BOOK CLUB.

The author of our June book, Isobel Allande, was born in Chile and is the daughter of President Allande. Her father was democratically elected, but was deposed in a coup by the Army and killed during the struggle to depose him. Chile was then ruled by the Army and a dictator, General Pinochet. Under his rule people were arrested, tortured, killed, disappeared, never to be seen again.

So it is not surprising that Isobel writes novels based in South American dictatorships and with a political motive. In ‘Of Love and Shadows’ life under a dictatorship is clearly depicted.

Life is hard, particularly for the lower classes. The army is in control and are brutal in their dealings with them. People are taken away, never to be seen again. The two main characters, Irene, a journalist, and Francisco, a photographer, set out to find Evangelina, a young girl taken by the army.They find her body; she has been violated and tortured by the army Captain.This puts them in great danger and they have to escape to another country to save their own lives.

The novel is fiction, but based on events that happened in Chile and serves as a reminder to us that we are lucky to live in a democracy.

Dorothy.

NEWS OF OLD FRIENDS.

Visiting my husband at StrathHaven last week I ran into ex-residents of the Village.

Joy Williams, Betty Opray, Shirley Marshall

All were anxious to have a chat and pass on greetings to friends at the Village.

It was lovely to see them.

Sarah West Unit 82

Thank you, Sarah. It’s good to hear how people are. The aim of the Village Voice is to keep us connected with residents, both present and past. Dorothy.

FRIDAY NIGHT HAPPY HOUR. [4.30 PM ONWARDS.]

WINTER TIME.

At a recent Friday Happy Hour, in the warm and comfy Bamboo Room, [wood fire lit and refurbished chairs in place], we were pleasantly entertained by Castlemaine singer-guitarist Scott Sanders. His repertoire is extensive, ranging from the 20’s and 30’s [Cole Porter] to Moon River – the theme song from the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” from the 50’s and 60’s, then on to some modern ballads.

He encouraged us to sing- which we did, and to dance – which we didn’t when he sang and played “When they Begin the Beguine” from the 40’s era.

The hour and a half finished with the famous W.W.2 song “We’ll Meet Again” complete with a Mexican Wave!

The consensus was that we had had a very enjoyable evening and would like Scott back again, maybe in the warmer months, when we could sit in the “big room” with the dance floor, where someone might just be inclined to dance the Bossa Nova to “Begin the Beguine”.

Sue Carolan.

WORDS OF WISDOM.

ENJOY LIFE AND DON’T GROW OLD TOO SOON

SOPHIA GREENHILL AGED 103

Died aged 104 & 5 MONTHS.

GET UP AND DO SOMETHING.

AGNES JAMES AGED 101

THE BOYS WERE VERY QUIET. PERHAPS THE SIGHT OF SO MANY OLD GIRLS WAS TOO MUCH FOR THEM.

CAROLINE MOCKRIDGE AGED 112

Died aged 112 & 10 MONTHS.

ALL WOMEN BECOME LIKE THEIR MOTHERS. THAT IS THEIR TRAGEDY. NO MAN DOES-AND THAT IS HIS.

OSCAR WILDE

THIS SPACE IS YOURS TO FILL. Please submit your articles to the Office.

All Right, VEGEMITE!

In 1922 Fred Walker of Melbourne developed a new yeast extract which was

tasty and nourishing. He combined brewer’s yeast with celery, onions and

some “secret ingredients” and so VEGEMITE was created.

Since then generations of Australian children have been brought up with

vegemite and sung this happy little song—

“We are happy little vegemite's as bright as bright can be.

We all enjoy our vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea.

Our mummy says we’re growing stronger every single week.

Because we love our vegemite, we all adore our vegemite

It puts a rose in every cheek”

It had a unique and unusual flavour and initially sales were slow, competing

with England’s established spread MARMITE experimentally renamed PAR-

WILL (if MA-MITE, PAR-WILL) but that was not a success. The original name

was therefore re-instated.

In 1939 vegemite received endorsement from the British Medical Association

which allowed doctors to recommend it as a vitamin B enriched, naturally

balanced food for patients.

During World War 2 (and since) servicemen had a vegemite included in their

field rations, including half ounce packs for behind enemy lines. Renowned

Doctor “Wearly” Dunlop especially used daily one teaspoonful to help

keep severely malnourished prisoners-of-war alive.

Civilians were rationed as advertisements claimed “If you are one of those

who don’t need vegemite medicinally, then thousands of invalids are asking

you to deny yourself of it for the time being”.

In recent years changes have been made to the original recipe to reduce the

salt content. Name changes were suggested including “cheesymite” and

“iSnack 20” but once again unsuccessful and the original Vegemite trademark

restored.

With the introduction of many fancy spreads and new products I am horrified

at the thought of having VEGEMITE deprived grandchildren.

Bring back VGEMITE I say—

we need more roses in every cheek!

Greta Balsillie

Photograph from Chronical of Australia

Social News & Dates

2nd July, Voting @ Spring Gully Primary School 4th July, 11.45am One Tree Hotel Lunch (Old fav back)

15th July, 11.45 am All Seasons Lunch 20th July, Christmas in July Luncheon (be sure to book)

26th July @ 1.30 pm Cinema Trip

All regular activities as per calendar and notice board

BRIM’S SILO ART

The incredible success of the giant silo paintings by Guido van Helten has transformed the

small Wimmera town of Brim into a tourist destination.

Len Sherriff kindly took Joan, Iris, Audrey and Beth on a sight seeing road trip to visit the

art. The silos are very impressive and apparently were painted at night under spotlights

because of the intense summer heat, the art work depicts local identities. Further art-

works are intended to create a silo art trail and northwest Victoria becoming the worlds

biggest art gallery.

The Village Voice, your articles, your contributions!

This page could have your name on it.

Keep the Voice going with your interesting articles, news, events etc.………..

Email contributions to louise@bendigorv.com.au

or drop into the box in the office or

to Dorothy Crothers personally or via her mail box.

Unit 12

Have you seen our beautifully refurbished and decorated units? Your welcome to show family

and friends! We have a one bedroom (Unit 12), two bedroom (Unit 39) and our fantastic

Whiteley apartment (Unit 111). Todd Newman Builders have done an amazing job and Louise

has furnished to give warmth and style allowing you to imagine living in the wonderful homes.

Ask at the office for the key.

Whiteley Unit 111

Unit 39

BRV GARDEN GROUP

At our May 24th group meeting a discussion took place regarding our schedule for June and July.

Wednesday June 29th – instead of our usual meeting we will be travelling to Rochester, where we will visit two garden nurseries, Temptation Living and Landscapes ( and a morn-ing coffee) and the Rochester Native Nursery.

Thankyou to Edna Salathiel for sourcing our DVD for our June meeting, a lovely visit to the UK gardens. We were also able to revisit our last trips with photos from Beth and Rose.

Beth Hamilton also mentioned that she had met Maureen Lucas on her recent overseas trip.

Maureen writes for the Seniors Magazine - check out her column this month on page 24 of the Seniors newspaper, with her various garden tips.

Maureen has expressed an interest to visit us, although she is busy for the next few months escorting tours.

A suggestion was made that we may be able to organise the Bendigo Garden Club to join us, when we can organise this visit.

Tuesday July 27th meeting , a speaker will be hopefully organised for this meeting.

Anne Forbes in unable to help us with a talk

As we go to press, a speaker has been found!

RED BOXES.

Please make use of the red boxes in the Office. One is for the Village Voice, [contributions by the 21st of the month ].The other is for suggestions for the Social Club

Committee. Sue Carolan.

THIS SPACE IS

YOURS!

Hi everyone,

What a very busy couple of months we’ve had. Sales have been incredi-

ble, but what’s even more interesting are the statistics on sales of our

renovated units. For example, Unit 66, renovated, listed in December,

sold in February; Unit 11, renovated, listed in March, sold in May; Unit 81,

renovated, listed on the 16th June and sold on the 22nd June (waiting list

working well). Unit 23 is almost finished renovations and Unit 88 is just

waiting on a couple of finishing touches before going on the market. Then

we have another 5 coming up and going through the same process. As

you can see though, the new process is working extremely well. Please

feel free to chat to me about this if you have any questions or concerns.

Organic bins – please don’t panic about the organic bins. I have had some excellent conversations with

the Council and hopefully will be able to reveal some more information at the next residents meeting.

We are also looking at reducing the number of normal waste and recycling bins, as often the mainte-

nance crew are emptying your bin in to another bin and then only putting one out to be collected. This is

very time consuming though, so we may look at sharing some bins around the Village. This will also

mean a reduction in rates for everyone, but we are yet to work completely through this with the Council.

Watch this space.

You may have heard by the time this Voice goes to print… our Triple J team is reducing to a Double J

team. Our beloved gardener/maintenance man Jeff is officially retiring on Thursday 30th June. We were

as surprised as you are! Jeff will be invited back for some sort of farewell soon, although he doesn’t want

“any of that pomp and ceremony stuff”. We wish him all the very best in his retirement and hope he and

Catherine get through everything on their bucket list. Happy trails Jeffrey – you will be dearly missed.

Check out the new piece of gym equipment when you get the chance. It is a recumbent bike which

allows you to sit and exercise both your arms and

legs, which is excellent for those with balance,

strength and mobility issues.

This has been recommended to us by a physio and

should prove very popular. We are happy to show

you how to use it if need be. We will be adding

more items as soon as we sell the smaller snooker

table.

Please remember to submit your interesting items

for the Village Voice – this method of communica-

tion is for you, about you and generally filled by

you. All articles, jokes, recipes, photos, short stories, articles, etc can be emailed or dropped off to

Dorothy Crothers or Louise.

Have a wonderful month and stay warm.

Neil

Most of our generation of 50+ were home schooled in many ways.

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.

"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.

"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My father taught me about TIME TRAVEL.

"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My father taught me LOGIC.

”Because I said so, that's why ."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.

"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.

"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My father taught me IRONY.

"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.

"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.

"Just you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.

"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.

"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.

"If I told you once, I've told you a million times, don't exaggerate!"

13. My father taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.

"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out..."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.

"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.

"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.

"Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.

"You are going to get it from your father when you get home!"

18 . My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.

"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP .

"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My father taught me HUMOR.

"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.

"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.

"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.

"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.

"When you get to be my age, you'll understand.

25. My father taught me about JUSTICE.

"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"

Courtesy of Brian Christmas via email

Your article here? We’d love your input ...

Images from the Country and Western afternoon held on Sunday 26th June 2016