By David Friend
The Rotary Club of Maleny recently held a large community gathering to say thank you to Rob and Samantha Outridge, who ran the Maleny IGA for the past 27 years.
It proved to be a very large event held at the Maleny RSL.
Rotary wished to gift to Rob and Samantha a memento of their sterling service to the Hinterland community so thought that a ‘Key to Maleny’ would do the trick.
Aware that one of their Rotarians, Lionel Tilley, was a Woodie, I was tasked to produce a fitting ‘key’.
Little did they know that my artistic skills resemble those of a five-year-old, and I see things in black and white.
The ‘key’ produced would have resembled a circle of wood with a rod attached to one side, on the end of which would be some ‘teeth’ – hardly a fitting gift. The only solution was to seek advice from the Woodies Master Carver, one David Southern, with a request for assistance.
Only a few days later a call from David to me to have a look at what he had produced left me in awe of David’s skills.
A beautifully carved key about 300mm in length was the result.
The Rotary Club were delighted, as were Rob and Samantha, to have received such a beautifully produced memento of their time in Maleny.
Thanks David – you saved my skin!
