This evening on Wed 6 April 2022, our club had he pleasure of joining Inner Wheel in a joint meeting. It was to have been held at Woodlands Golf Club, but with Covid lending its heavy hand, our meeting was held over Zoom – our faithful friend during these past two years. Inner Wheel President Margo Colquhoun was our meeting convenor and Janeen Randle organized the meeting over Zoom.
Marilyn Brownlees opened the meeting with a lovely Irish proverb – “there are good ships and wood ships, ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships and may they always be”, and followed with the Object of Inner Wheel to promote true friendship before lighting the Inner Wheel candle as a symbol of friendship. Ron Brownlees welcomed everyone.
42 people attended the meeting including guest Debbie Taylor-Haynes. Margo made some club announcements before inviting Geoff Gledhill to introduce our guest speaker for the evening – Matt Finnis, CEO for St Kilda Football Club
Matt focused his talk on the Danny Frawley Centre that was officially opened last month. Matt provided some background and the reasons for the club relocating from Seaford back to Moorabbin – and expressed the need for the club to reconnect with the club’s local community and club heartland. The move required the club to raise funds and demonstrate commitment to support the local community. Former player Danny Frawley was passionate about the club returning to Moorabbin and helped plant the seed for the club to do more to support past players and better support the community in mental health, and from this came the idea of creating a wellness centre. Unfortunately and sadly we lost Danny Frawley in September 2019 – and with Covid on the horizon in early 2020, the project gained momentum and the club was able to obtain financial support from federal and state governments in recognition of the importance of mental health. The centre was officially opened last month providing access to a pool, a hydro therapy pool and recovery centre for dealing with injury recovery and healthy ageing. Still being developed is a community gym and rooms for health/wellness consulting services – due to be completed in November 2022. The aim is to provide an integrated centre with a holistic approach to physical and mental health and recognizing the need for social connection. There will be a dedicated area for research and development, and educational programs for schools and sporting groups and adult education. Plans include partnering with other organisations to add to and compliment the aims of the centre and welcomes innovation in the process. Matt acknowledges the area they are working in is new and there will be lessons to learn. The club has appointed Kirstan Corben, as the Executive Director, to run the centre and will draw on her knowledge and experience in the health sector. Danny Frawley’s family are also involved in the centre. Matt answered questions about the centre adding it is open to the general public for casual use or with membership access. Marketing the centre needs further attention. Matt invited the members of Inner Wheel and our club to visit the centre. On closing the meeting Margo thanked Matt for his presentation, and President Helen thanked Margo and Sheila Ward for inviting our club to join the meeting, before Marilyn blew out the flame of friendship.