Page 7 - Lansdowne Gardens Newsletter Winter 2019_Final

7 LANSDOWNE NEWS, WINTER 2019

Happy Birthday

We wish the following residents
a very Happy Birthday:

June

6 June Lady Byers

7 June Lady Weller

8 June Lorita

20 June John K.
Celebrating Nan’s 94th Birthday at Lansdowne Gardens
28 June Beverly

29 June Rachel
Meet Gwen Bennett
July
5 July Joan

8 July Bobby Gwen “Nan” Bennett was born in 1925 in Swan Hill, on the Murray
River in Victoria. She grew up in Woorinen near Swan Hill on a fruit
16 July Averil farm with her parents Norman Watson and Florence (Belcher) and two
elder sisters, Norma and Marion. As a child she was encouraged to
17 July Chui play tennis, swim, ride her horse and learn the violin. Incidentally,
Gwen has not played the violin for anyone in over seventy‐five years!
18 July Mary S.
It was very unusual for a girl of her time to have the opportunity to
27 July Wendy
attend university, but Gwen was awarded a scholarship through the
28 July Eileen Victorian Education Department. After Teacher’s College, she attended
the University of Melbourne and completed a Commerce degree. She
30 July Philip H. was very politically involved, debated, and was the Women’s
Representative on Campus. She later became a teacher/librarian.
August
Gwen met her husband Doug at Melbourne Teachers College. They
4 August Peggy
married and moved to Bright, North Eastern Victoria where their first
5 August Rita son Bruce was born in 1953. It was here that Gwen and Doug set up a
free Library. From Bright they moved to Murtoa where their daughter
9 August Joan G. Carolyn was born in 1955. Following a move to Kyabram they settled
in Mount Beauty where Doug became the first Principal of the newly
9 August Peter R.
established high school there. It was in Mount Beauty that their
18 August Joy second son Andrew was born in 1964. Gwen organised regular solo
evenings with friends in Mount Beauty. The family and the school
20 August Jill were keen early participants in the fledgling ski industry.
Gwen and Doug later moved to Warragul in Gippsland before retiring
to live in Ringwood, Victoria. They had many friends, entertained
extensively and both were actively involved in Lions Club, golf and
bowls. The grandchildren knew they were on a winner having access

to Nan as their “dial a friend” for their homework. After Doug passed
away in 2005, Gwen was active in Probus, Line Dancing and University
of the Third Age. Her lifelong interest in politics continued there.

Gwen subsequently spent two years in a Retirement Village in
Ringwood prior to moving into Lansdowne Gardens in 2017. The move
from Melbourne to Sydney has enabled Gwen to be closer to her
children in addition to receiving the very best of care from all the
w o n d e r f u l a n d d e d i c a t e d s t a f f w h o w o r k a t L a nsdowne Gardens.