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Alloura Waters Retirement Village – The Early Days – By Max Fox – Village President 1995-1998 - As published in AWARE Aug/Sept 2002
I have purposely left out the names of residents who were very important and worked very hard for the good of the Village and for us who came later. I did not want to offend those who I may miss during this article.
The area where the Village now stands was partly wetlands. It was filled in by Council during the 1970s using Red Scheme Labour (unemployed people), paid for by the Federal Government of the day. An oval was built for the RSL and for public use. I believe at one time there was a Wild West Show staged here. The story goes that the RSL had a cash flow problem and the land was then sold to a company called Alloura Waters Pty Limited. The extent of the land involved included where the waterfront units are now being built, car park and the main section where the Village now stands. The car park still belongs to Alloura Waters but was given back to the Club on a perpetual lease. Another area bought was on the western side of Davistown and other land further down in Davistown. The Council decided at a later date that due to environment problems they would not allow any more reclaiming to take place. This land still remains in its natural state.
The company that was to build Alloura Waters Village was formed in 1987 with five initial shareholders, Messrs J B Mortensen, P W Malone, S D Taylor, G R Draper and W S Davidson.
The founder and chairman of the company, Mr Mortensen, was a surveyor by profession and the principal of a thriving survey and land development consultancy company in Gosford. Mr Draper was a solicitor, he was later to become building director. Mr Davidson was a dredging engineer. He moved into the Village a few years ago but due to ill health has had to relocate closer to his family.
A building company was later formed to take over the construction of the Village; the name of the company was Romalac.
An application for development was lodged with the Gosford Council in mid 1989. Twelve months later in June 1990 the application was granted and construction was commenced in July the same year. Three exhibition units, plus a Manager’s residence and office, were built. This office and residence was later to become Villa 160.
Marketing Alloura began in March 1990 and in December of that year the company made a great step forward and employed Sarah Joyce who has been an asset and still is.
In February 1991 alterations were carried out to the Manager’s residence to combine office, residence and community centre in the one building.
The first resident to move into the Village was Verna Morris (2), followed by husband, Wally, who had been very ill and was not fit to be moved at that time. This was in May 1991. What a great asset amongst others they have been to a developing Village like ours.
Early in the development time Garry and wife, Maureen, managed the Village. Mr Mortensen took over full time management in 1992.
From the very beginning there has always been an emergency staff on call 24 hours a day, a registered nurse at night and all staff during the day having a St John’s Certificate or better. The Village soon switched to the Vital Call System as a back up.
An Alloura Waters Newsletter was started so that the management could keep the residents notified of the progress being made re the Village. This was carried on until AWARE was born and is still alive today.
The inaugural meeting of the residents was held on Friday 27 March 1992. With the permission of the residents Mr Mortensen took the Chair. At that time there were about 24 residents living in the Village. A rough outline of the original constitution and Village rules were brought forward for discussion these being put together by management for approval. A Keeper of the key was also appointed for the interim community centre.
A decision was also made that the next meeting would be held on the last Friday of the month. This is still our meeting day each month. A champagne toast was then proposed for the revamped community centre.
The next meeting was the start of the residents taking over and being in control of their own destiny. A Chairman and Secretary were appointed and most of our committees as we know them today were formed.
A motion was put to the meeting that a 50c levy be paid by all residents so that tea, coffee etc could be bought for the centre. This was raised to $1 at a later date but was abandoned in 1995 as it became too difficult to collect. By this time the efforts of most committees were making money and the levy was not required.
The Social Committee asked for suggestions for get-togethers or outings so that residents could keep active and enjoy themselves. There was already a launch trip being organised. At this stage the Village was moving ahead in leaps and bounds. A maintenance book was established so that residents could note down their problems. The social calendar was full for June including a brunch at $2.50 each payable in advance, BYO drink. A birthday party had also been arranged; bring a plate and your own drink.
The first residents, Verna and Wally Morris, would celebrate their first year in the Village on 29 May 1992 so a barbecue was arranged for 31 May 1992, bring your own everything to celebrate this occasion.
The Social Committee had been very busy, the following dates were booked up, 27 and 29 June, 14, 21 and 22 July, 4 and 18 August. At this stage the Social Committee had a grand total of $6 in reserve. All residents were warned by Verna that she would be around to collect the 50c levy. Many gatherings and outings were sponsored by the management.
The management at all times were optimistic re the sales and occupation of the Village but this did not always work out the way they had planned it due to reasons out of their control. Residents in most cases bought off the plan. A system like musical chairs was brought into being. If your unit or villa was not complete for various reasons, you were offered occupation of another villa or unit until yours was complete. There were some who were offered accommodation outside the village. This method is still in use today.
1992 was a very busy year for the residents. They became responsible for much of the gardening and garden layout, ably assisted by Mr Mortensen who worked very long hours to achieve his dream. Most of what we have today is due to the small number of early residents who pulled together with a great Village in mind; something which I am pleased to say has been achieved.
The outdoor pool was established in 1992-93 and with its gardens complete with palm trees was very popular with the residents. A Village Green was also established complete with a gazebo in the centre. This was later to go to make way for our present community centre of which I think most of us are quite proud.
The Village continued to grow so much that arrangements were made with the RSL Club to use portion of the club for our meetings and other gatherings, which were too large for our small centre. After the meetings a special section of the bar was kept open for free beer for the residents for an hour and the Social Committee arranged afternoon tea for those who did not drink. This was all paid for out of management funds. Later on our enterprising committee came to an arrangement with the management that, to bolster the residents’ fund, they would make sandwiches for the meetings if the management would pay for them. A group of ladies from the Social and Craft Committees got together on meeting days and made better sandwiches than you could buy. In those days the Social and Craft worked very well together, many of them belonged to both groups.
A suggestion was made that it would be a good idea if we had some seats around the Village, as it got bigger. This idea was put to management but it did not go down very well. We were told in no uncertain terms that this was a self funded Village and if we wanted any extras we would have to supply those ourselves. That really put the cat amongst the pigeons. In view of talk regarding a new community centre, we decided that fund raising was going to be necessary as we were not sure to what extent the management was going to furnish our new centre.
We made plank seats for various areas of the village. The last one is still in use outside Villas 66-70, at no cost to the management. We needed more tables for our barbecue area. These were made from second hand flush doors from the Smith Family, or wherever we could get them. The stools to hold them were made from timber from the building site.
Toys, kitchen items, clothing, plants, cakes, biscuits and craft work were made for sale during normal days or at the stall held regularly at Saratoga. A regular cake sale was held in the Village and was very popular. Many residents missed home made cakes and they were rushed.
Raffles were held, these prizes varied from fresh fish donated by Wally, our resident fisherman, to fresh vegetables grown within the village by our green fingered residents. The vegetable garden at that time was located at the end of the Village Green and inside the boat storage area we had at that time.
Regular one-day coach trips were held. We would hire a 48-seat coach and driver for the day so that we could keep the cost down to a minimum and sell the seats within the village. We had no trouble filling the seats as the residents looked forward to these outings every two months. On each trip Jean would go up and down the aisle and sell raffle tickets for a bottle of scotch. A profit was made from each of these trips, the money going into the residents’ fund.
The paper rack still in use in the letterbox area was also made from scrap timber. The paint for all these items was donated by Wattyl; a couple of our residents having close connections within the company. The original audio and taping system for meetings was an idea put forward by a resident who was a retired audio engineer. Between us we built the system, some of the items being donated by him and others being bought, the cost being met by both the management and the residents’ fund. Most of the furniture in the old centre was donated by Sarah and others. We had second-hand cutlery, plates and cups.
The Craft and Social Groups continued to work well for the residents buying quite a few items that we needed such as a hot water urn, the unbreakable mugs and plates we still use, a pie heater and an extra barbecue. The largest item they bought was the sailcloth, which was over our barbecue area before we had our new area built. The cost of this item was around $4000. The management, Central Coast Retirement (CCR), was approached by me for half the cost but they declined as they had ideas that the new community centre would happen overnight. We knew this would not happen and it did not. When you get to our age it is a case of do it now, otherwise it will be too late. It was put up and was a great asset and was enjoyed by many. While we are on the subject of the new community centre, I must confess that I am partly to blame for it being built on our Village Green. One Saturday afternoon I received a call from Mr Dobler asking me if I could come down to see him in the Village office. When I arrived I was confronted by Mr Dobler, the building supervisor and the company architect. I was told they were discussing where and how they were to build the new community centre, which, with both companies, we were sick of hearing about. We had plans drawn up by Mr Mortensen, which had not been really satisfactory. These incorporated the old office and centre. CCR were having the same problem. They asked me after a lot of talk if I had any ideas. My first question to Mr Dobler was: “What are you going to do with the Village Green?” After some thought he said that either units or villas would be built there. I told him then that I felt it would be better for all and create less disturbance if the centre was built there. After that you all had a hand in the design so that is my confession out of the way.
I will now go back to mid 1996 when on a Friday afternoon about 5pm I received a call from the office, would I mind coming down, as there was somebody who wished to speak to me about something important. When I was shown into the office, Mr Mortensen was sitting behind his desk with a very distressed look on his face; two other men were on the other side of the office with very satisfied looks on their faces.
I was then introduced and told they were from a firm of receivers and were acting for the Westac Bank. Alloura Waters was now in the hands of receivers and Mr Mortensen would no longer be allowed on the premises. I was then asked to set up meetings with all the residents so they could be told. It was a very distressing time for all. These people, the receivers, had no compassion for any of us, be it the residents or staff. We had no managers, only these two cold human beings. We had resident-only meetings during this time and it was decided that we would carry on as usual and live our life the way we wanted to and see what happens. Some of us had an idea that all was not well, cash flow seemed to be drying up, the building group was got rid of and tenders were being called to carry on the construction of the Village. Many directors’ meetings were being held, which we realise now was to try and survive.
The early units built did not have smoke alarms. I arranged with the NSW Fire Service to come to our meeting and speak about fire safety. I negotiated with the then District Superintendent, Doug Crotty, to supply and install smoke alarms in all the units that required them. This was carried out free of charge. All this was going on while the receivers were here. Until CCR took over in February 1997 it was just about a full time job for me, ably assisted by others.
Residents were worried, staff were worried. After threats from me to the receivers that I would be writing to the Westpac Board and putting in a complaint about them, they then started to give us a little bit more consideration. All the directors lost money, the worst affected being Mr Mortensen who lost his house and everything.
The receivers were not inclined to spend money if they could get out of it. Unfortunately some of the staff took advantage of no manager and the Village started to deteriorate. Gardens were not looked after except when some of the staff were pushed. A threat to sack Sarah really got us stirred up. A petition was sent around and I wrote a covering letter. We soon had that idea changed.
After CCR took over we were without a full-time manager for some time. We were being treated as second-class citizens by some on the staff of Broadwater. I took this up with Mr Dobler who then decided to get us our own manager. He finally arrived in the person of Mr Peter Hogg who you all know. Peter was well liked and got on well with the residents. Unfortunately, Peter was supposed to sell the Village as well as manage it. This did not work to the satisfaction of Mr Dobler and sales were very important to the building of the Village. Peter was then transferred to sales full time. Thankfully we still have him as a member of staff. Mr Dobler was very ill for a while but we finally got Sarah as our manager full time five days a week.
Before I close, a little more on the nursing home. The approval to build was given at the same time as the main part of the Village. When CCR took over they missed out on taking up the option that was open to them. The Council rezoned the land and will not allow the nursing home to be built on the land previously set aside for that purpose. Some misguided people in the Council and in the area do not think they will ever get old and voted against the new application. We hope they will never need it.
I have not included any photos in this story, as colour does not show to its best advantage in black and white. I have arranged a photo board for display in the community centre for those who are interested.
‘This article was taken from the Alloura Waters Residents Archives and was written in 2002 by a resident who was part of the village for many years but is no longer with us. It was included on the website for historical purposes and to bring this history up to date it should be recorded that, following the bank's intervention, in 1996, the village was purchased by Ron Dobler who subsequently changed the name to Living Choice Alloura Waters. During his tenure Mr Dobler ran a successful village which he sold as a going concern in 2003 to the present owners Ian Tregoning and Graham Hobbs. Under their guidance, the village has flourished and there is a very high occupancy rate.
Living Choice Australia Ltd has continued to maintain the village along the lines envisaged in the very early days even before the first villa was built - to have a village that is a place of peace and quiet on a site that receives plenty of sunshine in the winter and is cooled by the nor'easters in the summer. A village that is free from undue noise and is away from the fumes and pollution of a main road. In other words a village that so many residents are happy to call HOME.’