Garage sale with heart

Tregurtha Way from the eastern end of Bourke St up to the Standing Stones was a Glen Innes Rotary project to memorialise the contributions of John Tregurtha to Rotary and to the community. Winner of Sunday’s 2014 Community Event of the Year was the Quota high tea to raise money for melanoma research in honour of John’s wife Jean, herself a matriarch of community volunteerism.

But the legacy of the Tregurtha name penetrates many other aspects of Glen Innes life, and one of those is the Combined Service Club Fund which John and other community members established several years ago to coordinate efforts to help people from this district in dire straits.

John was the inaugural chair and the driving force behind the effort, according to current fund chair Trevor Sturtridge. Rotary, Quota, Lions, Lionesses, the Op Shop and the Glen Innes Services Club are all represented on the committee, along with a community representative.

The fund helps locals who have exhausted all other avenues of assistance, and is also there to assist in emergencies, such as family members travelling to accident victims, for instance. Mr Sturtridge said on average there are around six disbursements each year from the fund, ranging from $100-$2000.

Those requiring assistance are generally directed Simon Kerry at Garden Court, who is best positioned to work out the best way to help them.

“He’s the information guru,” Mr Sturtridge said.

The fund is topped up with combined fundraisers and Mr Sturtridge said the Service Club supports it well, as does the Op Shop.

Mr Sturtridge well remembers are major fundraiser which raised $10,000 with a helmsman auction of donated goods, about a month before John passed away.

“John walked one side of the street (visiting businesses for donations) and I walked the other,” he said.

“He made it to the fundraiser on walking sticks. There was no way he wasn’t going to make it.”

With the passing of John in 2009 and then Jean in 2012, their four children Margaret, David, James and Rosalind inherited not only a strong community spirit but a household abundant in lifetime collections of a plethora of goods, and much of it will be offered at a huge garage sale this Saturday, February 1. John and Jean’s former colleagues from Rotary and Quota respectively will be helping out with the huge amount of goods to be sold, and all proceeds will go to the Combined Services Club Fund.

“They kept everything,” Rosalind said of her parents.

“When OfficeWorks went on-line, dad was their best customer.”

Rosalind said some items had been distributed among family members, “but there are only so many teacups you can have,” she said.

“Dad had five electric drills, for instance, and there are only four of us.”

Larger items among the huge variety on offer will be priced but many will go in exchange for a donation to the cause. 

“The more people the better,” Rosalind said.

“Dad was really passionate about this charity, and giving back to the community. We knew we’d have to have a garage sale, and this is part of our process of dealing with the loss.

Rosalind said the sale was not about the money, but to honour their parents’ memory by giving back to the community, as their parents had done.

“John and Jean are both gone, and they’re still funding the charity,” Mr Sturtridge said.

“The Tregurthas have a big heart.  There will be a lot of club members there on Saturday, with a lot of support.”

This garage sale with a difference certainly offers an eclectic range of items, with something for everyone. It’s happening at the Tregurtha residence at 167 Macquarie St (next to ‘Highwoods’) this Saturday morning from 8am (no earlier) to 2pm.

Treasure trove: (From right) Rosalind, James and wife Rebecca and Margaret Tregurtha with a very small portion of the mountains of items to be cleared this Saturday, with proceeds going to the Combines Services Club Fund.