Letters to Ann

Dear Ann,

With Father’s Day in the offing I started to think of the Fathers I had in my life & it has been quite interesting. I had five Fathers to think about: perhaps a tad more than most would have & I loved them all.

Firstly, as a little girl living my very early life in my Grandparents home. I well remember my Great Grandfather, Richard Hilder. He was the Father of my Gran & when he visited his daughter & husband, he would sit me on his knee hugging me & chatting to me.

A lot of history went before him as he was instrumental in the settling of the North West Cost of Tasmania. He was also a lay preacher in the Burnie Methodist Church for almost sixty years & left behind him a great legacy in many ways.

Richard Hilder

He kept records of his life’s activities & his books & writings were presented to the Burnie Museum where they are available to read today. There are also land marks in & around Burnie which are tributes to Richard & the work he did, such as the Richard Hilder Gates which open to Burnie Park & the promenade known as Richard Hilder Parade adjacent to the main beach.

I remember many years ago when staying with my sister, Trixie, in Burnie we were discussing Richard Hilder. I said I could picture him in my mind from a little girl & my niece, Kassandra, asked me what he looked like. I described him.

A few minutes later Trixie came out with a very old photo of him. I had described him perfectly. He was a very distinguished looking man. I also have a personal memory of him as he always gave me a birthday gift & the last one he gave me was a box of hankies that happened to be men’s.

I recall asking my Mum why he gave me mens handkerchiefs to which Mum replied that it was just probably because Great Grandfather was getting old. I was nine years of age when he passed away & I feel very privileged that he was part of my life for that long.

Lucky girl that I was, I also had two Grandfathers: George Graham on my Mother’s side & Edward Aylett on my Father’s side. Grandfather George was a carpenter by trade & his joinery shop was just a block down from the Burnie Primary School that I attended for many years.

George & Hannah Graham 1914

If I missed the bus after school to home in Upper Burnie, where I lived with Grandfather, I would walk down to his joinery shop & watch him work. He evidently was a good tradesman as he was always busy. I was intrigued with all the different works of art he made.

Many years later I employed him to make several little cupboards for my Tupperware girls for them to do demonstrations with. I had introduced this type of demonstration to do at Tupperware parties, which became extremely popular. Grandfather remembered this to his dying day & seemed very proud that he was able to do that for me & my Tupperware girls.

I wasn’t as close to Grandfather Aylett, as for some reason, I felt a little intimidated by him. He & Grandma Aylett always seemed a litte bit remote when I was a young girl. They had twelve children & therefore endowed me with lots of Aunts & Uncles who played a large part in my life for which I was always thankful.

This was taken on the parents Golden Wedding Anniversary
From L to R – back row ….Bill, Olive, Ken, Minnie, Charley, George, Flo, Ned.
front row — Mary, Isie, Grandpa (Elliott) & Grandma Aylett (Harriett), Tott, Thelma.

Grandfather had a tannery business I found fascinating. It was only two doors from where they lived in Cooee. Although I found it interesting watching him tanning the hides & getting them ready for sale it was a very smelly business so I wouldn’t spend too much time in the tannery.

At that time we were living with the Aylett grandparents waiting for Dad to finish building a new home for his growing family in the suburb of Cooee. It was only minutes for me to go from the tannery back to home.

One of my most putrid memories was jumping over the filthy open drain that ran beside the tannery. I didn’t quite make it to the other side and became submerged in the filthy contents. Oh what a mess I was from top to toe.

I was not altogether the most popular person when I arrived home covered in the muck! This kind of outlet would never be permitted in this day & age & thank goodness for that. Grandfather & Grandma were always good & kind to me & played a big part in my growing up years.

Then of course I had my biological Father, Charley Aylett. What a hard worker he was. He struggled to build a life for his growing family & in his early years had a cane shop in Burnie from which he made furniture.

Charley Aylett in 1944 during the Second World War

It was fascinating to watch Dad doing this & his tongue would do wonderful things as he wove the cane in & out. He did this with great speed & it seemed to help him. When he had his tongue out his hands moved & so did his tongue so he quickly got the nickname of ‘Tongue Aylett’.

I have written to you many times about my Dad, so suffice to say he led a very interesting life, worked hard & passed away at the tender age of fifty four. He & Mum divorced after nearly twenty five years of marriage & six children. My brother & sisters were amongst the greatest gifts in my life, so I have always thanked my parents for this.

Both my parents remarried & therefore Len Clarke became my fifth Father as a Stepfather. Because of this I was given another brother & sister & I thanked them too. Our Step Dad became ‘Uncle Len’ to us oldies as by now I was a young married woman myself.

Having Uncle Len as a step Father was wonderful to all of us. He became very dear to our hearts. I feel sure I would suffer no contradiction from my siblings when I say that he was a beautiful man, one we were very privileged to know & his passing caused many tears to be shed.

And so, with many thoughts passing through my head this Father’s Day & knowing the thought, love & caring my son, David, the Father of two, had put into bringing up his children I wanted to do something special.

David has never had to smack the girls for any little sins they may have committed in the past 19 & 23 years but has used psychology as a teacher. He has taught Riley & Charley the rights & wrongs of life through sincerity & wisdom. I had no doubts about the card I gave to him on this special day.

I wrote:

“To my son, David on Father’s day. I had five FATHERS in my life: one Great GrandFATHER, two GrandFATHERS, one Biological FATHER, & one Step FATHER.

Then I had a son called David & I consider him to be, in my opinion & in my own experience to be the Best FATHER of them all & I am very proud of you,

Have a Happy Father’s Day with love always from Mum’.

Dawn, David, Riley, Charley, David and Lauren celebrate Father’s Day.

I will digress a little as I ruined the first card I used, making it necessary to go to the newsagent to search for a second card. It didn’t take long as a blank card jumped out at me with a blue combi van on the front. This could not have been more perfect as he has owned a blue combi van since he was young & is in the process of giving it a mighty face lift that is going to make it among the best combi vans in Australia. So how perfect was that for a card!

As a gift I gave him something very practical, a bottle of Tumeric tablets for his arthritic hands which, has done wonders for mine.

My grand daughters said I was biased. David said I was his best fan ever & Lauren said “Let’s all go to dinner tonight to celebrate the day as well as the best FATHER. So we did, we had a fantastic dinner at their favourite restaurant, Benjamas & enjoyed the best Thai food ever!

Love to you always. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

And of course Micheles Pattiserie is Rachelle. It would not be the same without her.  Long before I came to Lakelands this coffee shop was a well known establishment in the community.  From the start it had the aura of a place where you would like to spend time with friends or if you want to read a book while having a coffee the patisserie invites you to do so.

When I moved here over twelve years ago it was where I started meeting my friends for coffee & lunches. It has also been a place of refuge for me when I just needed to get out of the house.

I started going to the patisserie regularly as being in the house all day with no one around you has knobs on it. I like company & I don’t mind if I have someone to chat to in the patisserie or I am just on my own, as long as there are people around me.

Now I go there to have my lunch every day & possibly stay for a couple of hours doing crossword puzzles or just reading the daily newspaper.

My long time friends, Pat & Judy, who worked with me in the pudding kitchen for nearly twenty years, were already well ensconced in the area. Pat hd lived here for decades while Judy was a long time resident in the next suburb.

We would meet once a month for lunch then it got down to fortnightly &, since my sojourn in hospital last year, has been a weekly: every Monday.

We have shared our birthdays in this venue every year with the usual cup cake complete with candle being presented to the birthday girl to blow out & have a wish. This is usually done with a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ being serenaded to us by a couple of the working staff.  Since then it has also been the venue for many birthdays with many more friends whom I have met there.

In the process of meeting new people it has been a natural thing that I have also become friendly with Rachelle’s parents, Sue & Richard.  They often come in to help out in the patisserie, which I think they really enjoy.

Often Richard would sit & chat to me when I was on my own.  He & I have often shared recipes, exchanged bottles of jams & relishes that we both cook & enjoy a relaxed chat in a homely atmosphere.  Sue also sometimes stops serving coffee & sandwiches to take time off having a chat with me & has proved herself to be quite a good friend.  I enjoy those chats.

Rachelle has been managing the patisserie for fourteen years & made it her working life.  She has had to be there very early in the mornings to open up for breakfast at 7 a.m.& face the new day’s trading.  This has been constant &, like little corner stores such as my nephew, Dean, had for many years where you are open to the public every day of the week & every week of the year it is very constant.

The only opportunity for respite is Good Friday & Christmas Day. There is also a half day off to celebrate Anzac Day.  Knowing how difficult it was for my nephew, I used to help out so that he could have a holiday. It’s hard repetitive work.

Just recently I had been noticing that Rachelle looked very pale & didn’t appear to be her usual cheery little self.  All was revealed when, during a very busy day with the patisserie almost packed to the rafters, Sue put a note in front of me which read, “Rachelle is pregnant.” I read this & looked up at Sue with a huge grin & then I read the rest of the note, “& is very very sick.”

That took the grin off my face as my heart went out to the poor girl.   Sue evidently only wanted me to know, but she did explain later that the pregnancy was unexpected. It doesn’t help any with the surprise of being pregnant when sickness is added to the situation.

I didn’t say anything to Rachelle for a few weeks ,but one day she looked a lot better. Upon remarking about it she said she was feeling that way too.

Dawn gives Rachelle her booties and card with Ursula looking on.

I well recall my joy being diminished when I was pregnant the second time & what was commonly called ‘morning sickness’ did not diminish in any way. It went on for the full term of the pregnancy!  Evidently some male called it ‘morning sickness!’  I was feeling for Rachelle,

I wanted to do something to help her be happy with the news & it just so happened that I had a simple little card in my store of cards which I keep. It showed two lovers in a boat on the water with the words ‘Wishing you all the joy your hearts can hold’.

I thought this very appropriate & as I had an appointment at the Mater Hospital around that time I called on their stall to purchase a little pair of bootees.  I found the cutest little pair in a neutral colour.    A few days later I gave Rachelle the tiny parcel with the card. I think she received a nice little surprise that I hope does bring her great joy.

However, of course her greatest joy will be when she & her husband, Nathaniel, see that tiny piece of humanity they created & hold it in their arms. I am sure their joy will be more than they can imagine.

As for the patisserie, there will no doubt be changes, but I am hoping Rachelle will be able to work around being a Mother without the need to sell. I think all of the very regular customers would be very happy  babysitters!!!

God Bless & Much Love.  Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

Well that’s what my friend, Ursula, told me that it was her twenty fourth birthday coming up, but I didn’t really believe her. Her birthday all started about four months ago when I was telling Ursula about the fabulous watches I bought at Los Aneles Fashion District.

My friend Sharon had driven Charley & I to the Fashion District where I had not been before. As she off loaded us before she went to park the car, she said she would meet us at the watch counter inside the arcade. She also said the watches lasted for ever with battery replacements, the same as an ordinary watch.

Wow those watches were unbelievable. I was besotted with them, but my favourite was the one depicting, on the face of the watch, the Arc de Triomphe & the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It came with watch bands in different colours to select from. They are very attractive so I purchased four of them to give as fun watches to some sweet nieces of mine.

When I mentioned this to Ursula she asked could she purchase one from me as she & her late husband, Les had visited Paris briefly & had always intended to go back again. Sadly though, Les passed away with cancer many years ago & they never had the opportunity to return. I promised I would keep one of the watches for her as I could see the sentimental value it would hold for her.

At that stage I only had one of the watches left, which had a nice dark green band that was Ursula’s favourite colour, as it turned out. I already had her birthday gifts wrapped, but I changed my mind after I visited our local post office & found they had some ‘Parisian things’ on sale: namely a floral tray & a clock to match. They were definitely antique looking & certainly had a touch of Paris about them with that city stamped uppermost on the items.

Ursula showing off her Parisian watch.

To add to this I had in my possession a lovely large gift bag sporting the Eiffel Tower & although it was holding a birthday gift for my friend, Cheryl, an idea had been born in my head so I switched that as well. I knew Cheryl wouldn’t mind, but anyway she wasn’t to know about it.

So I absolutely changed everything around, removed the original birthday gifts for Ursula & switched the Eiffel Tower gift bag. I had decided it would be a lovely birthday & instead of Ursula going back to Paris, I would bring Paris to her.

From that point on you would be surprised at the things that popped up about Paris. I walked into the chemist shop one day & they had some delightful little notebooks on sale, but one jumped out at me immediately: it was so pretty depicting the Eiffel Tower.

Another day I happened to be sorting out my tea towels & came across one I had bought in Paris eons before, labelled ‘Made in Paris’ & depicting the Eiffel Tower again. I wrapped that up with a little card saying ‘From my kitchen to yours’.

In the end I had two huge gift bags of Parisian gifts for Ursula’s birthday which we celebrated today at Michele’s Patisserie.

Ursula with her memories of Paris.

With all these gifts for Ursula, including my own homemade Marmalade Jam, Zuccini Relish & Pickled Cucumber you can imagine some of it was heavy stuff! I had to arrive early at the Patisserie to organise all the goodies.

First thing was a super market trolley to transport all the loot from my car to the cafe. It took awhile to organise it all, but when Ursula arrived I was composed & doing some crosswords with the birthday packages hidden behind the cushions.

The food stuffs I left on the table wrapped in rubbishy wrappings to divert her attention from what I hoped was the ‘hidden treasures’! To start with she loved the food stuff!

We had our lunch & I brought forward her secret gifts telling her I had brought Paris to her. Ursula sure does remind me of my Mum who used to take forever to unpick the sticky tape from a parcel, untie the curling ribbon & amid telling several stories about this & that would finally get one parcel unwrapped.

The first gift Ursula unwrapped was (after half an hour) – the watch! It is a pretty watch & the band in green went over well! . The watch looks as if the face is surrounded by diamonds, but it’s actually not!

It was pretty enough for friend, Sue, to notice when she passed by our table when this was going on & it got her attention. She asked if I would get her one on my next visit to Los Angeles Fashion District & Sue is a very elegant lady who only wears the best, but needless to say these watches don’t cost three months wages! They are just fun watches.

I sent one to a sweet niece of mine earlier this year for her birthday & to say she was overwhelmed would be an understatement. Her name is Joanne & she decided to change her birthday from 3rd Jan. when everyone was just getting over Christmas & New Year to the 3rd June, so I sent her the watch with birthday card for that date & she truly did get a great surprise, but it was the watch which overwhelmed her.

I can easily also say that Ursula was loving her birthday too, at her age she received nothing that she needed, it was just the thought. I might also add that is took her three hours to unwrap her gifts. I have never seen anyone so hell bent on making a birthday last for so long.

We must have discussed fifty different subjects while she held gifts in her hands as she unwrapped them. It was fun to watch.

Ursula surrounded by her Parisian artifacts.

I fancy the watch took pride of place until she opened up the package revealing my well worn Eiffel Tower tea towel that I have had for over thirty five years. She was so thrilled with it she is practically going to frame it!

In the midst of our birthday festivities who should go past but Cheryl, so she came into the Patisserie to meet Ursula as they have both heard lots about each other. As I showed the Eiffel Tower gift bag to Cheryl I explained that she nearly received it & why she didn’t get it. She said the pleasure was all hers.

So after a very lovely fun day i trollied Ursula’s ‘loot’ to her car in the car park while she walked behind her lovely new gift her family gave her for her birthday:  a new dark green (favourite colour) walker sporting the latest in good sized wheels, a folding shopping bag under the seat & brakes to keep the walker behaving itself & she is absolutely thrilled.

Also her sister & husband took her to lunch yesterday. Her day was made when her rather non demonstrative sister said how much she loved her. I have the feeling that Ursula had a lovely birthday to remember & it was good to see.

My Blessings & Love to you Ann. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

I am sleeping so well with approximately eight hours sleep every night, which is not too bad considering I have been an insomniac most of my life & considering my age. Sometimes it is a straight through sleep & some nights I could sleep, wake & go back to sleep again, so I am really enjoying this new phase of my life.

Also as I have absolutely no reason to get up when I wake in the mornings I tend to hug to my warm bed where I often get more sleep or just lay awake lapping up the luxury of warmth on cold mornings & ponder.

Well two weeks ago on a Friday morning, I got up & climbed back into bed around 9 a.m as it was too early for line dancing at 12.30, but when I clambered back into bed I somehow pulled a muscle in my back over my waist on the right hand side.

At first I didn’t think much of it, but it became worse so I went to sit up to take a couple of Panadol (for minor pain) & realised I was in deep trouble. I could scarcely move with the pain.

Somehow I got out of bed, put a warm dressing gown around me & sat in a huddled heap in, what I consider, terrible pain. I rang emergency & immediately the lass told me to stay where I was, don’t move & wait for the ambulance. I was happy to do just that!

The ambulance came & the head guy was not as nice as most as he reprimanded me about my dressing gown being too long & I could trip me up, so I asked him several times to please get the one from the bedroom hanging over the fan so that I wouldn’t trip!

He also mentioned about a mat I had, but I really wasn’t interested in mats at that stage so I ignored him! He had his driver with him & after a bit of ‘this & that’ getting things ready to go to hospital he walked me out to the ambulance.

I might add I was crying by the time I managed to hoist myself into that wonderful vehicle. It was just heaven to lie on the bed provided. As we drove to the hospital the ambulance man suddenly become more human, so when he asked me for the details of my life I was happy to fill him in.

This seemed to make him happier & we arrived at John Hunter Hospital where I was transferred to another bed (without having to walk). It was heaven. By this time I think the Panadols had started to do their job, but I kept that to myself until asked!

As time went on & as I lay in my little cot, I started to feel a little less stressed & was happy to supply any info the hospital staff needed, but due to my stay with them last year they already had a lot of info about me – nothing is private!

The outcome was that due to the history they had & due to the fact that I had already taken two Panadols for the pain there was little they could do for me. The advice with my bad back was to keep moving & certainly keep on with my line dancing, but not that day!

So they got me up walking around in my dressing gown. I must say they were delightful nurses, very chirpy not like the grumpy ambulance nurse. After a nice sandwich & a cup of tea I was able to go back home to rest.

I think after this little hospital interlude I have now learnt to take some street clothes as the ambulance does not deliver you back home in your nightie & dressing gown! So my good son, David, came to my rescue after he had finished his lunch. And wow, is it good to see family!

So I came home & stayed still, slept in the arm chair watching television that is something I rarely ever do during the day & let line dancing go by the board for that week;

Next day a miracle nearly happened, (I did look after myself though). I was gingerly walking on egg shells starting to feel brave again & for the following days I felt almost normal.

I went shopping, still walking on egg shells, but I needed some ingredients to make a few kilos of Macadamia Nut Puddings. I managed this exercise very well & started to forget about a bad back. There was a little niggle still, but I was okay & went about life as normal.

On Wednesday I get up a little earlier as I have a lass from Hammond Care calling to do all my housework & I like to be organised when they arrive. It’s usually Sue or Sally that comes, but on this day it was a new lass & when I called for her to come in I met Lily who appeared to be very young.

You will hear a lot more about Lily in a future letter. I had all the ingredients to make the necessary puddings, but I needed Lily to peel some oranges for me as my hands are not as mobile as they used to be & these days I find this a difficult chore.

Unfortunately for Lily I had had the oranges in the fridge for a couple of weeks which makes them very difficult to peel & the poor girl was landed with this awful chore immediately upon her arrival. In my own defence I wasn’t aware that oranges could be so hard to peel when they have been picked from the tree for some time, sat in cold storage for goodness knows how long let alone in my fridge for further time.

However, poor Lily persevered & got the job done. I thanked her immensely. Also there was something about Lily that I really liked.

Now that was on a Wednesday & I had gone up to Michele’s Patisserie for my lunch where I take about two hours of leisure time to do crosswords from my favourite news paper. After this I came home & put all the pudding ingredients together & mixed 16 kilos of Macadamia Nut Puddings.

I thought that was enough for the day. I considered I had done well with a bad back, so deferred weighing out & tying up the puddings ready for cooking until next day. This was not a good choice!

Thursday morning I was up bright & early to go to my hairdresser, Felicity, for my weekly hairdo. It is the usual thing that I go with my hair already shampooed & then it only takes her a few minutes to do the blow wave.

When I arrived there was a note on the door to say that due to a hand infection, the salon was closed for the day. I must say that I sat in the car with my wet hair looking like nothing on earth & said some naughty words.

One thing had already gone wrong that morning, so along with saying some naughty words I wondered what the third thing would go wrong as my Mum always said things come in threes. However you should never put a negative statement out into the universe like that as it came back to bite me.

When I got home I sat at the computer for an hour & on getting up from the chair, I twisted my gorgeous body in the process & learnt never to do that again. I had pulled the same muscle in my back!

As this was getting to be a common occurrence I resisted the ambulance & called my medical clinic instead who know me. The advice was to do nothing all day other than keeping hot pads on the spot. I was willing to do whatever asked, so did what i was told for the whole day while worrying about my mixed puddings as once they are mixed it is wise not to leave them for too long before they are weighed out & tied up into their cloths.

How I wished I had done them the evening before!!

No good wishing, so towards the end of the day I ventured into doing what I felt I had to do. This necessitated pulling (bad back in mind) metres of cling wrap which is needed in layers over the pudding cloths before the puddings are weighed out. I am only doing Macadamia Nut puddings in yuletide log form, not round ones & I had sixteen of these to do. Logs are much more difficult to mould & tie up.

It was going to take several hours to boil all of them, & having done what I felt was necessary under the circumstances, I put the boiling off until next morning. I knew line dancing was not going to be an event for the second week in a row.

The next day I felt my back was well enough for me to put the pudding logs into the cauldrons & soon realised what a pathetic job I had done in tying them up the day before. Before the day had ended almost every pudding log had burst its banks & I was pouring boiling water down the sink along with the logs!

I rescued as much as I could & have several kilos to feed the birds & wild life around me! I managed to save four that are saleable which is sad when, apart from the other ingredients, the nuts alone cost $50!!

It was while I was in this frightful mess trying to salvage what I could from the bad experience when I realised my favourite presenter, Tony Delroy was on the air & this was his last night so I quickly left my mess behind me. This was something more important for me than crying over spoiled nuts among other things. That’s why I said in my previous letter, that I was embroiled in a mess when I realised it was Tony Delroy’s last night on ABC which made me quickly forget about everything else.

As for Macadamia Nut Christmas Pudding Logs, I have enough damaged product which is not considered first class for my pudding project but I have a niece, Michelle, & her three young adult sons who will be on my doorstep at the drop of a hat to take any rejects off my hands as they love the nut puddings & have them every Christmas so all is not lost!!

My love to you always. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

I have always liked listening to the radio when in bed, but when your partner is lying beside you it is not always appropriate as there is the need to consider others who may want to sleep when you suffer from insomnia! However, after Max passed I guess one of the silver linings was the fact that you can do anything you like when you live on your own, so I soon got into the habit of turning the radio on as I slipped into bed.

My bedtime is usually around 10 PM. & I found this to be the time that one of ABC’s presenters, Tony Delroy came on air. I discovered that his hours of work were from 10 PM until 2 AM.

I found Tony to be the instigator of a lot of very interesting interviews from all walks of life & with folk from all over the world who were widely known around the Universe. Another thing I liked about him was that he was a very articulate speaker, very precise & never spoke in a hurry which made him all the more enjoyable to listen to, especially when one’s hearing starts to deteriorate.

Tony was also often present at book launches interviewing the author while the audience were enjoying a luncheon or a dinner at the appropriate venue. After the presentation people were invited to ask questions & I really enjoyed those occasions immensely. It was the same when Tony was interviewing professors, teachers & the like in the studio who were knowledgeable on certain subjects. Time was again allowed after the discussion for listeners to phone in with questions or something interesting to say on the subject being discussed.

Tony Delroy

I have been an avid listener to Tony for the past twelve years & even when I overcame my insomnia last year I still liked to listen to him when I went to bed. Mostly though, particularly over the past year or so, I have fallen asleep while he is still talking & will wake up around midnight when he is in the throes of conducting his quiz at this time every night for five nights a week.

I think it was because I liked this so much that I would instinctively wake up to hear it & then fall asleep again although many times I have listened to him for the full four hours.

With his quiz show it was something like old family week, as he had the most amazing following. Listeners would hang onto that phone for ages until their turn came to talk to him & nearly every one of those listeners was Tony’s friend. Before they answered the question they would have a personal phone conversation with Tony, on air, which sometimes went on for minutes & then they would say “What was the question Tony”?

The quiz was scheduled from midnight to 1 a.mAM, but it very often went beyond time with Tony being very polite & aware that the listeners looked forward to this time to chat to him, but he also had a schedule to live by.

We take a lot for granted & everyone who knew him looked forward to Tony Delroy on ABC ‘Night Life’ all over the country & beyond. People would phone in for the quiz from many different parts of the world & all of them known by Tony.

Then about three weeks ago the bombshell was dropped & I happened to be listening that night & was glad I was. Tony started the evening by saying the time had come to say he was retiring, that he had given it a lot of thought over a long period of time & came to the decision that there were things he still wanted to do while he was still comparatively young.

He had been doing ‘Night Life’ for 26 years: coming to work late at night; going home in the early morning hours. Even after getting home, the hype of the nature of his work which made it difficult for sleep.

He said himself one night that it was good if he got to sleep by 5 a.m. However, if he was every tired or in any way not himself, no one would ever know as he had the patience of Job.

For instance, one avid listener who called in every night was wishing him & his partner all the best for his retirement & then asked “I was told your partner is male is that correct Tony”? I thought how very rude & the obvious answer would be “Well I think that’s none of your business,” but Tony simply replied “No, that’s not correct.”

I have never met Tony. I only know what he vaguely looks like as Philip showed me a photo of him on line once when I was talking to him about Tony & saying how much I appreciated his expertise. I wouldn’t have a clue as to his private life other than I know he has a cat called Barbara. Often people would ask after Barbara which is a funny name for a cat. However from time to time Tony would mention his cat if she had been off sick but this sort of thing was the intimacy Tony shared with his followers.

So the night he announced his retirement, I felt – like hundreds of others – sad that we were going to lose such a fine presenter. From that night on & for the three weeks he was still on air I think absolutely everyone he interviewed & absolutely everyone he spoke to gave him accolades. People were ringing in to be on the quiz: first time listeners, not just for the quiz but to tell him how much they thought of him.

One could tell how overwhelmed Tony was &, at times you could hear the tears in his voice. My heart welled up for him many times. After a week & a half he said, very haltingly, one night that he had tried to acknowledge all the letters & cards coming to him & was unable to cope, but mentioned how much he appreciated all the thoughts & love they conveyed.

I even wanted to write to Tony myself, to tell him how much his broadcasts had meant to me, but when he said he was getting between 300 & 500 cards & letters per day I decided against adding another to the list when he didn’t know me from a bar of soap!

However, that didn’t stop me from listening to him as avidly as I could during the past three weeks. He said some amazing things were going to happen during the last week & gave us all the times to listen for them & amazing they were. Excerpts were played from interviews, book launches etc. given by Tony during that 26 years; excerpts from famous people & it was fabulous.

Last Friday night was his finale & I was in a thorough mess in my kitchen when all of a sudden I remembered Tony was on air. I rushed into the bedroom to turn my radio on & am not ashamed to admit that I sat on the side of my bed crying as I am right now in writing this to you.

It was poignant especially when some singer he knew – Rahl somebody or other – sang “Are you old & lonely.” I didn’t feel old & lonely until that moment, but I couldn’t help thinking how much I was going to miss Tony Delroy. So I am no different to the others who were able to convey their thoughts & love for him.

I might add here that the chappie who asked about Tony’s private life promised Tony he would render the National Anthem of ‘God Save the Queen’, all three verses, plus our own National Anthem ‘Advance Australia Fair’ in full, one night before Tony left.

It took a bit of doing with the busy schedule arranged each night but i was determined to hear it & it was sang beautifully. I don’t quite realise what the significance was but it was a nice gesture – this caller always addressed Tony as ‘kind Sir’ every night which was also rather nice.

Tony’s send off from the staff at ABC was quite spectacular for a radio broadcast. Barbara, the cat, even played a part! Everything was said that could be said & more. Tony has promised many of his listeners that he will drop in for a cuppa in time to come & I am sure he will.

The ultimate came when there was a call from friends of his from Canada & a lot of sentimental things were said by the callers. They got around to saying that they were having a wow of a time doing what they were doing in Canada & asked if Tony would join them on this holiday. Tony said a whopping big loud “You mean it? YES, I’ll have my cases packed tonight & will leave in the morning”. I feel pretty sure this is what did happen & have a suspicion that it was all arranged weeks before!

Nevertheless, I, like thousands of others will miss this fine man & his retirement for me is second to how I felt when Princess Diana passed but the good thing is that Tony is still here. If I could say anything to him personally I would thank him so much for the enjoyment I had in listening to him over the years & wish him a very fruitful & wonderful retirement as he travels the world.

My Fondest Love Always, Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

I have always been very grateful to my faithful & true friend, Cheryl, who introduced me to Prime Timers. This association opened up a new world in giving. It’s not only a reason to get out of the house where I could spend all day on my own, but gaining the fellowship from the members is conducive in opening up a world of feeling you belong. I don’t know all the members, but they all know me through Curried Zucchini Relish & Christmas Puddings!

It’s no effort to have a good reason to get up in the morning when it comes to Prime Timers, I slip out of my bed & in no time I am ready to take off! The plusses are many. First, an early morning drive to the venue at Bolton Point with the sun shining into the car as the sun is always shining when I am driving there.

Then there is the welcome as you walk in the door. The two lovely ladies in charge of this greet you with a smile & give you a little programme, plus a lucky seat ticket giving you the opportunity of looking forward to a lovely little surprise should you be sitting in one of the lucky seats when drawn. I have been lucky once!

Of course these happy girls take $5 for the privilege if you are not one of the four ladies who put their name down to bring a supply of luscious home made slices to be had after our sandwiches at lunch time. I put my name down every month simply because it gives me an opportunity to do something worthwhile during the many hours I am alone at home. I like to do the slices.

However, if I am seen to be struggling in carrying some small cartons of my favourite relish there is always someone who will take the load off me & deliver it to our lovely lady, Gwen, at the trade table. After all this mild kuffucle I can be on my way to getting a hot coffee & biscuit before the show gets off the ground & have the coffee get cold with a friend waylaying me for a chat before we sit down. All of this is a great start to the day.

However, at the strike of ten, our Joan is in charge with the microphone in hand. Her voice is law & order so we sit up, take notice & love her every word! I don’t think I would be the only one who thinks she may have lost a career in being on stage as she is all of seriousness, love & fun rolled into one as she introduces us to the morning’s events, but I feel that the Salvation Army considers that her lost life as an actress has been a great blessing for them.

Joan goes to a lot of trouble to have entertainment for us & in July she introduced someone new: Barry. He & a musical partner were to operate this day together, but the partner was sick so he did it himself with great aplomb. He stood in front of the crowd with the microphone, completely unabashed at being on his own & with guitar in hand he set to the task.

Barry entertains the crowd.

He may have rearranged what he had in mind for us after taking in his audience but we were happy as he rendered his versions of some old time favourites like ‘Daisy, Daisy’ & a few other songs of that era. He was so lay back & he was fun.

The entertainment for August was totally different as Joan introduced the Newcastle City Choir. Many of them too were not able to attend through illness, which sometimes occurs quite severely during our winters. However, their singing was superb even so.

We all had a great giggle when the choir master introduced the organist & she had no sooner said he was also an actor in ‘Wicked’ when – at that moment – something went wrong with the stereo system & there was a large rude sounding noise. I was as if someone had burped rather loudly only it wasn’t coming from that part of the human form! Everyone laughed & the show went on.

The choir also did other acts of solos & duets, but I think the favourite was the old familiar World War II song, ‘Lily Marlane’. It always strikes a chord.

The Sisters act, with the choir in the background.

Two of the ladies did a duet about Sisters that I had never heard before & that was funny as they did their little bit of ‘sister fighting’ during the act & funnier still when they sat down in their seats again with one of them saying “I keep telling her Mum has always loved me more than her!” How often do we hear that?

That little incident reminded me of Kim saying after our Mum passed away “It’s seems funny Dawn what death does, as Mum said to me while she was ill that she loved me & she had never actually said that to me in all my life.” I got a surprise when Kim said that as I always felt that Mum loved her six children all the same & maybe Kim just forgot.

For sure I know she loved me very much, but then I tried to recall if she had ever actually told me she loved me & I could not remember a time, not even once! So maybe we just know our Mum loves us & didn’t have to say so. And I could easily say to Joice that Mum loved me more than her & she would just laugh at such an untruth.

So Ann you can see that Prime Timers is good for my soul & my well being & I look forward to this meeting each month.

God Bless you & you know I don’t have to say I love you, you already know that. Dawn X O X O