To g e t h e r Connected Featuring inspiring older women with great stories to tell A special edition magazine from the Older Women‘s Network NSW June 2020 2 4 9 10 14 18 20 21 23 The hardest thing is to live richly in the present without letting it be tainted out of fear for the future or regret for the past. Sylvia Plath 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Life's Rich Tapestry - Patricia Amplett (Little Pattie) Dear Readers, 4 A suprise start at 14 with a hit song led to a life lived with passion Seemingly overnight, COVID-19 and a dose of realism. changed our world. We stepped into a different reality and we Poem for Covid Times have all been adjusting to a new 9 A fun look at Covid-19 isolation and social distancing by way of living. Amongst the fear, Jan Beaumont. worry and physical distancing, we want you to know that we are all in this together and we can Style of One's Own - Jay Harley maintain our usual humour, our 10 Jay Harley is many things and doesn't let age get in her way. interests, and be motivated by the stories of others. Hot Flush - The Latest Newcastle Rock Band 14 We hope you enjoy these articles Deep in the chest of every menopausal woman is the need to of remarkable older women, rock hard! snippets of information and ideas designed just with you in mind. Who Says You Can't Look Good While Working Out? We thank our volunteer, Tana Cooklin-Cevallos, for interviewing 18 How two older women started a business in Tamworth. Hot Flush, that amazing band from Newcastle who are proudly Sweet 16 menopausal! We‘d also like to 20 An online photographic exhibition. thank the women who shared their stories with us for the magazine. Covid-19 and Women 21 What has the coronavirus meant for women? The mission of the Older Women‘s Network is to advocate for the Are you a Well Being? rights, dignity and wellbeing of 23 What are the elements of being 'well'? older women. Find out more on www.ownnsw.org.au Stay safe, and keep healthy. Beverly Baker Chair of OWN NSW 4 "...at 14, I was at school and I was shy - then it all happened. I coped with the fame very well. My family were down to earth and no one could ever end up with a big head." Weaving Life’s Rich Tapestry: Patricia Amphlett I interviewed Patricia Amphlett during isolation, by It all happened very quickly. I was enjoying school, phone, on a sunny April morning as she watched her I loved school; I was a bit of a baby and a nerd tabby rescue cat, Evie, laze in the sun. She generously and I really liked school. Mum and Dad were true answered my questions about her remarkable career working-class people and they wanted us to have and her personal interests and how she is filling in every opportunity they could afford. When dad had her time during isolation. a pocket full of money, he wanted it spent on our education. They were not at all professional but they Patricia Amphlett or “Little Pattie’ as many of us were musical people. Dad could play the piano by remember her, has lived and is living a full and ear and mum was a beautiful singer. extraordinary life. She is active and passionate about the arts and music industry, about deepening My piano teacher thought it would be good if I had the cultural landscape of our country and about singing lessons as I had good pitch. So I had piano supporting and caring for her beloved veterans. and singing lessons. A half hour singing and a half hour piano. It was my little pleasure and I loved it You had your debut single at the age of 14, in 1963, with and I practised every day. “He's My Blonde Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy”. Describe 14-year-old Pattie for us & the So, at 14, I was at school and I was shy - then it all whole experience. happened. I coped with the fame very well. My family were down to earth and kind and no one in 5 my family could ever end up with At 17 years old you entertained the African American. He had a few a big head. It is a family trait not Australian Forces in Nui Dat. You 50 calibre machine guns and to show off. I wanted no one had to be evacuated quickly as the was surrounded by sandbags to know. Battle of Long Tan raged around in the foyer of the premises. I you. Can you tell us about that night spent a sleepless night with no My mother would say things & the effect the whole experience information and no idea what was like, “This is all part of life’s rich had on you? going on. It was mayhem. I tried tapestry and this will end you to sleep and couldn’t and stayed know, Patricia, and then you can Having toured Australia several up talking with this man all night. go to university and be the doctor times and done many shows, He said, “You’re losing your Aussie you want to be.” going to Vietnam was very men out there, honey”. I knew different. I was quiet and reserved our men were dying. That was a There were certainly no illusions and shy. I was a bit of an observer horrible night. or no delusions of grandeur. rather than a participant. As the Everyone took it in their stride. only girl and such a baby, I took At 11am the next morning, after it all in and didn’t miss a trick. I hearing from no one and with no Everyone was proud and it was loved every minute and it didn’t food, Col arrived and said, “Come just okay. take me long to realise that we on, are you ready? We have to were in a war. sing for the wounded, for the You grew up in Mascot and men. There was a big battle out Eastlakes, on Bandstand and the Col Mum and dad had let me go there last night and it was awful.” Joye Show and friends with the Bee as people had convinced them Gees. Tell us about life then for you. that it wasn’t a real war. No one The two of us got in a jeep. Col realised what a war it was. I went was ashen faced and we were I was born in Paddington at the with their permission and the both very quiet. We went to the Women’s Hospital and we grew government was emphatic that I 36th Evacuation Hospital to sing up in Mascot and Eastlakes. It was should be there and that I would for our injured Australians. That so multicultural and very working be very well looked after. I look was something else. We were both class and very much a community younger than my 17 years. Col Joye in shock and fighting tears but in Mascot during my early years. was going, and our families had we were trying to gee each other My parents encouraged me to all become friends, so mum and up. We did what we had to do make friends with everyone dad agreed I could go. and tried to stop the tears rolling in the street. They may have down our faces. I will never been refugees or poor - it didn’t During the second show which forget it. matter. I was blessed to have that was in the early afternoon, I knew upbringing with refugee kids. I something was going on in those feel very strongly now about “I can so easily close my eyes and big mountains surrounding us. By their situation. show three, there were explosions see the soldiers in the beds with the and gunfire all around us. Back My first lot of tours with the Col white sheets covered in their red stage we were getting the signal Joye Show had the Bee Gees on blood." to cut, and we were whisked the bill, and we became mates away in helicopters. It was a straight away. The twins and I pretty horrible and unforgettable And they all looked like my became friends as we were exactly night. Col was kept at the base. brother and his mates. the same age. They were a little And I was taken to separate bit different and creative and accommodation for American It had a positive impact. I good fun. I can still remember doctors and nurses. Yes, I was understand the veterans and feel sitting in the back seat of the car very well looked after but I was a for them this ANZAC day when on tour, me in the middle of the 17-year-old girl taken to a room on they can’t be together. twins, with Barry in the front. my own with no one else and no Someone was driving and we instructions or explanations. You have gone on to entertain & would all sing and harmonise. The accommodation was tour the Australian Forces in Iraq guarded by a great big lovely & the Middle East. I have read that 6 you describe yourself as a pacifist. Can you tell us about inspiration as it wasn’t the ‘done’ thing for women this & your affiliation with our troops abroad? to speak up.