We look back to the end of October when we celebrated the 85th Jacaranda Festival; our members looked great in their purple. We had our own crowning of the Tartan Brushy Jacaranda Queen and Princess. This year Val Thompson was our queen and McSwan was our princess. We hope they enjoyed their day.

The ‘Country Ramblers’ entertained and we had our trading table and monthly birthdays. Thanks to our volunteers who decorated the hall so beautifully and for the delicious morning tea and lunch and of course the purple ice cream.

Another big day was the Melbourne Cup. We held our own sweep on the Tartan Brushy Cup. Another lovely lunch was enjoyed and we had our fashion parade. Maja, Lyn and Jess won our best coordinated outfit award. We then sat back and watched the race – a great day.

In spite of the fire alert and hot weather we went ahead with our Remembrance Day meeting. We thank Dennis Noel for conducting our remembrance Day Service. Dennis gave a speech and recounted some local war history from Palmers Island. There is a book available concerning some local history of war veterans. Members laid their wreaths and flowers.

We had another happy day with Bill Venn. Bill puts a lot of work into his presentation of songs and even includes some dance moves. After lunch we had a visit from Cowper PC students who performed for us. One of our members (who had been a teacher at Cowper) was introduced to them and two others who had been pupils.

The final meeting for the year was a Christmas theme the hall was full and decorated a lovely festive atmosphere throughout the day. Once again our ladies in the kitchen spoilt us with a delicious morning tea and we had the Country Ramblers to sing for us.

2019 has been a happy year for us and Christmas lunch was held on December 3. We hope everyone had a peaceful and safe Christmas.

We resume on Tuesday January 28.

 For all inquiries please contact Trish York 6644 8165 or Murray Fowke 6645 3328.

Murray Fowke