WHEN I was speaking to talented watercolour artist Ruth Hartnett, a long-time Dandenong resident, we turned back the clock to the days to when the Dandenong Art Club (now defunct) flourished.
The works of its artists hang on countless walls of homes in not only Greater Dandenong but elsewhere around the south-east suburbs and in Gippsland.
I am the proud owner, since my daughter Mel's death, of five paintings by former Dandenong Art Club artist the late Nancy Ford. Nancy painted our beloved canines and Mel's pet birds.
Another painting I gave to Mel as a gift was by Dr Maynard of the Dandenong Hospital.
One of my own favourites is a picture the late Barry Palmer, a photographer at the Dandenong Journal, took for me of a spur-winged plover guarding her nest on a nature strip in Doveton. Barry said he lay on his stomach for an hour trying to catch a ray of sunlight illuminating the eggs.
Deb balls
Weeks of dance rehearsal routines, the flowing white floor-length gowns, the identical posies of fresh flowers woven 1850s fashion carried by each member of the deb set, the graceful curtsy to the special dignitaries who received the debs.
Do you remember the days of the debutante balls in Dandenong and the district?
I can recall the CWA balls in the Dandenong Town Hall (now the Drum Theatre). The deb sets in the Lyndhurst and Potter Street, Dandenong West halls and the presentations arranged by the Scouting Association in the Scout Hall, now known as The Castle.
Former mayor of the then City of Springvale and retired Victoria Police officer Bill Warner says he was the partner of Heather MacPherson and the late Pam Oldmeadow in a rehearsal for one of the balls.
Mr Warner's wife is the former Gwen Holt, sister of Lindsay Holt, who did so much for district Scouting.
Turning back the clock
When she read my most recent column in the Weekly it made popular Dandenong resident Shirley Constantine turn back the clock also and rekindle visions of the city in the 1950s.
She remembered the horse troughs in Lonsdale Street, the palm trees, the friendly storekeepers, and the "chat and cuppa" at Coles store cafe with friends after a shopping spree, especially tea and scones.
Mrs Constantine grew up in East Brunswick and married one of the Constantine boys, Les, at the old St James's Cathedral in Melbourne.
She and Les ran a service station diagonally opposite the corner of Princes Highway and Gladstone Road.
"We had a house at the rear of the service station and one of my most vivid memories is when the Westminster Carpet factory on the corner went up in flames," she said.
■ Do you have a milestone, memory or question for Marg? E-mail marg@yourweekly.com.au or post submissions to Moments with Marg, c/o Greater Dandenong Weekly, 142-144 Frankston-Dandenong Road, Dandenong 3175.
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