Gerringong Lions Club celebrated its 30th anniversary this month. Approximately one hundred people attended the celebratory dinner at The Gerroa Fisherman’s club. Lions President, Peter Jeffrey addressed the audience of Lions dignitaries, representatives of other Gerringong community groups and representatives of other local Lions clubs about the history of the Gerringong Club.Robyn Jeffrey and Lions Club President, Peter JeffreyIt was chartered on 21st March 1994, with 38 members, only seven of whom still remain active in the club. The establishment of the Gerringong Lions Club was largely due to the Kiama Lions Club and dedicated locals Geoff Heinicke, Rick Norris and Rob Danby. The group held some casual meetings at Cronin’s Pub with interested locals and the outcome was the formation of the club.Bobbie English and Lions District Governor Danny RichardsonThe first Club President was Clive Dopper, a local butcher, whose aim was to mix fellowship with good fun whilst doing community service.Peter went on to accomplish a long list of community projects and service, too long to mention here, but included the restoration of the Boat Harbour picnic grounds with the building of the rotunda and bridge across the creek. The maintenance of this area continues today. Lions have established working associations with other community organisations such as CMRI, Gerringong Public School and the Uniting Mayflower Village. Local sporting clubs have also benefited from Gerringong Lions Club through the donation of grants. The avenue of trees on Fern St from Omega to the entry of town was planted by Lions.The Whale Watching platform on the southern headland was another project and the recently completed memorial garden nearby was also established by the Club. The Lions Car Show has raised many dollars over the years for Prostate Cancer Research and more recently Childhood Cancer Research.Steve Pottie, Korin, Rogery Berry and Peter Jeffrey presenting a cheque to Korin, owner of SoulfitThe list of charities, organisations and individuals that have benefited from Lions’ donations is long. Needless to say this wouldn’t have been possible without the generous support of such a caring community. Locals are always up for making a donation, buying a sausage sandwich or a raffle ticket. The Lions recognise how lucky we are to live in this town. Peter touched on this support when he mentioned The Lions major fund raising project at the moment, which is Return and Earn. Brian Arberry, Michael O'Leary, Bob Stewart, Barry Smithers, Ian Mangelsdorf, Cliff Roberts receives a special commendation from District Governor Danny Richardson (absent: Vince Stalgis)Last year, after five years of endeavour, Lions collected the 1,000,000th item to earn $100,000. Currently they are on track to collect the next million items in under three years. All of this money is dispersed back into the community or spent on Lions projects.Entertainment on the night was provided by Night and Day, with Chris Cutting and Merryn Lee-Perez, and the meals were provided by the Seahorse Oceanview Restaurant. It was a memorable and relaxing evening of fellowship.

On April 10, Leanne Stewart from Rosebud Farm is coming to Werri Beach Gerringong Garden Club to show us all about making beautiful floral bouquets. Leanne will be bringing plenty of flowers from her farm and will lead us through a workshop to demonstrate how to create gorgeous floral bouquets.Who will get to take one of the bouquets home with them?  We’ll work that out at the meeting!  Meantime we will learn about handling fresh flowers, how best to arrange them then we’ll all have a go at creating some beautiful floral arrangements. Leanne Stewart grows flowers at Rosebud Farm in Rose Valley, Gerringong.This time last year members of Werri Beach Gerringong Garden Club enjoyed a wonderful outing to the flower farm.  It is a spectacular location.  We plan to visit Rosebud Farm again late this year when the summer flowers will be in bloom. Meantime, our meeting on Wednesday April 10 will start promptly at 10am, with morning coffee served beforehand from 9.30am.  Uniting Church Hall, 28 Fern St, Gerringong.  The cost to attend this meeting is $7, a little higher than usual to help cover the cost of all those flowers. Members and visitors are most welcome.Any inquiries call Barb on 0419 498 072 or email us at [email protected]: Rosebud Farm bouquets are available for sale at The Hill and other locations in Gerringong.  

The Gerringong Bowling Club Community Garden is a group of keen local gardeners with a community mind. The group meets at the garden, at the rear of the Gerringong Bowling Club, each Tuesday at 9.30am and hold various working bees throughout the year.Led by their dedicated President, Sue Daniels, the group has enjoyed nearly doubling the garden space in just six months. Adding several new raised garden beds, planting new fruit trees, adding a polytunnel and many other upgrades. Group member Michael working in the gardenThis morning Gareth Ward MP for Kiama visited the garden with high praise for the way the space has grown, offering encouragement and support. Several new members have lent a hand assembling new equipment for the garden. The Men’s Shed in Gerringong graciously took on the task of building the new garden beds with wooden planks that were donated to the group by Red River Wood in Kiama. The Bowling Club also lent a hand by donating the new polytunnels and two metal raised garden beds. Some new garden bedsThe group’s efforts are in full bloom, the gardens are producing beautiful fruits, vegetables and herbs with more in the works. The community garden stands as a testament to community collaboration and a shared passion. The garden is abuzz with many very happy bees, lady bugs, and their lovely mascot, Daisy the dog.Liv & SamThe group is always looking for new members who want to get involved, meet new people, learn new things and be a part of something in our community. You can find more information on their facebook page.

Gerringong Town Hall was a fitting venue on Saturday 2 March for the celebration of 65 years of continuous fundraising for Children’s Medical Research Institute Gerringong Committee. It was here that the first meeting of the Gerringong Committee took place, under the leadership of first President Dorothy Bailey, on 23 March 1959.Life Members, Mena Sharpe and Joyce Sharpe, were at that meeting and are still active members today. Other Life Members include past President (1984-2009) Margaret Weir OAM, Rhonda Bailey, Kate Quinn, Jenny Bolden, Dawn Miller and Edith Burgess.CMRI members ( from left) Willi Harley and Robyn JeffreyGuest speakers, Professor Roger Reddel, Director of CMRI and Jennifer Philps, Community Relations Manager, congratulated the Gerringong Committee on reaching this milestone. President Lucy Hill outlined the history of the Committee and its success over these 65 years in donating $2,262,000 to medical research.Professor Reddel focused on the research of scientists at the labs at Westmead. Cancer and genetic disease make up the majority (85 per cent) of the work done. These are the areas of greatest unmet need. Neurobiology and Embryology make up the rest. When CMRI scientists first began working on gene therapy under the guidance of the late Professor Peter Rowe, most of his peers felt gene therapy was science fiction. Today, thanks to the past 30 years of the Jeans for Genes National Campaign, Gene Therapy is changing lives for the better.Cancer research centres around the ProCan research unit based at Westmead and has yielded better diagnosis of childhood cancers and because of its huge database of cancer tumour samples, targeted treatment of different cancers. It’s a global effort and CMRI is leading the world.CMRI member Susan Pearson and Dr Russel PearsonSpinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a devastating disease that causes big nerves to die off and the ability to use large muscles is lost. Some children die before age two, others may be in a wheelchair for years. Gene therapy most commonly involves replacing or repairing a faulty gene. The most efficient delivery systems are based on viruses and the current SMA Gene Therapy uses a harmless virus named AAV. One injection can give a child a normal life.During question time at the conclusion of Professor Reddel’s speech, the audience heard, quite unexpectedly, from Adam Sharpe who revealed that his daughter, Alessia, had been diagnosed at birth with SMA and received gene therapy treatment that reversed the disease. Alessia has a very active, happy, normal life. Adam and his wife, Adriana, expressed their appreciation to Professor Reddel who described the moment as “spine tingling”. The audience agreed and all were delighted to be part of this wonderful revelation.CMRI Gerringong Committee is committed to continued fundraising knowing that 82 cents in every dollar goes directly to research, 1 in 20 kids face a birth defect or genetic disease, 160,000 children worldwide are diagnosed with cancer.From left Diane Murray, Robyn Gerard and Wendy Reilly enjoyed the afternoonNew members are always welcome. Next meeting is Monday 8 April at Gerringong Town Hall 7pm. Email [email protected] and go to www.jeansforgenes.org.au Kate Quinn, Joyce Sharpe and Margaret Weir OAM . Standing Rhonda Bailey