Veterans Wives Group |
Newsletter on the Net - No. 12 - 13 August 2003Our meeting on 13th August was a good night. Fifteen ladies attended. A big welcome to three new ladies, who came along with Sue. They had all recently attended Jumbunna Lodge with their hubbies and decided to come along to check out our group. I hope they enjoyed the night, although it did become a little hectic at times. So much was happening. We are very excited, as our new name badges with our hands and rose logo on them arrived that day. As did our Polo T shirts, again with our logo on them. They look great. It seems to make us more real as a group! The T-shirts were done by Blue Gum Clothing, who redid the symbol, having the hands at the base with the rose coming from the centre of them. The writing is across the centre of the rose stalk. The hands represent friendship and the rose is the love, which grows from friendship. We believe it is very appropriate to the group. Since the previous get together, we have had an information session on 'Caring for the Carers' which Pat organised for us. It was very well presented and thirteen girls attended. There has been great feedback and we all learnt new things. We all left with a little bag, with a relaxation CD and lots of information to help us in them. A lady from DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs) was with the young lady from Carers Australia, and she has arranged for another session to be given by DVA on 'War widows and their entitlements' for the 15th Sept, again at Ringwood RSL. If anyone is interested, please contact me. This session came about as becoming a widow can be a sudden occurrence, and is very traumatic and emotional. If we have some idea of our entitlements before the event, it may help a little. Hopefully the knowledge will not be utilised for a long time, but it is always better to have an idea, and it may help others. So anyone can attend the session, and will be made welcome. A reminder to all Partners of Veterans Australia (PVA) members, that the annual fees are due. I am guilty of having forgotten, but it is in the mail this week, along with a couple of others as well. There is a meeting for the PVA, in regards to setting up in Victoria, it will be held at the VVCS in Hawthorn on Sept 26th. Please call if you are interested in this meeting and I will give you more details. Badges for Vietnam Veterans Day were available, and we managed to sell around $150 for them. This will be handed over to the VVAA at Boronia for the welfare of Vets. Some of the husbands took the box of badges around that night to help the sales for us. Anyone who wished to help with sales at Knox City Shopping Centre arranged it with the fellas. It is great to see the girls put their hand up to help out, again that's what we are about. Agnes and I did a couple of hours on Thursday, and handed out our cards and spoke to a number of women about our group. It is interesting; that ladies will approach other ladies, and of course we always asked if they had someone involved with Vietnam when they bought a badge. It will be interesting to see if there are a couple more next month at the group. Reminder about Glen Cromie at Drouin in November. I believe the dates are 14, 15, 16th Nov. It is a great weekend, and a good place to catch up with other Vets and their wives. Each year guys see fellas they haven't seen for many years. Grab a tent, caravan, or book in to a motel nearby, and come along and enjoy the weekend of games and laughter. On Tuesday 12th August, a group of girls met with the Frankston wives at Springvale RSL for lunch and a chat. A great way to share ideas and have a pleasant day out. Everyone enjoyed themselves and I'm sure we will arrange another day together. Over the weekend prior to Vietnam Veterans Day, Ron (my husband) and I travelled to Sale, where we attended the VVAA dinner at the Sale RSL on Saturday night, then the march on Sunday morning and a BBQ for lunch. It was a good weekend and a chance to chat with other Vets and their wives, handout more of our cards, and try to get stories for our web page. It will only continue to work, if we can have new stories coming in. Please send me some. You can be anonymous, but we do need them from wives, partners, sons and daughters. Paul Copeland was the speaker at the weekend in Sale, and was very interesting. His dad went to Vietnam when he was about 9, and then he joined the forces later to serve in the Peacekeepers overseas himself. It would be very interesting to have a page from him or his wife. We do need to understand that we all have different experiences but are still bound together. We must remember that ALL overseas postings have a price to pay by the wives and families and that we must support each other. I have mentioned the 'War Widows and their entitlements'talk at the RSL on Sept 15th, 1pm. We are also organising a talk on PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) and it's effect on families, this will probably be in Nov, by a speaker from the Austin/Repat. Many of us jokingly say we have contagious PTSD, many a true word is spoken in jest! Let's learn to deal with it and move on with our lives. As you can see lots was covered. Buying our badges, T-shirts, Vietnam Veteran Day badges, new ladies to talk to, and lots to talk about, the evening flew. It is always interesting, and there is always time to sit and have a quiet talk when it is needed. Hope to receive some new stories from any one of you. Look forward to next month, and seeing new faces, and sharing a smile with them. Keep Smiling Sylvia |
|
|