A heart-warming photographic exhibition taking a closer look at some of the Illawarra’s older residents has been launched, with the works on display at Wollongong Central Shopping Centre until Sunday May 15.
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I introduced archery to the school – that wasn’t as successful as it might have been so we stopped that. The neighbours were a bit too close!
- Pauline Skellon
“Inspiring People” celebrates the diversity of people and personalities that are associated with community organisation Warrigal, including their stories in their own words.
“We’ve had such a lot of fun meeting some of our quirky residents, staff and volunteers, it really has been an inspiring journey and our residents have loved taking part,” said spokeswoman Carrie Edwards.
“In fact it was such a great experience for all we decided to share it with the public.”
Eighty-year-old Pauline Skellon is one of the subjects and talks about her past as a physical education teacher at Smiths Hill High School.
Many former students have reconnected with Pauline after reading her story online.
“I introduced archery to the school – that wasn’t as successful as it might have been so we stopped that! The neighbours were a bit too close!”
Martin Baker, 88, talks of the happiest memory of his life during World War II, “seeing the Nazi soldiers and all that leaving Holland after 5 years of misery and occupation.”
He had three lucky escapes from SS soldiers during the war and eventually left his home country that was stripped bare.
Mr Baker chose to eventually live in Australia as if he chose America he would have been drafted to fight in the Korean war.
Other stories come from and a former teacher who met The Queen and the owner of one of the first coffee lounges in Wollongong, White Knight, which thrived in the late 1950s.
The concept has been building on social media with Warrigal’s Facebook views on their inspiring people reaching over 50,000 since it began six months ago.
“Many of our residents and staff have amazing stories and it’s great to see that the community are enjoying reading about the stories of older people in our community,” said CEO Mark Sewell.
For details visit: ww.warrigal.com.au/inspiring-people