Winton McGoll YHS 1959 Sent the following article: YALLOURN CHILDHOOD MEMORIES What was it like for a young boy growing up in Yallourn? Growing up as a boy in Yallourn was about as ideal as any budding Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer, or should that be 'Smiley', could possibly dream of. I was born at the Yallourn Hospital in November 1946, a baby boomer. With 3 older brothers (Ron, John and Trevor) in a neighbourhood of kids my own age. Those early years were full of summers. Did it ever rain?

Harold Park died peacefully aged 90 years on 16th January 2001. Harold has been a dear friend to me and my family since 1967 when his son, Stuart, and I became friends at school. Their home then became my 'second home' and I chose to spend more time there than my own (2 bossy sisters at home probably had something to do with that, plus I was spoilt rotten by 'Mrs & Mrs Pee'). We spent many hours’ playing cards & scrabble, listening to Beatles records, drinking many cups of tea, eating marmalade & toast for breakfast and all puffed away on cigarettes (probably another reason).

Grace James (Catchpole) YHS 1945 Wrote to say she was off to the "Stitches & Craft" Show with neighbour Fay Wood (Johnson). Fay was a year behind Grace at Yallourn Primary and High School. While they are away, their husbands, who are volunteers for TADVIC (Technical Aids for Disabled, Victoria) are going to work on a baby cot so that mum, a paraplegic, will be able to get her wheelchair under the cot to attend to the baby. They are also going to adapt the dropsied to two swing gates to make things easier for her to manage. Thank you to Marie McFaul (Elmar) for her good wishes.

The Fletchers - Yallourn 1928 - 1978 Keith Fletcher (YHS 1940) was born at Yallourn Hospital to parents George & Cecilia. They arrived from England in 1924 and George started with the SEC as an Electrical Trades Assistant in the Electrical Workshops (and progressed in a very short time to foreman and upon his death in 1959 he was Electrical Workshops' Superintendent). The family soon moved to 5 Reservoir Rd; rental was 5 shillings per room per week. Joyce Fletcher was born in 1931. Over the years, the Fletchers also lived in Tarwin Grove and Stzelecki Rd.

Marion Kossatz (O'Hara) YHS 1947 Wrote thanking the committee for their work and attached the following: VISE (Volunteers for isolated Student Education) - During 1999, I spent five months as a volunteer teacher in the Northern Territory, and recommend the activity as an alternative to a dull retirement at home. Oenpellie in Arnhem Land is an aboriginal settlement of about one thousand persons, about two hundred of whom are white, or "ballanders", (Ballanders, bollanders, hollanders. the first white people exploring along the northern coast there, were Dutch sailors, Hollanders, so ...

Arthur Webb YHS 1944 sent in a poem written by Mrs Aileen Lazarus and presented by her at a party in 1997 to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of her marriage to Bert Lazarus. Arthur says the poem reminds us of times now gone when life was not as easy as it is so often today. Bert & Aileen were long time residents of Yallourn, lived in Stzelecki Road and shifted from Yallourn to the Mirboo area when Bert retired from the SEC in 1975.

Dr John Lewis, who is now senior lecturer at the Hong Kong institute of Education. John started at YHS in 1954 and his younger brother, Bruce, commenced YHS in 1955. John wrote the following: "My memory goes back to the war years when I was just two or three years old and recall towns people lining up for ration stamps at the Primary School. I remember lining up with my mum (Alice Lewis) in 1947 in order to enrol in the 'bubs'. My first teacher was Miss McKenzie. Miss Williams was our teacher in Grades 5 & 6. She was fairly strict and had us doing lots of parsing of sentences.

Stefan Tomasz YHS 1957 wrote:
For all those who can remember….and what I remember:
I was interested to read Richard (Dickie) Bush’s eulogy for Miss Jones in the Yoga Newsletter - June 2013.
As YOGA is about nostalgia, I thought not only of her, but of others who had an impact on our lives those many years ago in the late 1950s and early 1960s. While time tends to mellow and/or distort the memory, the following I remember with general affection. By the way, if what I write does not match what is in the memory of others, then I apologise, in advance, to the living and dead.

Peter Blythe YHS 1954 wrote: I remember – Newborough East and Yallourn. Reg Penkethman’s article in the January 2013 newsletter, with many experiences similar to my own, suggested it was about time I added to the vast array of correspondence contributed to YOGA.

In the Clermont Community & Business Group April 2013 Newsletter, the member profile was written about Olga Dunn (Tabaczynski) YHS 1958 and here is an excerpt: Olga was born in Germany of Ukrainian parents and came by boat to Australia in 1949 as displaced people after the war. Her father built their home in Yallourn North Victoria, which was like ‘little Europe’ with all the immigrants. Olga has two sisters and a brother and she is a member of the Yallourn Old Girls’ Association (YOGA). Olga started YHS in 1958.