Redlands VIEW Club

Our final club meeting for 2024 was a festive celebration of Christmas. With a Christmas lunch, members dressed in Christmas colours, fun and friendship and entertainment by a singer what more we could ask for. The tables were decorated with a Christmas theme and every member received lovely Christmas goodies. A wonderful end to the year.

With the support of Sharks Rugby League Club in Victoria Point, our Members held a very successful fundraising night in September. Special thanks go to the Sharks Club. 
The prizes were amazing and the Committee worked very hard to make this a grand success raising in excess of $5,000, to support our 10 Learning for Life students. 

Members, friends and the general public all contributed to a marvelous evening of fun, friendship and fundraising for a wonderful cause.  Program Officers Erin and Anna who organised the night were absolutely thrilled with the result.

The ‘E’ in VIEW was definitely the focus of our August lunch meeting when our entertaining and interesting guest speaker, Emily, from Summerland Camels educated us about all things to do with camels - history, habits, breeding and the many and varied uses of camel milk and other products it is used for as well as the health benefits.

Great interest was expressed in the skin products. We had a very good attendance as we continue planning for the big fundraising Trivia Night in September.

Twenty Members enjoyed celebrating Christmas in July  at Harrigan’s Irish Hotel at Calypso Bay the Gold Coast.  The tables reflected the Christmas theme and a roaring fire was enjoyed on a very cold Winter’s day which warmed our hearts and bodies. 

Secret Santa provided a fun element to the day.  Thank you to Erin and Anna for organizing this very enjoyable day.

We had a  joyous  celebration at our July meeting, and were joined by Zone Councillor Irene who presented 30 year pins to Carol and Anna, as can be seen in the accompanying photo.  Congratulations to these members who have contributed so much to VIEW and our Club over many years.

Carol was an inaugural member of Redlands Evening, transferring from Carindale. Anna originally joined Menai Evening in 1987, then moved to Burleigh-Palm Beach 2016 and then rejoined Redlands in 2023..

Irene provided an update on VIEW and the work of The Smith Family which was very informative, especially for our newer members.

During July Zone Councillor Irene also presented a 10 year pin to Carolyn. Congratulations to these Members who have contributed so much to VIEW and our Club over many years.

Accompanying photo shows Carolyn (R) receiving her pin from ZC Irene (L).

Members celebrated our Club's 27th birthday with a spots theme.  Zone Councillor, Irene and National Councillor Lyall attended and assisted President Edwina and Delegate and longest serving member Carol to cut the cake. Entertainment was provided by the U3A Redlands Choir.

A Bunnings barbecue has been organized for  late in June as well as a Chinese lunch at a local restaurant.  Our Members really enjoy these social functions and fundraising to assist our ten Learning for Life students.

Photo: L-R National Councillor Lyall, President Edwina, Zone Councillor Irene, and Carol who is our Club Delegate as well as our longest serving Member.

As can be seen by the accompanying photo, a well attended social morning tea was held at the Bush Pantry in a wonderful bush setting.

A very busy, but enjoyable couple of months. Much more to come as we have our May lunch meeting later in the month and a Chinese lunch and a Bunnings BBQ, all in June.

May saw our annual Mother's Day stall in Cleveland which raised a very significant sum towards sponsoring our 10 Learning for Life students for another year. 

Our local Bunnings were undertaking a promotional opportunity and giving out free Hot Cross Buns on Easter Saturday, until they ran out.

Bunnings offered our club the opportunity to promote our Club and to give out the free buns to members of the public in return for a donation to our Club. We had no shortage of members willing to help and it was a great fun opportunity to get into the Easter spirit and raise some funds.

Easter this year provided not only a great theme for our monthly lunch meeting but a great fundraising opportunity to support our ten Learning for Life students.

Members and friends celebrated International Women's Day 2024 with a theme of Inspire and Inclusion at Fiction Restaurant and Bar in Raby Bay in Cleveland.

Our Guest speaker was Karen Tyrrell, an acclaimed, award winning author, publisher and speaker on her journey with mental illness. Once she had regained her health she worked towards helping other adults and children to deal with the issue of bullying which had instigated her mental health journey. Karen linked with a number of other organisations including Queensland Health and her local Logan community in her quest to help others. Karen has written and published a series of wonderful children’s books  with various themes and characters which have been very successful and rewarding as well as a book on her own journey (Me and Her), and another titled Me and Him. 

Lunch was enjoyed by all along with much friendship.