Stalwart Rose turns 80

PALMWOODS Sundale is gearing up for a big party, when Rose Grant celebrates her 80th birthday this month.

Rose has lived in Palmwoods for 43 years, the past five of them at Palmwoods Sundale, and is known as one of the town’s most active citizens.

She has been involved with the Presbyterian and Uniting Church, the RSL Women’s Auxiliary and the Palmwoods Hall Committee and has also helped to organise fetes, dances, street stalls, Anzac Day commemorations, Melbourne Cup Day Luncheons, school picnics and concerts.

Rose said she also liked to help charity, and did a lot of work for children with cerebral palsy and with sales in the Endeavour Foundation Op Shop.

Rose moved to Palmwoods with her husband Lindsay in 1954, and was immediately attracted to the area’s country atmosphere.

"We came up this way on a bit of a holiday. We had a drive around and decided we wanted to stay," she said. "I really liked the area because it was very beautiful with all sorts of things growing, and the people were very, very friendly."

Rose and Lindsay moved to a farm in Jane Street in 1954, producing strawberries, oranges, pineapples and other small crops.

"We had a bit of acreage in Jane Street and grew quite a number of different crops," Rose said. "It was the perfect place to have a farm and things grew very well."

The couple lived in their Jane Street home until 1965, when they swapped the farm for a shop called Laguna Cafe on the corner of Hill and Main Streets.

The shop was eventually sold, and the couple built a house directly opposite their original home in Jane Street where they lived until 1985, when Rose moved into the Sundale Village.

"Lindsay was a carpenter and he built our home in Jane Street," Rose said. "It was sad to leave it, but I am enjoying living in the village very much. I have many wonderful friends, such nice people."

Rose will celebrate her birthday on August 13, with her three children and six grandchildren. The big party with her Palmwoods friends will be at the Palmwoods Sundale Hall on August 16, at 2pm. Everyone is invited and need simply RSVP to Rose’s daughter Narelle Dayton, phone 079 287737.