Rural Road Show brings community together

It’s a Friday morning in the middle of winter, and Winchelsea’s shire hall is packed.

There’s a buzz in the room as old friends come together and new connections are made.

Up the front, 66-year-old farmer Charlie Earl – a well-known local – brings the audience to a standstill as he addresses the room about his mental health journey.

Charlie is one of several speakers at this inaugural ‘Healthy, Wealthy and Wise’ Rural Roadshow, a Council event delivered in close partnership with the community and local organisations.

His courageous and raw address strikes a chord at a time many in the town are doing it tough financially and emotionally as a result of drought.

But the event – targeted to seniors and retirees, and those thinking about retirement – is also designed to be highly practical.

It features banking scam awareness education from Community Bank Surf Coast, free health checks, CPR and defibrillator training, and rural financial counselling.

There’s legal advice including wills and succession planning, first-hand accounts from people who have found purpose in their lives after retirement, and a range of information stalls.

Local community member Jenny Mathison, a representative on Council’s Positive Ageing Advisory Committee and a key contributor in the event’s organisation, says the aim was to create positivity and help people transition successfully into a new phase in life.

“People walking off the land and selling up because it’s so dry shouldn’t be seen as a failure – we wanted to highlight the good things about retirement,” Jenny said.

“That gave us a real theme to work on.”

Given the turnout, that theme clearly connected – creating not just a worthwhile day of information sharing, but a genuine coming together of the community.

“A friend of mine dropped in at one stage as we broke off for a ‘cuppa’, and she said the atmosphere was just great,” Jenny said.

“She couldn’t get over the noise – it was so loud because everyone was just talking to everybody else.

“And what  I liked about it was, we had quite a lot of speakers, and every speaker said they had people come up to them afterwards to talk and ask questions, and that was what it was all about – it was lovely.

“I’ve not heard anybody not rave over it, it’s been a huge success for the people who went.”

Council sends its sincere thanks to:

• Our Positive Ageing Advisory Committee and Winchelsea Community House and Shire Hall;
• Our event partners Community Bank Surf Coast, Ambulance Victoria, COTA Vic, Lifeline, Dementia Australia, Hesse Rural Health, Winchelsea Men’s Shed, Winchelsea Probus Club and Terry White Chemist;
• Great Ocean Road Real Estate, Totti’s Lorne, Barwon Hotel Winchelsea, Winchelsea Hotel and Terry White Chemist for donating door prizes; and
• Jill Evans for providing volunteer transport.

Our Positive Ageing webpage has more on support and community activities available to seniors and retirees.

Image caption: L-R - Charlie Earl, John Cotton and Jill Evans.