Gold was the colour of the day for Nelson Bay VIEW Club when it celebrated its 50th anniversary.
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More than 160 guests attended the celebrations at Soldiers Point Bowling Club on Friday, September 8, including members of Stockton, Cessnock, Maitland, Raymond Terrace, Myall Lakes and Tilligerry VIEW clubs.
Past and present members and friends of the Nelson Bay VIEW Club also attended.
In celebration of the special occasion, guests were treated to a complimentary glass of champagne and a ‘gold’ gift.
Guests also enjoyed a delicious meal while talented pianist David Scrogie played soft background music.
Special guests included the programs coordinator for The Smith Family, Margaret Woodhouse, and the VIEW zone councillor for the area, Anne-Louise O’Connor.
Ms O’Connor spoke on “joy spreaders” gifts and the success of the mentoring program for disadvantaged children.
She then presented five ladies with their decade pins for years of service to VIEW.
Among the recipients was Lee Clarke, who received her 50 year badge.
Ms Clarke was the founding president of Nelson Bay VIEW when there were just 14 members. There are now 80 members and the numbers are growing.
Adding to the enjoyment of the day, the club had a high calibre speaker - the Chancellor of the University of Newcastle, Paul Jeans – who gave a comprehensive talk on many aspects of the university.
Because Nelson Bay VIEW ladies support 10 disadvantaged children with their education through The Smith Family’s Learning for Life program, they were very interested to learn that UON’s philosophy is that “if prospective students, regardless of background have the ability and desire, they should have access to higher education”.
He spoke of ‘enabling programs’ to offer people different pathways to begin studies. He commented that changes to federal government’s funding can affect these programs.
At the end of his talk, Mr Jeans showed a video of the Newspace Campus in the Newcastle CBD, and discussed the change from the former large tiered seating way of lecturing, to the smaller spaces, with peer groups learning together and with lecture material provided online prior to tutorials and discussion.
Many ladies are now planning a trip to Newcastle to take a closer look at the building.