Footscray Senior Citizens member Elvira Melani is one of many seniors that will be moving premises to the former Maribyrnong-Maidstone RSL building. 69797 Picture: CHARLENE GATT
By Charlene Gatt
FOOTSCRAY’S elderly bid farewell to the Footscray Senior Citizens Centre last week with a morning tea and song.
Regulars packed into the Buckley St site for one last time on Tuesday to celebrate 35 years of dancing, bingo and day trips, singing their club song to the tune of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.
Yarraville’s Elvira Melani, 90, has been a member for the past decade and said she loved the companionship of the centre.
Ms Melani regularly comes in for the lunches and to play bingo.
“It’s beautiful, I never miss a day,” she said.
The centre will temporarily move to the former Maribyrnong-Maidstone RSL building to make way for the Regional Rail Link.
The Raleigh St site has been refurbished to cater for the needs of the senior citizens and to ensure all programs and activities continue to operate.
The Aged Community Bus Service will transport current users between Footscray and the Maribyrnong site.
The former Maribyrnong-Maidstone RSL building will be used as an interim headquarters until the council can find a new site in Footscray or construct a completely new building.
The council, who needed to find an alternative site that would allow it to run any existing programs and activities and plate and distribute the council’s Meals on Wheels program, struggled to find an available site of the same size within the municipality.
“It’s an emotional time to be leaving this site after 35 years in Footscray, however we’re looking forward to a new beginning as the Maribyrnong site will be able to deliver all the services and programs that are currently run,” Maribyrnong City Council Mayor Sarah Carter said.
