THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE- PETER ANDERSON
When I joined rotary I was told one day I would do a talk about the man behind the badge.
Well for my gig I am going to do it now!!
I was born in Oak Park in I965, to my Australian mother who was 47 at the time and my farther who was about 50 and was Greek.
I have a brother also a hairdresser who works in Mornington who is 2 years older than me. Oak Park is near Glenroy and Broadmeadows in what used to be the northern suburbs.
In 1969 my parents bought a block of land in safety beach that we built on and used as our holiday house, knowing we would eventually move down here he bought a hairdressing salon in Dromana in late 70's.
At age 13 I used to go to my fathers salon in Reservoir, until l left school at 15 and went straight to do ladies hairdressing then moved down to Dromana permanently and then went on to do a 4 year course in men's travelling to Melbourne to do it.
I met Mary in about 1983, she worked in Dromana and lived in McCrae, Mary is Maltese, and we got engaged in October 1985, my Mother died 2 weeks before our engagement, we got married in October 1986 and my father died shortly after in 1987.
In 1984 I bought the men's barber shop in Dromana and ran both, I took over the ladies salon in about 1987 and Mary started an apprenticeship in roughly the same time as she had always wanted to do hairdressing, we have had 3 salons in Dromana, 2 on the highway, and our current one in Pier street, were we have been now for over 20 years.
We are currently living in Dromana on the hill near Hillview Quarry, were we have been for the last 15 years, and eventually plan to move down closer to the shops.
We have 2 girls one Samantha aged 21, and Georgie aged almost 18 , Georgia is now doing an apprenticeship in our salon were she is almost second year. So I now work with my wife and daughter, thank god for alcohol after work.
I have been doing hairdressing for 35 years and still love my job; we have great clients who we have known for a very long time.
When l started there was only one salon in Dromana, now there are 6 salons.
I was a member of the Freemasons from roughly 16 till l turned 18.
I have been in the Dromana Australia committee for last 2 years and a Rotarian in Dromana for nearly 3 years.
My hobbies are ridding my motor bike on long distance trips, one trip I rode all he way to Surfers Paradise, had dinner then came back home, it rained all the way up and back only to stop at Sages Road, it took 4 days to do it and 6 days for my leather jacket to dry out, other hobbies are cooking, gardening and going fishing with grumble bum, (David).I'm going to get a GoPro Video camera and record him, it will soon to be on you tube and I'm calling it” OFF with David”- the OFF stands for old fart fishing.
And before I finish I would like to thank Ross, before I joined Rotary Ross hassled me for 2 years to join Rotary , never gave up for 2 years. He was a real pain, after he convinced my wife l should go I finally went, and have been coming to Rotary ever since, thank you Ross for not giving up on your youngest Rotarian.
THANK YOU
Nanette spoke on the breast cancer comfort pillows project. After having breast surgery herself Nan received a ‘Gift of Comfort’ and was so impressed she rang the coordinator to thank her. By the time she hung up the phone she had been persuaded to set up a group in Dromana to make these gifts. With help from her fellow members of the Mt Martha Valley Probus Club she established a group of talented and hardworking sewing ladies making these packs as fast as they could. Nan says they are finding it hard to keep up with demand and as each gift costs $4 to $5 to make they are constantly needing funds to purchase materials. Each gift pack contains a pillow that is worn to protect the breast after surgery, drain tubes and bag, a bag for keeping all xrays together and safe, a scented lavender sachet and some brochures.
