mosman council volunteer newsletter - issue 2

Mosman Council Volunteers Newsletter January/February 2015 Issue 1

Dear Volunteers,

I hope everyone enjoyed the first issue of the new Volunteer Newsletter, I’d like to apologise for some teething issues getting the newsletter out to everyone. Thank you for your patience and thank you to everyone who has updated their email details on the webform (http://mosman.nsw.gov.au/community/volunteering). The group of volunteers producing the newsletter is growing and I’m very happy to say that from the next edition we will have four volun-teers working together to produce the “Volunteer Vibe”. I’d like to encourage any of you that have a story or a volunteering experience that you would to share to send it to [email protected]

Just a quick note to all volunteers about increasing regulation and responsibilities due to changing legislation. I’ve heard from many volunteers over the past twelve months to two years about how ridiculous some of the (changing) requirements are to volunteers in this day and age. I’d like to briefly address this from our perspective to hopefully give everyone a better under-standing why more training, paperwork and processes have been steadily finding their way into our volunteer programs. Firstly we are all for less paperwork and more streamlined processes, nothing that we do or ask of you as volunteers is superfluous. It is demanded of us through our funding bodies, through the (recently updated) Workplace Health and Safety legislation , or simply through our duty of care as responsible Volunteer Coordinators. Everything that we ask of you as volunteers is done with the safety of you and our clients in mind.

I’m sad to say that the other item of news coming from the Volunteer Office this edition is that I have resigned and will soon finish working at Mosman Council. First and foremost I want to thank all the wonderful volunteers I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with over the last eleven years in the Volunteer Office and Aged & Disability Services. I feel extremely lucky to have had such a great opportunity to work in a role I have loved, and as a Mosman resident myself I have been a passionate supporter of all the wonderful services that you as volunteers make pos-sible. Thanks to all of you for the time you give selflessly to benefit others in the community, Mosman is a better place for it.

Ryan Mouthaan—Volunteer Support Officer.


Thanks to everyone who attended the volunteer training on Boundaries. It was a very interesting and eye opening session, with all volunteers taking something away from the session. We do plan to run another Boundaries train-ing session due to the popularity of this one and the fact that not everyone who wanted to attend could get in.

The next session we are planning is on Cultural Intelligence (planned for June 18th at this stage), I attended this training myself last year and found it very interesting and informative. We will be getting the same trainer in and I highly recommend those that can make it to attend.

We are a long way off sending invites, however save the date for our an-nual volunteer recognition event (during national volunteers week) on Wednesday May 13th. It was a huge success last year at the stunning location of the Gunners Barracks, so we will be there once again for another memora-ble afternoon tea.

Ryan Mouthaan 99784216

Volunteers Support Of-ficer


Local Studies celebrates the local community. The Mosman Local Studies Collection, housed in Mosman Library, is a unique collection of retrospective and current materials con-cerning local people, local places and local events. Topics include indigenous history, the natu-ral and built environments, social history, cultural events and current issues. This information can be found in a variety of formats such as books, original documents, newspapers, photo-graphs, microforms, art works, maps, ephemera, ceramics and oral history interviews.

Oral history interviews are an incredibly valuable original and historic resource document-ing the personal memories of those who have lived, worked or attended school in the suburb. They describe local history in an intimate and observant way: very different to that found in his-tory books and official records.

It is the spontaneity of these interviews that appeals. A voice brings a story alive giving the listener an identity with which to associate and history becomes a reality. The recorded in-terviews are readily available to genealogists, historians, students, media and the general pub-lic. Local Studies has a band of volunteers who value people's stories and love history and devote their spare time to recording interviews. We are committed to providing introductory and ongoing training for our volunteer oral history interviewers to enhance natural communica-tion skills and to learn how to use the recording equipment.

If you think this is for you and want to hear some extracts from past interviews why not visit http://www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/library/Local-Studies/mosman-voices/

Donna Braye

Local Studies Librarian

http://www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/library/Local-Studies/mosman-voices/


I had the pleasure of discussing the Oral History program with volunteer Trish Levido. I have always been partial to a bit of history but I must say I was a little surprised how I was drawn in simply talking to Trish, her love of the program is infectious.

Trish was introduced to oral history from a very early age as her grandmother correspond-ed with her mother in a rather unique way for the time, sending recordings detailing the vari-ous stories and experiences throughout her life to Trish’s mother during the 1950’s and 60’s. Trish fell in love with the idea of capturing, in her words “people’s greatest and most valuable legacies”, not just for the historical value but also for families of those people.

It is clear speaking to Trish that this is a role she loves “Oral histories are my passion! For over 30 years I have had the privilege and honour to record many amazing stories of people from all walks of life - ex-milkman who delivered the milk on his 'round' at age 8; ex-captain of one of the last square rigger sailing ships to round The Horn on countless voyages; ex-member of De Grout's army which planned to overthrow our state government. All these people live (d) in Mosman! Everyone has a story to tell-and as the cricket commentator, Max Walker said: 'when a person dies, a library closes’. My oral history recording has taken me to Banff, B.C. Canada to record the amazing story of Dorothy Carlton - one of the 10 iconic women of the Rocky Mountains (still living). Oral histories are so very different to a written (auto) biography because it reveals the personality of the narrator, as well as the who, what, where, why and describe answers that help to fill in the missing parts of a person's most valuable legacy”.

Having been recording oral histories for Mosman Library since the early 1980’s and inter-viewed an estimated three to four hundred Mosman residents in that time Trish knows more than most of the history of Mosman and the people that do, and have lived here. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Trish’s insights, her enthusiasm for oral history resonated with me long af-ter our conversation as did her parting words “ Everyone is unique, we all have a story to tell, for our families, friends and community”.

Thanks Trish.

Trish at an Oral His-

tory workshop.


We hope you enjoyed reading this edition of Volunteer Vibe. A special thanks to Julie Kelly

for all her help and enthusiasm after joining the volunteer newsletter group. I feel the news-

letter is in good hands with the four eager and positive volunteers that will be responsible for

the coming issues, and I urge any volunteers to email us at the below address with any feed-

back, comments or stories.

Dian and Olga are volunteers with the Saturday Social Group which is one of Mosman

Council’s aged & disability programs, run by Chantal Kerr, coordinator. This program which is now in its 7th year, was originally designed to assist the frail aged and people with disabilities in the Mosman , Neutral Bay & Cremorne areas. The group meets on the 1st and the 3rd Saturday of each month.

The program is of much benefit to our local residents and their families/carers thanks to its varied activities which help them maintain and/or restore cognitive and physical abilities.

Above all, such a program helps break down social isolation. It also helps our residents retain their social skills by remaining socially engaged with other members in their local community. In turn, the program offers families/carers a much needed break, whilst their loved ones are in our care.

Activities include a bus outing, gentle exercises, brain teasers, music, discussion, table games etc. Morning tea and a lunch are provided as well as transport.

Recent bus trips have been to Coogee Beach, Bronte, Centennial Park, Parramatta Park and Palm Beach.

Volunteers have a fun day out with the clients who enjoy chatting and pointing out places of interest on their journey, sometimes places they haven’t seen for a long time and which bring back memories. When they get off the bus for lunch, they can gather as a group and chat, renew-ing friendships from past trips.

Dian says “Volunteering is not a one way street” as she gets a great deal of satisfaction from the clients as they do with her. Her aim is to develop friendship and make it a memorable day.

Olga who is a retired nurse, feels she can continue to apply some of her skills. She says she loves interacting with the clients. She finds them receptive and she derives much pleasure in their company and hearing their stories, from the past.

mosman council volunteer newsletter - issue 2

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