WA Western Suburbs VIEW Club

Once again WSVC members have enjoyed a busy, fulfilling year, February – September. Currently we have 68 members and we sponsor14 students. The Committee members have worked hard this year to ensure our club continues to be in a strong financial position and have enjoyed great support from the Program Officers and Outings Officers who have ensured that monthly outings and guest speakers have been varied, interesting and informative. A special thank you to our club members, many who quietly work behind the scenes at meetings and fund raisers, to give so generously of their time. Our members are very generous and always strongly support all our fund-raising activities – THANK YOU!

Our year began in FEBRUARY with a “get together” lunch at Freshwater Café and the first meeting for 2025 was held on 26th of February with 41 members attending. We posted a Facebook message of support to our sister VIEW Club members who were dealing with devastating floods in Qld and NSW.

In MARCH the outing was a visit to AQUA, a great opportunity for us to have a ‘child free’ visit to this fabulous marine attraction!! The wonderful guest speaker for this month was Alecia Benzie from the Kids Research Institute. There was a full agenda for the meeting and plans were made to celebrate 65TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY of VIEW Australia – a Sapphire celebration to acknowledge the fantastic voluntary work of VIEW members and The Smith Family.

APRIL saw members travel to the Swan Valley where we had a totally decadent time – a visit to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory followed by a delicious lunch at Pinelli Winery; don’t think anyone needed dinner that evening!! Susan Saleeba from Nukuru Homes in Kenya was a most inspiring and interesting guest speaker. At the meeting, members displayed their generosity with a huge amount of donations of toys, books and knee rugs for Roseworth Child and Parent Centre – literally filling Lynn’s car!! Thank you everyone for your donations. Our lucky number $50.00 note raffle is in full swing once again.

In MAY our Facebook page acknowledged National Volunteer Week, and the extreme difficulties caused by floods in parts of NSW, for VIEW members and families sponsored by TSF. The outing was a guided tour of the lovely grounds of UWA. Our guest speaker, Les Everett, covered a very unusual topic, “Abandoned Cricket Pitches in WA” – how quickly he grabbed our attention and held our interest!! Plans were discussed at the meeting for a big month in JUNE – ‘Trade Table’ fund raiser and celebration of VIEW Club 65th Anniversary.

JUNE got off to a great start - fine dining lunch at Bentley Pines (TAFE training restaurant for hospitality students). This was followed up with a fantastic June meeting – A. Sapphire Celebration of VIEW Clubs 65thAnniversary, when members came dressed in blue and POST Community newspaper photographer took a lovely photo which was published, along with an article, in the newspaper. A special Thank You to Judy and Carolyn who provided us with the beautiful birthday cake and to our guest Julie Walker, General Manager of TSF. Prior to this POST published an article, “View Clubs Raise $45 million for The Smith Family”. Articles were provided by our Publicity section. B. ”Trade Table” fund raiser which resulted in over $900.00; congratulations to WSVC members on this wonderful effort. A very busy, highly successful month!!

While JULY was a quieter month, and there was an outing to WA Art Gallery to see Year 12 students’ Pulse Exhibition. The monthly special guest speaker was retired Judge Denis Reynolds, former president of WA Children’s Court, who spoke very passionately and from the heart on the systemic problems of the youth detention structure and processes. During our meeting members were addressed by Rena from Bayswater Club and she spoke about the Resolutions and the voting process. Thanks to both speakers.

Special note of thanks to Jennifer who organised the sale of a number of bottles of El’s Olive Oil – a handy fund raiser.

In AUGUST our Outings and Program Officers, continued their great work – a guided tour of Herdsman Lake with our very own member, Pam, doing an excellent job as tour guide and the sun was shining to further enhance the outing.

The August meeting was rather special because ROS, who has been a member for 8 years, was acknowledged for her outstanding contribution to WSVC over that time. Her achievements were recognised when she was presented with a “Making A Difference” Award from VIEW Australia. Ros has been an excellent Treasurer and is a person who is so innovative and always has great ideas to help our club fund raise to support our 14 students. Congratulations Ros, well deserved recognition!!

The guest speaker prior to the meeting was Ambrose Depiazzi OAM, Chair of the Lions Eye Institute, who provided us with so much interesting information on the history and invaluable work of this organisation. The meeting produced another lucky winner of the $50.00 note. A special mention and THANKS to our morning tea ladies, Merelyn and Jake and to Peta for organising the book sales, a great little fund raiser activity! Well done ladies.

WSVC members would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support that the club has received from POST Community Newspaper, the publicity gained when the articles written are published in the newspaper, is greatly appreciated.