General News
21 May, 2025
Claire Batchelor on enjoying life
Claire Batchelor is a tiny packet of energy and belies her 87 years, as she continues to volunteer, join coffee mornings, and take daily walks to keep fit and to spend time with friends.
She recently volunteered in the Mother's Day chrysanthemum sales at the Plaza, raising funds for Wimmera Hospice, and had baked six dozen scones just days before for another fundraiser.
Mrs Batchelor was the third of three girls in her family, born in Melbourne at the Queen Victoria Hospital and grew up in Newport.
That was either due to good management by her parents or perhaps a little luck, because her mother had to travel by tram to the hospital to give birth. After all, the family didn't have a car.
Her mother's community work in the Uniting Church; a plaque was erected in her honour, which Mrs Batchelor will soon have to display in her home.
She credits her mother's example as a natural progression for her to follow in her community.
Sadly, her mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage when she was 42, leaving three girls to take on much of the responsibility of the home.
"I was just 12 when Mum became ill, and I used to prepare and feed her breakfast before school.
"We all had jobs around the house and we managed," she said.
"Mum's sister came to live with us too, and she helped."
Her father worked hard and never smoked or drank, but he died of liver cancer when he was 57.
She finished school at what was called Form 3 at Footscray Girls' School and went to work in a dress shop making repairs, which she enjoyed. This was followed by work in a television and radio repair shop.
She married her husband, Dennis, and had three children, Craig, Susan, and Scott.
"We were married on Saturday, and Dennis' mother died unexpectedly on Monday after surgery, so we only got as far as Mt Gambier on our honeymoon."
Their move to Horsham 55 years ago, near family, has almost made her qualify as a local, but she feels it may take a few more years to be fully local.
Mrs Batchelor is modest in her account of life in Horsham, but many will have enjoyed her kindness during the 22 years she worked in the Wimmera Base Hospital, with nine of those in ICU.
For 23 years, she has worked with Hospice Care Group and has been a regular visitor to people through the Uniting Church.
She is well-known at all the coffee shops in town and spent a lot of time waving to people passing by as she chatted to the Mail-Times for this story.
Some of her early childhood memories include walking to the shops on Sundays with her parents and sisters.
"We'd go for a walk so Mum could exchange her library books and Dad would buy the Herald and a Snack chocolate and break it up and we would all have a little square.
"It was such a treat," she said.
"We always had a roast on Sunday, and I'd run to the milkbar with a billy to get fresh milk."
She has seen many changes in her lifetime, and the abundance of 'things' and lifestyle are some of the most remarkable changes.
Technology, too, has been a huge change to the life she knew growing up.
"We never went out to eat; we always had people to our home for a meal or went to theirs.
"Now I'm off to meet friends in coffee shops several times a week, and we often eat out," she said.
"Going out for a coffee would have been a bit risque in those days and, anyway, there were no coffee shops as we know them now."
She moved from her own home to Sunnyside Retirement Village almost three years ago and enjoys the company and knowing there are people close by.
"I have made friends there and we help each other out," she said modestly.
Travel has included a trip to Canada and Hong Kong, and trips to Queensland to see family.
A weekly walk with Probus members and coffee afterwards, and Saturday morning walks with her son from Murtoa and coffee afterwards keep her busy.
Wimmera Hospice raises funds to pay for the hire of equipment that people can have in their home so that they can remain with family for as long as possible, and also take care of some of the needs of people at the hospital when they are in hospice care.
Her passion for caring for people when they are ill and unable to care for themselves is something that she experienced at a young age with her own family and has continued in her volunteering roles.
"We always had people in our home when I was young and enjoyed good relationships, and I think that's important in life," she said.
"And we always called older people mister or missus or uncle or aunty, never by their Christian names."
Her activities outside of her volunteering roles include knitting baby rugs, teddies, and patchwork.
Life for Mrs Batchelor has had its sadness's but her approach to life is an acceptance that what happens is a part of life.
Although when her husband died, she visited him at the cemetery to let him know she was not happy that he had left her.
"It was the first Christmas after he died and I had to write the Christmas cards and put them in the envelopes which was the job he did, we did it together, and it brought it home to me that he wasn't there to do that little job we always shared," she said with a smile.
"So I went to the cemetery and told him I wasn't happy about that."
But life ahead is full of visits to family in Queensland, regular walks, gardening, coffee mornings, surprise visits by grandchildren and enjoying life.
She has three children, nine grandchildren some of who are following her example into volunteering and she has two great grandchildren.