches: A number of our members attended IWD lunches organised by West Coast VIEW Club and First Wave VIEW Club respectively – thanks to these two clubs for the enjoyable lunches and for enabling us to join in with their celebrations.

Messages of Support

POST Community Newspaper published an article (Mar 19^th) with headline – “VIEW Club sends support for flood victims”. The Publicity officer wrote the article to remind readers of the horrors of the floods and the destruction, trauma, loss and dislocation which our sister VIEW club members and Learning for Life students have experienced and are still dealing with at this present time. The article was published with a group photo of our members at the Art Gallery of WA.

Our Facebook page, a message of support was posted to our sister VIEW club members, their families and to our ‘Learning for Life’ students and families living in the flood zones of SE Qld and in NSW – we sent our best wishes as they deal with the trauma, loss and devastation caused by the horrific flooding.

2022 February

A lovely start to our VIEW Club year, a morning tea held at the Kiosk Café in Floreat where 22 members gathered together for a catch up – perfect summer weather and beach front scenery.

Successful AGM

AGM was held on Feb.23^rd and the Committee for 2022 was elected, with a new position of Assistant Treasurer filled by Kari. Jennifer continues as President and Ros is Treasurer; other Committee members – Jan, Di, Glen, Raelene and Chris. Thank you and welcome to our 2022 Committee. Once again, Jennifer has organised some terrific monthly outings and Raelene has arranged a list of interesting guest speakers – thanks so much to both of these Committee members for ensuring that we will have so much to look forward to each month.

Currently our Club has 57 fully paid up members and sponsors 10 ‘Learning for Life’ students, all fees paid up until 2023. Annual reports for 2021 were presented at the meeting; thanks also to Anne who stepped in to run the AGM due to the absence of our Zone Councillor. Members have a great year ahead with a variety of social events to enjoy as we continue to work to support The Smith Family and our students; while maintaining our social connections with each other and our community.