Barbara Godfrey (Comber) YHS 1942 - recently returned from Portschach, Austria where she played in the International team for over 75-year old tennis players in the "Friendship Cup", which is played against a team from America. Barbara writes: "The International team were from Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, Mexico & New Zealand. We had to play 3 set matches, singles and doubles. It was fantastic tennis as I discovered all of the American team members and 5 of our team members play all year singles and doubles every month all over the world and they go to a gym 4-5 times a week. They are very fit 75-year olds.
The "Friendship Cup" was started by a very wealthy American couple, Ralph & Mary Wilson, who paid all of our accommodation for 2 weeks in a 5star hotel which was absolutely magnificent on the banks of the Worthersee, which is an enormous body of water (42 km long) and in the distance surrounded by snow capped mountains. Temperature was about 25-26 degrees and our rooms overlooked the courts.
People were so friendly and there was entertainment each evening after dinner. Each year, the International team can be from many countries all over the world depending on the availability of 75-year olds, as you can only chosen once in a lifetime, so that it encourages as many 75-year olds as possible to compete in the "Friendship Cup" and to continue playing tennis.
Yallourn days - "My parents moved to Yallourn in 1924. I was born in Yallourn, went to school there and then straight to work in the Main Office of the SEC, as it was in those days. I belonged to St John's Church of England, Yallourn Tennis Club, Badminton Club, Table Tennis Club and played a lot of basketball...played Country Week Tennis and Badminton and played interstate Badminton. I still play for the Victorian interstate team for over 75's Tennis.
I was a member of the Brownies till I was told to leave because I used the ARP phones which were installed in the Guide Hall during the war. As I left, I threw stones on the roof. (However, when it was time for me to join the guides, in their wisdom, they thought I had improved enough, but may have had second thoughts when at the Commissioner's place one day, I was asked to go and pick some parsley in the garden and I accidentally cut the tops off the carrots!)
Have belonged to YOGA since its beginning. I have 5 children and 11 grandchildren. I was always far more interested in sport than learning in the class room. I was made a temporary prefect at the end of Year 9 to enable the prefects in Year 10 to concentrate on their exams, but I was demoted and lost my temporary prefects badge for chewing in line. However, I did become a prefect and house captain in Year 10. I was the only student in my day to be actually strapped by the Headmaster (Mr Lindsay) - six of the best! - for supposedly, as he explained, "acting like a ninny", so you can see my scholastic ability didn't rate many credits.
Mum (Ella Comber) played tennis, bowls and played a lot of Sole and Bridge - and was involved in a lot of things in the town. Dad (Eddie Comber) was also known as 'Bunny'. He was a volunteer fireman at the Yallourn Fire Brigade. He was nicknamed 'Bunny' when he first arrived in Yallourn as he was a very fast runner and represented Yallourn at many fire demos around the country areas, where he had to run a certain distance with a fire hose attached to his waist, run up a very tall ladder on to a platform, where the water would be turned on and he had to hit a target suspended in the air on a wire. He was presented with a gold miniature fire hydrant when he retired and mum returned it to the Fire Station when he died. He also played footy. My brother (Stan Comber) played footy and tennis. We lived at 57 Narracan Ave from 1924, and then moved to 59 Narracan Ave when I was born because it had an extra room.
I have been doing voluntary work in the Magistrates and Supreme Courts as a court networker for the past 15 years (1 day pw). My husband, Merv, received an OAM in the Australia Day Awards for creating Melway, Sydney and Brisbane street directories. Although he worked in Yallourn for 5 years from about 1946, he was not born in Yallourn