Held in Victoria, Qld, NSW & ACT
Social get-togethers organised by the HSP Australian Support Group (Facebook) have been held recently in Victoria (2), Queensland (2), New South Wales (2) and the ACT.
Future events in the pipeline include Saturday 21 January for coffee at ‘Room for a Pony’ in North Hobart, Tasmania, with another event being planned for February at Berwick in Melbourne’s outer Southeast.
Langwarrin (Vic) 25 November 2022. 12 people got together for lunch at Beretta’s Langwarrin Hotel. Here’s what they had to say:
“Thank you for those who turned up at the south east Victoria catch up. Can’t wait to see you in February”
“It was great to meet new faces and see familiar ones of people who are on the same adventure! We shared lots of laughs, history and stories!! Thanks to Chantelle for organising!”
“It was a delight meeting you all. Thank you Chantelle for organising this and i look forward to the next one.”
“Again it was great to meet people on the same journey, I was feeling very low and alone. I am proud of you all and your strength.”
Townsville (Qld) 31 October 2022. Jason, a NSW community member while in Townsville, managed a mini catch up with locals. “It was a great meetup for the two hours that we had with our chats on many different things on HSP.”
Brisbane Q(ld) 29 October 2022. 37 people including HSPers, family and friends made it for lunch at the Catalina Restaurant in the Novotel Brisbane Airport.
“What a wonderful day!! Thank you to the 37 people who came today to make the HSP gathering a wonderful time. Bring on February and we can do it again.”
“Such a wonderful event, it filled my heart with so much happiness to meet new people and to catch up with everyone face to face again. Looking forward to the next one”
“I had such a lovely time!! Was so nice seeing/meeting everyone. My only complaint was the day went too quick”
“Very interesting sharing stories and talking about the different supports and activities that are out there.”
“Bring on February I might be out of my shell by then; sorry I didn’t say hi to everyone but putting faces to names is cool”.
Illawarra (NSW) 7 August 2022. 13 people, including 8 with HSP, got together for a chat and a meal for more than four hours. Jason said “I’d like to thank everyone that came as it’s been more than 5 years since one was held here with great chats, meals and a few drinks too.”
“Thanks for organising. it was really nice seeing everyone”
“It was great to catch up it’s certainly been a while; can’t wait for the next catch up”.
Hornsby/Waitara (NSW) 24 July 2022. Community member Judith wanted to arrange a gathering for locals following the telephone calling initiative to members in her area. 5 people got together at the Magpies Club in Waitara in late July with feedback indicating the desire for more social interaction and especially with a view to explore research underway for HSP.
Canberra (ACT) 26 June 2022. A gathering of 8 met in Canberra at the Vikings Club over lunch with some fantastic conversations.
“We had such a friendly catch up with each other today in Canberra celebrating our first HSP Gathering since Covid.”
“Thanks so much to everyone who made the time to come and share some time together!”
“We had a new lady who thought she was on her own living with HSP in Canberra so that was wonderful!”
“I would also like to thank my amazing support worker for going above and beyond and taking these pictures for us all!”
“It was a wonderful afternoon! Thank you Suzie for organizing the get together!”
“So nice to share our stories in person”
“It sure was lovely to see everyone in person! we have a small group over here but it is wonderful and funny because we can all be ourselves”.