Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Mundaring - Issue No.: 796 Issue Date: 14 Apr, 2024

The Director General of the Department of Housing, Mr Grahame Searle, officially opened Andrew’s Place in Parkerville on 30th September 2009. The pergola project for Andrew’s Place was finished more or less on 28^th September.

Many thanks to those Rotary members who contributed to the planning and building and erection of the facility.

The installation didn't exactly go to plan. When first utilising Bill Brady's post-hole digger, Rotary members did an excellent job of hitting some unmarked service pipes including the main sewer connection to the building. Not content to hit it once they managed to hit a service pipe again on the second attempt. After some mumbling and grumbling and some laughter about Bill Brady's 'cursed' post-hole digger, the busy bee spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the not too pleasant mess.

All went well after that and Lyle Favas was well pleased with the outcome of his design. Les Stratford was also very pleased with the steel work all coming together well. There were some tense moments towards the end as the last few sheets went up. Every cut needed to be accurate as there were no surplus sheets in case of a mistake, but Lyle came through and it all worked out perfectly.

This Hills Community Support Group project was a marvellous community venture with many local organisations providing much to Andrew’s Place. Wooroloo Prison, Mundaring Rotary, Bankwest, Swan Tafe, Midland Brick, Barfield Earthmoving, Floraland Nursery and Kelsher Bobcat spent hours cleaning, carting, delivering, planting and building rock walls. Rotary designed, built and erected the pergola which provides a valuable outdoor space for residents.

“The goodwill and generosity has been overwhelming” said Helen Dullard, Chief Executive Officer of the Hills Community Support Group,. “This has been a truly community venture”.

Local schools have negotiated ongoing involvement through a worm farm cooperative, monitoring of Biomax water treatment plant, the orchard and a chicken coup.

Helen Dullard went on to say “Andrew’s Place is set to enjoy that sense of belonging that comes from being welcomed as a valued member of one’s community”.

Andrew’s Place is the legacy left by Andrew Catchpole through his parents, to people with disabilities who enjoy living in the hills as much as he did.

The very impressive "Andrews Place' was originally planned to house Andrew Catchpole before his sad disappearance in the Hills’ bushland in 2007.

Andrew's parents, Bernard and Philippa Catchpole, continued working with HCSG on the original project to provide suitable accommodation for older people with disabilities in the hills. The final result is an outstanding testament not only to Andrew, but his parents, Bernard and Philippa Catchpole, for seeing this most worthwhile project through to its impressive conclusion.