Privately-Funded Services

The biggest fish Graeme Gregory ever caught was a six-foot mackerel at the top end of Australia, which he says took less than a minute to reel in.

Aileen Calley is still whipping up batches of her famous scones for friends and family and enjoying watching sport on the telly as she counts down the weeks to her 100th birthday.

One-hundred-year-old veteran Linda (Fleischer) Westwood has vivid memories of decoding the records of Australian soldiers during World War II.

Percy Pyne laughs that if he was a cat, he would have used up his nine lives long ago!

Retired Echuca trucking boss Kelvin Sidebottom has a heart as big and as deep as the Numurkah Lake that he built.

When Bruce McCleod proposed to Sandra on their sixth date, he told her “You stick with me, we’re going places.”

Pam Tierney is a people person. Her Mildura unit is always filled with friends and the aroma of freshly-baked biscuits and cake that she shares with a cuppa and a smile. “I’m a happy person – life is too short to spend it being grouchy,” Pam says.

Kay Francis believes in telling things like they are. So when you ask the retired 81-year-old librarian how she is managing with being a carer to her 89-year-old husband, Graeme, who has vascular dementia, she is refreshingly honest.

Meet Ballarat’s Betty Boadle, who at the age of 94 still walks 4km a day, teaches piano lessons, performs at retirement villages and plays at Sunday mass at an aged care community.