Festival Feedback

"Dear Judy,

I’d like to congratulate the Glebe Society for a really amazing celebration of their 50th Anniversary. Don and I were so delighted to have been there. Thank you so much for the invitation and program. The exhibition was meticulously prepared and extremely interesting with the history of Glebe going back to the first indigenous people and following through to now. We were very impressed.

I know my mother and father Kate and Bernard Smith would have been thrilled with the love you have of your community. I think they dreamed of a future for Glebe like the one you have created. I remember the huge effort it took in Dad’s day to preserve the buildings from bulldozers and an expressway. Now with a heritage overlay and the beautiful Harold Park area and Tramsheds and so many other historic areas you have worked so hard to preserve, you have every reason to be extremely proud. Also your great care and respect for all the people of Glebe.

I know that to keep Glebe as it is now and continue with your exciting ideas for the community requires constant vigilance; eg, even a seemingly small detail like the ugly way installation of NBN cabling has been done, you quite rightly don’t overlook.

We enjoyed our two days immensely. It was such a pleasure to meet up again with people I knew from the past. Everyone was so generous and welcoming and gave us lots of time, answered our questions and explained about Glebe. We appreciated that very much.

It was also a great pleasure to participate again in a Max Solling walk. I only wished we had been able to stay longer. The program was so interesting.

I would have loved to have heard about the women of Glebe at the session devoted to them but your website has given me an insight into this session which I enjoyed with a photo of my mother, I hadn’t seen before.

Best Wishes to the amazing people of Glebe,"

Elizabeth Heathcote

"Dear Dorothy, Virginia and Judy,

What an achievement! Doubtless all visitors to the Festival Exhibition have been amazed by its portrayal of the energy and achievements of the Glebe Society. It was a beautifully presented, terrific showcase for the Society’s interests and activities.

What may not have been noticed by the casual observer was the scope and complexity of the presentation and the drawing in of the many other groups that enrich Glebe’s village life.

I can’t begin to imagine the hours of planning, meticulous attention to detail, endless coordination and sheer effort which you have put in to make the Glebe Society’s 50th such a success.

By necessity and sadly, my visit to the Exhibition was only brief. However, I can also pass on feedback from Dr Vanessa Witton, now living in the Eastern Suburbs, but a former member of the Heritage Subcommittee: “very professional and a must-see.”, and from Assoc Prof Judy Cashmore: “excellent”. Dr Marion Manton, who saw the heritage photos and bought the Villas book and as a result dug out some old photos of the interior of Lyndhurst [which she is providing to the Glebe Society].

Meanwhile, I trust you can put your feet up for a well-deserved rest (...until 2069...). Bravo,"

Liz Simpson-Booker

"Reading the magnificent summary of what must have been a stunningly successful Celebration of 50 years of TGS I cannot resist writing to say congratulations to all who clearly put in a stupendous effort to achieve this. As we were in France, we could not be there but if someone travelled three times from Revesby to see it then obviously we missed something memorable!"

Christine Stewart

‘Excellent’
Clive Lucas

‘Great exhibition. Very informative, and a I met lots of other locals’
Drew Spring

‘Excellent exhibition. Sydney is lucky to have such an energetic group of volunteers dedicated to preserving the best of its history’
Mark Openshaw

‘Fantastic effort with so many aspects of Glebe’s community throughout the decades. Congratulations to all involved’
Dr Pauline Hart

‘Moving and inspiring glimpses of people-power’
Frances Muecke

‘Wonderful exhibition – brings back memories’
illegible

‘Terrific, very informative and well- constructed’
Penny Saunders

‘Great exhibition. Very interesting to see our local history’
Deb

‘Absolutely fabulous!’
anon

‘So well done – thank you so much – and to Society for all they have done’
Katherine

‘Appreciate all the hard work. Travelled from Revesby x 3 modes of transport to get here and came back twice. More acknowledgements of Glebe Society volunteers and snail mail address needed for prospective volunteers.’
anon

‘Wonderful. Amazing amount of work, and much appreciated. Keen for more, and to get funds to document for permanent access.’ [Sophia]
‘Great show! Detailed and informative.’
Leon Saunders

‘A wonderful display of Glebe – and the Society history – congratulations to all involved’
Chris B.

‘Very impressive research and display. Congratulations!’
(illegible) Fitzpatrick

‘Fantastic research indeed. Congratulations to those with vision and commitment to keep memories alive!!
Dr Patricia (illegible)

‘A very comprehensive exhibition. An enormous amount of work to document the ‘then and now’ of this [illegible] community. Congratulations’
Wendy Dickson

‘Wonderful exhibition!’
anon

‘Fantastic exhibition! Thank you!’
Jorge and Lisa Campano

‘Very well done! The video of the ‘then and now’ is excellent’.
(illegible) Havens

… I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the walk and Max’s insights into the area’s history. Even though we have lived in Glebe for 13 years, there were still many new spots to discover!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to join the Glebe walk last Sunday, however should Max offer it again in the future, I would be very pleased to receive the details.

Thanks to all for organising a really enjoyable week of events for the Glebe Society Community Festival.

Best regards,

Penny Crino [via email]

Hi Allan and Virginia,

The film last night was brilliant! I posted a Facebook comment but also thought I'd say thanks for such a contribution.

I was also going to post the Margaret Mead quote - "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

I thought the film provided a great reflection of this quote and the initiatives of the people in the society and glebe over past decades. The world may not yet be changed but at least there's been some pretty major changes around Glebe!

I look forward to the next screening.

Fiona Campbell [via email]

Hi Janice,

Thank you for your message and thank you for considering my participation. I enjoyed listening to all the other speakers. All those wonderful memories of Glebe. Some hard times, some wonderful ones; all connected with some amazing people. I hope I will continue to have connections with Glebe in the future.

My regards to the Glebe Society and congratulations on a wonderful event. You all could be so proud!

Sveiks!

Vicki [via email]

Thanks, Janice. I enjoyed it, despite my gloom and doom outpouring at the end about a retail future for Glebe which is more than a collection of eateries. I hope I didn't sound too negative at a time of celebration, but I guess it's always better to say what you think. I've a huge fund of goodwill for all that Glebe enabled us to do as a business, and to fell embedded in the community.

Anyway, thanks to the Society for inviting me, and I hope the festivities and Anniversary go as well as possible. I'm delighted to be a part of anything that acknowledges the mighty work that's been done by committed volunteers across half a century.

Cheers.

David Gaunt Director, Gleebooks [via email]

What a great show – such colourful characters!’

anon [via feedback book]

Dear Judy,

As a long-term local resident of the Balmain peninsula I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. So much great inner city community spirit. Our students enjoy performing especially in their local community, thank you for the opportunity.

We will pass your message onto our students.

Regards,

Judy Kelly [via email]

It was a spectacular event. Huge thank you and congratulations to everyone who made it happen. Everyone raved about it, and the pollies stayed for ages. Everything went perfectly, I thought the choir and the band were superb.

Special congrats to Judy for an incredible effort. It all paid off.

Verity Firth [via email]