Dingley Cheltenham VIEW Club

June Anniversary

Dingley Cheltenham VIEW Club 2^nd Anniversary.

Dingley Cheltenham VIEW Club (Voice Interests and Education of Women) celebrated their second anniversary on the First day of June with a Warming Winter Lunch enjoyed by over 40 members. It was a celebration of the values of VIEW. Fun, Friendship, Learning and importantly supporting the most vulnerable in our community through our partnership with The Smith Family.

We raised enough funds over the year to increase our support for The Smith Family Learning for Life Programme which provides ongoing financial, emotional and practical support for the education of the most disadvantaged Australian children in our community.

We are a small group and we are very proud to now support five children with their education.

We have enjoyed a year with stimulating guest speakers, wonderful diverse outings and celebratory lunches.

Dingley Cheltenham VIEW Club has worked closely with other community groups as we all share the same wish, to contribute to the welfare of those struggling with in our local community.  We are extremely thankful to receive donations and sponsorship from local community groups and individuals as they learn more about the work of VIEW.    

We look forward to sharing another year ahead knowing our small efforts will make a huge difference for a few of the one million children who currently live in poverty in Australia.   

We meet 2^nd Tuesday of the month at Keysborough Golf Course, Hutton Road, Keysborough

Women of all ages welcome to join us.  For further information contact

Fran Thomas 0419 309 931 or franniet@gmail.com

Dingley Cheltenham Opens

Dingley Cheltenham opened after 2 years of diligent work by VIEW's Victorian Development Team on 11 May 2017

The day was marked with members of VIEW from around the South Eastern Metropolitan Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula & Gippsland area.

Dingley Cheltenham looks forward to joining "the family" and is planning its first fundraising endeavour.  

Guest Speaker,
Glenis Whitting,
Award Winning Author

Different women, one view. How awesome is that!

I was invited as the author of "Pickle to Pie" and "Something Missing" to be the guest speaker at the VIEW Dingley Cheltenham inaugural luncheon at the Keysborough Golf Club, Victoria, Australia. I decided to talk about how I became a novelist and my academic journey as a mature student from VCE to PhD.

After receiving the invitation the first thing I did was to learn as much as I could, via the internet, about this amazing group of talented women. However, I was not prepared for the genuine welcome and friendliness of everyone there. Edna, Jennie and Kath, all from different VIEW clubs and part of the Development Team, plus the National President, Gwen Wilton took me under their wing. We laughed, shared stories and I learnt first hand about the many projects they embraced. So many wonderful women, all with a story to tell.

I soon understood that VIEW was an acronym for voice, interests and education of women.

It is a national women’s organisation with 16,000 members in 320 communities exclusively supporting the educational charity The Smith Family. I’m sure most people have seen the television advertisement currently showing  the way people can support disadvantaged school children.

VIEW members believe that every child deserves a chance and they live by Mother Teresa’s  belief in the joy of giving a gift when there is no chance of any return. Members sponsor students, fund-raise, volunteer and advocate to improve the life outcomes of disadvantaged Australian children and young people. VIEW members support the community based ‘Learning for Life’ program and are proud to enable better futures for young Australians. 

As Australia’s largest children’s educational charity, The Smith Family provides targeted educational support for disadvantaged students. There are 34,000 students in Australia currently supported by The Smith Family

As an APA (Australian Postgraduate Award) scholarship recipient for my PhD at Swinburne University I know only too well what a scholarship can mean to a student. It makes you feel as if some group has faith in you as a person, not only to deliver a 100,000 word thesis but also that your work will add to the sum of human knowledge. Someone cares enough to back you financially for three years. You are not alone. Someone is supporting you and your passion. For a mature aged woman student  it makes you stand tall and in my male orientated  world, money speaks louder than words.

VIEW’s pledge is to promote the interest of VIEW, extend friendship to all and to help those in need. One student, William Nguyen, was identified as needing assistance and with VIEW support is currently studying at Monash University. His story of growing up in a single parent home with three younger brothers in Sunshine and the importance of being supported and helped over the years was inspiring. He was such a humble, intelligent young man. I can see him going far in his chosen career.

This day was a celebration. The newly formed Dingley – Cheltenham Group  had the twenty-five members needed to form their own VIEW group and were being inducted into the VIEW family. There was even an amazing colour coordinated cake.

Each new member was called forward to the podium, received their VIEW badge, shook hands with the National President of VIEW and smiled for the camera. The group photo  will surely find its way into the magazine, VIEW Matters a 16-page magazine published for VIEW members.

After a delicious meal it was time for me to talk about how I never thought about becoming a writer until a twist of fate uncovered a passion that changed my direction at University from Sociology to Creative Writing. I shared with them my delight when my PhD novel, "Something Missing" was published by the London based MadeGlobal Publishing. From there I talked about the joys and pitfalls of returning to study as a mature aged student and the impact of being awarded an APA doctorate scholarship to further my research into epistolary fiction. How the scholarship meant I could complete my academic journey, achieve my doctorate degree and add to the sum of human knowledge.

I could also promote my books and pass on where to buy a copy of "Something Missing".

In December "Something Missing" was published by Madeglobal Publishing.com