Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a wonderful woman in my electorate, Anne Mann of Oxley. Anne is the founder of the Young at Heart Seniors Group in Erindale. This self-funded group started eight years ago to give local seniors a place to get to know each other and it meets every Wednesday at the local Erindale church.

From humble beginnings, with just 18 people at that first meeting, the group has flourished and now boasts 80 members. Anne is also responsible for organising affordable two- or three-day getaway trips to nearby areas such as the south coast and day trips to Canberra events and institutions such as Floriade. The group is popular among seniors in my local community—to the point that even when it decided to take a five-week break over the Christmas holidays, 15 members continued to meet and mingle at a cafe in the Erindale shopping centre each week. Members of the Young at Heart Seniors group have described Anne Mann as an ‘absolute asset’ and a ‘trooper’.