Our intrepid President donned his Rotary greens to lend a hand at historic Hanworth House in Lytton Rd East Brisbane today. Our good friends at East Brisbane Neighbourhood Watch issued an invitation to morning tea as a cunning plan to lure unsuspecting Rotarians like our President to Hanworht to perform some manual labour in the gardens of the house in readiness for Brisbane’s Historic Houses Open Day. Not fooled and unperturbed at getting some dirt on his hands our Pesident arrived on foot shortly before time and was greeted at the gate by Marissa Vecchio who quickly armed him with the leaf blower, rake and litter bag and set him to work.
Hanworth is a substantial, brick, single-storeyed residence near Norman Creek at East Brisbane, and was erected in 1864-65 for Lieutenant George Poynter Heath, RN, Portmaster of Queensland and member of the Marine Board, and his family. It was designed by early Brisbane architect James Cowlishaw. Marisa and Philip Vecchio purchased Hanworth in 2012 in memory of Marisa’s mother Romana Preston who died from ovarian cancer. They commenced extensive renovations in preparation for the house’s 150th anniversary, but a fire extensively damaged the property in March 2013. However, the Vecchio family persisted with the restoration and completed it in time for the anniversary. Their efforts were recognised by receiving the John Herbert Memorial Award (the highest award) from the National Trust of Australia in August 2014. Here is the website to learn more www.hanworthhouse.com.au .
After finishing the driveway he ventured to the Pavillon to clena up around the back. With that finished he thought “I will take a selfie for posterity” which he did not very successfully so he took a photo of his bag of litter and rake.
11.00am and morning tea is laid out on the front verandah. Andrew from EBNW was there at the table and as our President tucked into the piklets jam and cream and a cup of coffee in fine china cups he realised he was in the midst of a EBNW meeting. He has reported on the plans for Melbourne Cup celebrations at the house and the Xmas Party planned for 24th November next. Marissa thanked everyone for their help and begged that we clean up the last of the piklets. Well satisfied our President took his leave til next time there is morning tea at the HOUSE.
