By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
THE Keysborough Freedom Club is turning 40 years old and one family has been there for it all.
Married with three children, Braden and Robyn Williams may have first set eyes on each other when they were just two years old.
The Freedom Club is etched deeply into the Williams family’s history with almost everyone attending the occasional child care centre at some point.
“I’ve been involved with the club almost my whole life,” Ms Williams said.
“My husband, I and my three children have all attended the Keysborough Freedom Club.”
Robyn’s mother and mother-in-law were two of the first mums to join and have had their children and grandchildren all cared for by the same women, Elaine Connolly.
“Elaine looked after me as a baby and most likely my husband and then my own kids.
“It’s a home like atmosphere, it’s not huge, it’s not institutional, I felt like I was dropping my kids off at home,” she said.
The Williams family’s history extends even further with aunties, uncles and cousins also attending the club.
“My oldest sister started in 1976, my cousin was the president and my kids started in December 2006 – which let me get the Christmas shopping done – and my youngest finished in 2013,” she said.
Ms Williams said the ‘homey’ atmosphere has never changed.
“The club hasn’t really changed much at all and that’s a good thing.
“All the lovely things have remained and it feels so nice sending my children somewhere I went and when they wouldn’t want to leave me I would say ‘this is where mummy and daddy and aunty and uncle went’ and that would help them feel better,” Ms Williams said.
The Freedom Club is celebrating its 40th anniversary on Saturday 17 October and is calling for past families and friends of the club to attend its celebrations and pitch into its brick fundraiser.
Vice president Michelle Galvin said the sentimental pavers will be unveiled by Lyndhurst MP Martin Pakula at the celebrations.
“Past and present families will be able to buy a brick and have their family’s name or child’s name engraved on it with the years they attended the Freedom Club,” Ms Galvin said.
To find out more about the celebrations, contact Michelle from Keysborough Freedom Club on 0434271996.
