St Marys Veterans’ Wellbeing Program

BY tony Fryer

This newly introduced array of activities that comprise the Program for Veterans and their families is now in its second month. Conducted conjointly by the st Marys RsL sub-Branch and the st Marys Veterans support Centre, the activities in March caught the interest of 67 veterans and partners. This interest level was spread across most of the on-going and new activities.

The first monthly Saturday Morning walk, talk and breakfast attracted 17 participants – there are two walk routes to choose from (1.5Km and 3+Km). After the walk (‘n talk) a scrumptious breakfast to please all was awaiting – thank you to heavenly Celebrations Funerals for your breaky support. The weather was supportive and the ‘talk’ non-stop. The saturday Walk’n Talk for May will be the 13th kicking off at 7.30am – all Veterans, Partner and Family are welcome to join in – please phone Leanne at the Veterans support Centre (02 9833 4711) to let her know numbers for catering – leave a voice mail if it is out of hours.

Barefoot Bowls took off with a great deal of interest and assumed skills in March. But our erstwhile instructor Oscar was soon able to make corrections to techniques and a lot of fun was had by all (not so much by the bowlers on the adjacent ‘lanes’ who probably weren’t too happy about sharing their lane with our stray bowls!). A fun hour … and looking forward to the next one on

Friday May 5th at 10.00am. Again, please consider coming along, but phone Leanne at the Veterans support Centre (02 9833 4711) so that the Bowlers can make the appropriate preparations. Cost for this is $5ph but there’s a coffee at the end.

The (mainly) ladies in the Merrie

Widows have let us know they are so appreciative of the monthly gatherings where they can safely share their questions and concerns and learn from others to improve their own wellbeing. in May, that lunch will occur on the 31st – phone Leanne for more information.

Guitars for Vets has also increased its numbers – and they are all sounding very good. Any Veteran who already has any level of skill at strumming … or would like to learn to do so from scratch … is very welcome to join the Wednesday morning sessions. Again, just phone the Veterans support Centre to arrange to fill a chair there.

The list of activities and the calendar for May appears on this page. if there’s an activity you as a Veteran (or their family) would like to do but is not listed, please ring Leanne and let us know. if we have enough interest in such an activity we’ll do what we can to make it available. if there’s an activity on the list that you are keen about but the timing doesn’t suit, let us know, as we may be able to start up an additional session on a more suitable day/time. if you haven’t tried one of our activities, now’s the best time to try – phone and book your place.