Rosemary and Bob Spiller were the guest speakers at the Gunning Garden Club meeting last Sunday at the home of Jacquie Adams.
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The Spillers, local residents for some 20 years, had recently returned from a trip to England and Ireland seeking further family history.
They provided a slide show with informative and often hilarious commentary that included evidence of cross-dressing in earlier English times!
Bob and Rosemary had travelled to former ancestral haunts, hunted through dusty archives and searched overgrown cemeteries for further information.
Bob was aware of his English heritage as his father had often waxed eloquent on the subject.
His Irish mother, however, never ventured any information.
So Bob was astonished to find that while he and Rosemary were relative newcomers to this district, he has an amazing historical connection here traced from Ireland.
The Spillers moved here not knowing that an ancestor of Bob’s had worked for the Claytons of Baltinglass, a local property!
BOGAN BINGO!
The Gunning Roos and Rooettes held another very successful night out last Saturday to fund raise for BeyondBlue.
The guest speaker was Tristan Metcalfe, a Canberra volunteer for BeyondBlue who has been dogged by depression most of his adult life.
He was supported by Dalton born Hayley Pye, a BeyondBlue ambassador.
The raffle alone raised $1100 and a framed Roos jersey was auctioned for $2500.
Grateful thanks go to all who sponsored prizes and to the hard working folk who ensured the event was literally a roaring success.
FLYING RATS
Decent spring rain would top off great wool, beef and mutton prices according to local sheep graziers who are now supplementary feeding as lambs are dropped.
A dry autumn plus hard frosts, has depleted sub soil moisture.
Grazing stock are not the only hungry ones. Thrown out leftover fish and chick pea curry was quickly hoovered up by ever vigilant currawongs. Hardly their regular fare but, as the old saying goes, “hunger is the best sauce”.
A seed ball to help native birds has of course meant that instead I am feeding sparrows (often referred to as flying rats). My dad, who died last year, would be aghast! He worked with the Agriculture Protection Board in WA where sparrows are a prohibited declared pest and was part of a huge effort in about the 1970s to eradicate one pair of sparrows (yes, one pair!) spied near Fremantle port!
