A lifetime of fundraising recalled

Margaret Ann Woolhouse, 72, was seven years old when she became involved with the Australian Red Cross.

Mrs Woolhouse, who likes to be known as Ann, said the service came to her school, in Albury, NSW, and told students about its works.

“At the time (it) was comfort for the troops by raising money to buy wool for women who knitted socks and balaclavas,” she said.

“At that age children are very industrious and want to help.”

Mrs Woolhouse said one of her first fundraising enterprises was collecting discarded cigarette filters for smokers to reuse.

“A fellow gave me a tobacco tin, asked me to pick up cigarette butts out of the street and he would give me ten shillings a tin,” she said.

“Ten shillings in those days was a lot of money, about half your wages. I was a bit of an entrepreneur and would pick up the cork filters which filled the tin up quick and they couldn’t use because they burnt almost down to the tip,” she said with a laugh.

Other ventures included maypole competitions.

“We would perform maypole dances where you wrap ribbons in a pattern around a pole and everyone watching would put money in a hat that was passed around,” she said.

“From 1947 to 1950 it was a big effort … in the 50s we still fundraised but it tapered off.”

Mrs Woolhouse had a hiatus from her efforts during married life, but took them up again in 1999 when she relocated to Albany.

“My husband Arnold didn’t like me not being home, he thought a woman’s place was in the home,” she said.

“So I didn’t do much volunteering for a while but when he passed away in 1999 I full on got into it again in the Red Cross Shop the same year.”

And she’s still at it 14 years later.

“I used to cut 11 bags of rags each week at home, but I had to give that up because I’ve got arthritis in my hands,” she said. These days, Mrs Woolhouse volunteers two days a week in the second-hand store and says its gives her a buzz.

“I wish I had got into retail sooner, I didn’t realise I had these skills,” she said.

“I’m so quick I can beat the machine with adding up the numbers because I was taught to mentally add up three rows of figures.

“It is so stimulating for the brain — you go home and it feels as if you’ve had a hit, you’re very hyper. If this is getting old, give me more of it.”

Mrs Woolhouse, who turns 73 in a fortnight, has no plans to stop anytime soon.

“I enjoy the companionship, you can laugh and joke and it’s very nice,” she said.

“I like people and the more I’m with them, the better it is … you have to have the patience of Job, the tact of an angel … it’s like being a diplomat, really.”

Mrs Woolhouse said the role the Australian Red Cross plays in helping the less fortunate in Albany was very satisfying to her.

“Sometimes people come in and grumble, they say ‘this is supposed to be a charity shop and we shouldn’t have to pay this much’,” she said.

“I always tell them that the thought of where your money goes should be of comfort to you, because the Red Cross give breakfast to children who don’t get any before they come to school and run the blood bank as well.”

The Australian Red Cross recognised Mrs Woolhouse’s commitment to the charity by honouring her with a long-service badge in April, 2010.

“I wear it every year when I march in the Anzac Day parade with the other Red Cross ladies,” she said.

“If this is getting old, give me more of it.”