Happy birthday: Lee O'Brien, Lorna Raymant, Jan Hepburn, Margaret Larkins and Noreen Holt celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Oakleigh Senior Citizens Club. Picture: Rob Carew
UNDERNEATH her pink jacket, Lee O'Brien hides a mean arm that puts her competitors to shame during the highly competitive game of carpet bowls.
But as one of the longest serving members of the Oakleigh Senior Citizens Club, she's had a lot of time to practise.
The 94-year-old joined the club with her husband about 26 years ago, after retiring. Almost three decades on, Mrs O'Brien is at the centre on most days and has also taken on its presidency.
Like most good things, the club started amid a burst of common purpose from several like-minded seniors back in 1952. It then moved to the refreshment rooms at the Oakleigh Recreation Reserve before settling at its current address on Drummond Street.
Sixty years after its creation it has evolved into a meeting point for senior citizens across the city and has become synonymous with the Oakleigh community.
At the moment it has about 65 members on its books from all over Monash who get together on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for a cup of tea and games of bingo, cards or billiards.
But the club is much more than a social outlet. For many of the members, it's a way of combatting the sort of social isolation that can engulf people once they retire.
Treasurer Jan Hepburn says the club's doors are always open to new members. "There's a lot of lonely people out there and they don't know this club exists. We always welcome people to come if they're lonely," she says.
Vice-president Noreen Holt never thought she'd join a senior citizen's group, but the need to find something to fill her days eventually saw her joining. She's never looked back.
"If anybody had told me six years ago I'd be playing bingo and bowls, I'd have told them they were mad. To me, company is better than medicine," Mrs Holt says.
Club secretary Kathy Johnstone came down to the club to do tai chi one day and never left.
She agrees it's the company that makes the club. "It's an escape from the house," she says. "We never knock back anyone who comes in."
The Oakleigh Senior Citizens Club marked its 60th birthday last Friday.